What is the Lifespan of Solar Panels?

Solar panel manufacturers put a lot of effort into making their solar panels robust. They need to be able to withstand heat/cold cycles and heavy weather. However, solar panels are not perfect and they will inevitably age. In the quest for cheaper and cleaner alternative energy source, solar energy is becoming very popular among commercial institutions today.

However, the decision to use solar power as an alternative energy source to power commercial units can be challenging who are new to solar power. This can give birth to several questions such as the cost associated with installing and maintaining the solar panels as well as the lifespan of these panels. The rated power output of solar panels typically degrades at about 0.5%/year.

Most people follow the general rule that a solar panel will degrade by approximately 1% per year. All things considered, that is a fairly low percentage of degradation. According to research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), most panels manufactured before the year 2000 are more susceptible to degradation than panels manufactured after this date. The good news is that in both cases, panels degrade at a slower rate than we thought.

Typically, established solar panels tend to pay for themselves during the first 10 years in service. In states that offer good incentives for going solar, the solar panels can pay for themselves in less than 5 years. This means more savings for the commercial owners and a cleaner environment for everyone.

When considering how long solar panels will last, it is important to know that majority of these solar panels come with 25 to 30 years warranty. This means that they are built to last for that duration of time and beyond.

According to a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), solar panels tend to lose up to 0.5 percent of its efficiency annually. This means that some the solar panels can lose approximately 12.5 percent of its efficiency after 25 years or produce about 87.5 percent of its original capacity after 25 years. Some panels were even producing more than 87.5 percent of its original capacity.

In order to extend the already lengthy life of a solar panel, it is important to ensure that the panel will not suffer direct physical damage. Trees and bushes should always be trimmed to avoid scratching the panel, which will perform weaker when the surface area of the panel is damaged.

Since these solar powered systems can still continue producing energy efficiently for several years after the warranty period, it is best to consider the maintenance cost rather than the lifespan of these panels. It may be a good idea to ensure that the panel is sheltered from the elements as much as possible — consider installing it in a façade. By regularly cleaning panels and keeping up maintenance, it is easy to extend the life of your PV panels by a few extra years.

In some cases, the inverter, which is used to convert the direct current (DC) from the panels to alternating current (AC), may need to be replaced. These inverters can last anywhere from 10 to 25 years depending on the type.

Nevertheless, commercial unit owners who decide to go solar can relax knowing that it is an investment that is worthwhile. Not only will they help reduce pollution by encouraging cleaner, safer energy, but they will also enjoy tremendous savings in the process.

New Invention Boost Solar Energy Production

Solar power was in a constant state of innovation in 2019, with new advances in solar panel technology announced almost every week. In the past year alone, there have been milestones in solar efficiency, solar energy storage, wearable solar tech and solar design tech. Solar energy remains one of the most used forms of renewable energy.

However, it is generally not the only option used when creating power. This is because solar cells are limited in the amount of power created. No matter how bright the sunlight or how many hours of continual sunlight, the solar power cells create a certain amount without going higher. This leaves untapped solar power bypassing the cells. However, with a recent creation in Abu Dhabi, it looks as if individuals looking to power their homes with solar energy or cities looking for ways to generate renewable energy can look more towards solar power than ever before.

The new creation takes the basic solar cell and both concentrates and separates the sunlight into different spectrums. Essentially, it allows the sunlight to travel through a prism. The prism (similar to prisms used in elementary school science projects) filters out the unnecessary material that is not used to create energy and boosts the concentration of the solar power, which is directed towards the cell. It also helps focused the light so it can be harnessed into a much higher, more contracted energy.

Advances in Solar Cell Technology

Researchers have longed looked for ways to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of solar cells - the life blood of solar PV systems. A solar PV array is comprised of hundreds, sometimes thousands of solar cells, that individually convert radiant sun light into electrical currents. The average solar cell is approximately 15% efficient, which means nearly 85% of the sunlight that hits them does not get converted into electricity. As such, scientists have constantly been experimenting with new technologies to boost this light capture and conversion.

