PV Output - Ageing system

QrizB

ispookie666 said:

There is a large solar farm (started generating 2015) close to my home and they have changed all their panels this year. The panels used to be the old blue colour and are black.  I'm sure as a business they probably did all sort of calculations to reach at this conclusion.  

I suspect part of this is to increase the output of the farm without increasing the acreage. In the past decade solar panel efficiencies have increased from about 14% to about 21%. By replacing older panels with new ones you can increase the output of your farm by 50%.

With panels costing around 30p/watt and wholesale electricity over 10p/kWh they'll pay for themselves in less than 3 years.

Ectophile

Solar panels should have a life of 20 to 25 years. But with British sunshine being so intermittent, that could be longer. The ultraviolet gradually destroys the panel, and the output drops off over the years.

There's always the risk of individual panels breaking, though. One of mine has a crack in the outer layer.

Giving them a gentle wash every now and then may give a modest improvement in output. When I had mine washed, I could see the jump in output when the guy had finished.