Comments on: NREL Helps Make Solar Panels Last

By: NREL Helps Make Solar Panels Last – CleanTechnica » greennewstweets.com

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:34:30 +0000

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By: Ronald Brak

Ronald Brak — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 00:50:00 +0000

Hopefully people will demand installers use the longer lasting panels. Being able to offer a 50 year guarantee would obviously convince a lot of people that the extra $2 is worth it.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 00:12:00 +0000

That’s true, but a 200 watt panel that costs $152 vs. $150 because it will last 3x as long is going to be “acceptable”.

By: Ronald Brak

Ronald Brak — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:13:00 +0000

The longer a panel works, the cheaper the overall cost of electricity. But companies and their accountants value income from early in the life of an investment more than from later in its life. Generally an investment needs to pay for itself in seven years or private enterprise often won’t touch it. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, money borrowed has to be paid off quickly to stop interest from mounting up, and secondly, the future is uncertain. Something that is profitable now may not be profitable in the future. So extending the life of solar cells from their current 30 or so years to 60 years will be a boon for people in the future, but will have only a small effect on investment decisons now. Sometimes some form of regulation or standards is required to get industry to undertake a small cost now will have large benefits in the future. Other times an industry merely taking pride in its work will do.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:44:00 +0000

This is very important research. It would add a tiny additional cost to a solar array and add decades to usability.

Right now using 20 year payoff large commercial rooftop solar in the sunny parts of the US produces power at $0.15/kWh.

Keep those panels going for 100 years and the electricity produced will actually cost more like $0.03/kWh. In current dollars.

Add in inflation and you’ve got 100 years of almost free electricity.