Solar panel replacements
Discussion
I did wonder if it was down to efficiency.
My curtains hardly fallen off but I've noticed Scaffolding up for a month, sparkies all over the property for the install and what looked like different roofers doing the install of the panels too.
Hopefully costing him a fortune as he's a pain in the ars...lol
My curtains hardly fallen off but I've noticed Scaffolding up for a month, sparkies all over the property for the install and what looked like different roofers doing the install of the panels too.
Hopefully costing him a fortune as he's a pain in the ars...lol
John D. said:
They lose efficiency over time, and I expect 10yr old ones are far less efficient to start with compared to what is available now.
They don't just stop working though as far as I'm aware.
At 10 years they will be only a fraction less efficient, not "far less". They don't just stop working though as far as I'm aware.
Most panels are warranted to be at least 80% as effecient at 25 years. Panel effienciency has only really changed in terms of watts per square metre, so newer panels can cram in more power in less space.
Glass panels (what we are talking about here) tend to go on forerver. The only failures I see , which are ultra rare, are water ingress between the glass and the actual panel causing rust.
The OPs neighbour was likely increasing his pverall wattage by replacing them. Panels are so cheap now it can make sense if you can get the labour cheap. 540W panels can be had for £80 each these days.
Griffith4ever said:
John D. said:
They lose efficiency over time, and I expect 10yr old ones are far less efficient to start with compared to what is available now.
They don't just stop working though as far as I'm aware.
At 10 years they will be only a fraction less efficient, not "far less". They don't just stop working though as far as I'm aware.
Most panels are warranted to be at least 80% as effecient at 25 years. Panel effienciency has only really changed in terms of watts per square metre, so newer panels can cram in more power in less space.
Glass panels (what we are talking about here) tend to go on forerver. The only failures I see , which are ultra rare, are water ingress between the glass and the actual panel causing rust.
The OPs neighbour was likely increasing his pverall wattage by replacing them. Panels are so cheap now it can make sense if you can get the labour cheap. 540W panels can be had for £80 each these days.
Panel failures are not exactly unknown.
I don't have any stats to hand, but a mate of a mate does work for solar farms and they change out duff strings of panels from time to time.
There's a chap with all his solar data online, in Newquay, Cornwall, I think one string of his failed quite early on.
I'd guess a fair number of the failures are wiring or poor installation.
If you've got active hardware like micro-inverters or optimisers out in the rain, these will have failure rates.
Storm damage may be a risk?
People using panels on boats give them a hard life and see more failures as you'd expect.
The failure rate of well installed panels is probably 'quite small' but certainly is not zero.
Then you've got people upgrading to more powerful arrays.
People I was at college with have bolted panels to satellites and flung them into space, where they are very reliable, because they never get touched by oiks with white vans.....
I don't have any stats to hand, but a mate of a mate does work for solar farms and they change out duff strings of panels from time to time.
There's a chap with all his solar data online, in Newquay, Cornwall, I think one string of his failed quite early on.
I'd guess a fair number of the failures are wiring or poor installation.
If you've got active hardware like micro-inverters or optimisers out in the rain, these will have failure rates.
Storm damage may be a risk?
People using panels on boats give them a hard life and see more failures as you'd expect.
The failure rate of well installed panels is probably 'quite small' but certainly is not zero.
Then you've got people upgrading to more powerful arrays.
People I was at college with have bolted panels to satellites and flung them into space, where they are very reliable, because they never get touched by oiks with white vans.....
Mine are 13 years old now, and aren't significantly down on what they produced when new.
An ideal summers day gets me about 23-24 KWH compared to 26 at their best, and I'll see about 3.3 KW rather than 3.6 as a peak.
The installers advised that they'd still be producing about 85% of new values after 20 years so that seems on track, and it's been more than offset by the increasing FIT rates. They did say it was more likely that the inverter may fail in that period, but it had a 10 year warranty on it and will almost certainly explode now I've tempted fate.
Panels have definitely got more efficient over the years as mine were 250w but I think a similar size now might be 400w, so it's not out of the question that it's cost effective to replace an older installation, especially if you are getting batteries installed at the time.
An ideal summers day gets me about 23-24 KWH compared to 26 at their best, and I'll see about 3.3 KW rather than 3.6 as a peak.
The installers advised that they'd still be producing about 85% of new values after 20 years so that seems on track, and it's been more than offset by the increasing FIT rates. They did say it was more likely that the inverter may fail in that period, but it had a 10 year warranty on it and will almost certainly explode now I've tempted fate.
Panels have definitely got more efficient over the years as mine were 250w but I think a similar size now might be 400w, so it's not out of the question that it's cost effective to replace an older installation, especially if you are getting batteries installed at the time.
Mine were installed in 2011. 18 panels 3.6KW.
Inverter failed and was replaced under warranty (ABB) at 7 yrs.
18m ago I had a panel fail. It looked as if the connector socket at the back had burned out.
It was left in situ but disconnected from the array.
I was told (rightly or wrongly) that it would HAVE to be replaced like for like.
However the repairing co didn't fill me with confidence.
Original Co had gone bust some time ago.
Inverter failed and was replaced under warranty (ABB) at 7 yrs.
18m ago I had a panel fail. It looked as if the connector socket at the back had burned out.
It was left in situ but disconnected from the array.
I was told (rightly or wrongly) that it would HAVE to be replaced like for like.
However the repairing co didn't fill me with confidence.
Original Co had gone bust some time ago.
John D. said:
Griffith4ever said:
John D. said:
They lose efficiency over time, and I expect 10yr old ones are far less efficient to start with compared to what is available now.
They don't just stop working though as far as I'm aware.
At 10 years they will be only a fraction less efficient, not "far less". They don't just stop working though as far as I'm aware.
Most panels are warranted to be at least 80% as effecient at 25 years. Panel effienciency has only really changed in terms of watts per square metre, so newer panels can cram in more power in less space.
Glass panels (what we are talking about here) tend to go on forerver. The only failures I see , which are ultra rare, are water ingress between the glass and the actual panel causing rust.
The OPs neighbour was likely increasing his pverall wattage by replacing them. Panels are so cheap now it can make sense if you can get the labour cheap. 540W panels can be had for £80 each these days.
The real changes have been "back contact" panels where all the metal conductor strips are moved to the back , so you gain all that space on the front (which can be quite significant) - more silicone = more power in the same space. That and some very high quality cells like Sunpower. But the efficiency gains of actual silicon haven't changed a huge amount.
There is a real chance the OPs neighbour bought polysilicon panels back in the day as they were the affordable option whereas mono panels are significantly more efficient per quare metre - poly panels are not common these days.
The most popular panels right now (I’m looking at getting a system) seem to be Aiko Gen 3 all black mono panels, 475-485 watt output with back contact construction and some quite clever anti shading technology.
They’re only 90-odd quid a panel too so for someone with the original FIT deal it could make a lot of sense to swap them out as you’d be more than doubling output.
I’m sure you’d need to tell the FIT people though…
They’re only 90-odd quid a panel too so for someone with the original FIT deal it could make a lot of sense to swap them out as you’d be more than doubling output.
I’m sure you’d need to tell the FIT people though…
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