Environmental Payback For Solar Panels

As solar panels have an expected life of 25 years even in areas where the sun s radiation is received at less than 550kwh per m 2 such as the northern uk a typical solar panel takes around 6 years to pay back its energy cost.

Environmental payback for solar panels.

Once your system is paid off your solar panels will continue to generate free power for your home for the lifetime of the system. In the worst case solar panels have an energy payback time of 4 1 years and will generate 8 to 12 times as much energy in their lifetime than was needed to mine the raw materials manufacture and install them. For multicrystalline silicon systems i e. 8 1 years average payback for business s solar panels.

The solar panel payback period is a calculation that estimates how long it will take for you to break even on your solar energy investment. The good news is that while the epbt of a solar panel is dependent on many factors the market is moving in the right direction. Another favourable caveat to note is that value is based off an assumed solar panel efficiency of 14. Average payback for farm s solar panels.

There are systems still producing energy that are more than 30 years old. Recycling solar panels is still new but more companies are doing it. The bottom line is. 8 2 years depending on your electricity costs the installation cost which state and local incentives are available to you and how much your system produces your pv system will have generated enough free electricity to have paid for all its.

Another big selling point for solar is that it is a renewable energy. In fact researchers created a metric called energy payback time epbt to measure the length of time it takes a solar panel to generate the amount of energy equal to what it took to be created. Solar panels energy payback time nrel 2004 multi crystalline solar panels have an energy payback period of just 2 years. Yes solar panels are environmentally friendly.

In 1970 the average energy payback time for solar panels was 40 years. The last remaining steps to calculate the payback period of a potential solar rooftop installation are now just simple arithmetic. In areas that have all of these incentives the payback time for a solar panel system can be as little as four years. Increased utility electricity rates and lower equipment costs are making it easier and less expensive to for homeowners to own rather than lease their solar panel systems.

Solar panels it currently takes 4 years to achieve epbt according to the u s. In a situation where the payback period is 10 years these homeowners will still benefit from more than 15 years of free electricity because solar power systems are warrantied for 25 years. By 2010 that number had dropped to just six months.