How Much Energy Over The Lifespan Of A Solar Panel

A 1 kw solar panel produces about 1640 kwh year.

How much energy over the lifespan of a solar panel.

The return on investment is 4 and it takes 24 years to recover my investment. Most of the renowned solar manufacturers claim that their panels will continue to produce a minimum of 80 of their rated output throughout their lifespan or the period of warranty. You can count on most photovoltaic solar panels to last 25 years before they begin to noticeably degrade. However this doesn t mean that they stop producing electricity after 25 years it just means that energy production has declined by what manufacturers consider to be a significant amount.

For instance a 300 watt panel must be capable of producing a minimum of least 240 watts till the warranty ends. Luckily the lifespan of solar panels will allow you to produce energy for many years providing a great return on investment. Still assuming zero maintenance and zero degradation for a 4000 investment i save 164 year. As a general solar industry rule of thumb solar panels last about 25 30 years.

Over its guaranteed 25 year lifespan a sunpower panel will provide 60 percent more power than a conventional panel 4 and while our best in industry combined power and product warranty is for 25 years sunpower panels have an expected useful life of 40 years 5.