In the traditional form of solar energy, the cells transform light energy into electricity. During this process, only some of the sun’s light is absorbed. It only converts, at maximum, 18 percent of the light into electricity. With the new prism based solar cells, it is now possible to boost production to around 40 percent of that given off by the sun. This way, it is 2.5 times as efficient as the former devices, all without drastically increasing the price of the solar cells. There truly is a new method for creating solar energy and for boosting the production of energy while using the light from the sun itself.

In truth, there is plenty to look forward to in the solar panel market but if you are considering solar panels for commercial use then none of these new solar technologies will arrive before federal tax. So it's a prudent idea to talk to one or more solar providers near you and arrange a solar cost and savings estimate tailored to your commercial use as current solar incentives make solar a an attractive investment in 2019.

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Carbon (Graphene) to Help Solar Cells to Generate Electricity in Rainy Season!

Solar is gaining great importance in the renewable energy sector and is being preferred over other sources to generate electricity. Major reason for this is the abandon availability at “0” input cost. Many technical advances have made solar cells quite efficient and affordable in recent years. A big disadvantage remains in the fact that solar cells produce no power when it’s raining.

The International Energy Agency says, “under its “high renewables” scenario, by 2050, solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent, respectively, (27% totally) of the worldwide electricity consumption.” Moreover, in the journal Angewandte Chemie, Chinese researchers have now introduced a new approach for making an all-weather solar cell that is triggered by both sunlight and raindrops.

For the conversion of solar energy to electricity, the team from the Ocean University of China (Qingdao) and Yunnan Normal University (Kunming, China) developed a highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cell. In order to allow rain to produce electricity as well, they coated this cell with a whisper-thin film of graphene. Rain (after the shower) actually helps solar cells to perform more efficiently by cleaning / washing away the dust and dirt accumulated on the cells, which obstruct the sunrays to reach the solar cells.

However, the limitation of a photovoltaic cell is their dependency on the sunlight to produce electricity and is negligible when it’s cloudy overhead. Scientists have been working on this problem and today the efficiency of solar panels is far better than earlier. Today there are solar panels available which store quite a bit of energy when the sun is not available, but still with lots of restrictions.

Chinese scientists’ team lead by Qunwei Tang, (materials scientist) at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao and Yunnan Normal University (Kunming) was working on all-weather solar cells. “We would like to develop a solar cell that can be triggered by sun and rain,” says Qunwei Tang. This team has discovered a technique to generate electricity with assistance from raindrops. Solar cells that can generate electricity even during rain showers with the help of graphene is what the study is about.

Graphene is a two-dimensional form of carbon in which the atoms are bonded into a honeycomb arrangement. It can readily be prepared by the oxidation, exfoliation, and subsequent reduction of graphite. Graphene is characterized by its unusual electronic properties: It conducts electricity and is rich in electrons that can move freely across the entire layer (delocalized).

Contrary to common belief raindrops are not pure water. They contain salts that split up into positive and negative ions. The Ocean University researchers used graphene (one-atom-thick sheets of carbon) property to attract the positively charged ions, such as sodium, calcium and ammonium and bind them. They used graphene electrodes to obtain power from the impact of raindrops. When the raindrop and the graphene come in contact, the water becomes rich in positive ions and the graphene becomes enriched in delocalized electrons. The result they achieved with this process was separated layers of positive and negative ions that act much like a capacitor or pseudo capacitors to store energy.

They added graphene to a dye-sensitized solar cell, (a thin-film solar cell), then put it on a flexible, transparent backing of indium tin oxide and plastic. The flexible solar cell with this combination had a solar-to-electric conversion efficiency of up to 6.53% and generated hundreds of microvolts from slightly salty water which was used to simulate rainwater.

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Reasons for Choosing Solar Energy

People often ask themselves 'Why is solar energy good?' and, as a result, fail to realize the importance of solar technology. Solar power has evidently become the trend in renewable energy. Many people are opting for green energy because it is clear that the cause of our environmental problems is the continued use of fossil fuel. Fortunately, fossil fuel can be substituted by fairly affordable green energy choices today, one of them being solar energy. Solar power is an efficient means of giving out clean energy.

In addition to green energy producing green savings for your wallet, there’s also green savings for the environment. That is a good thing for the environment, because the utility company is generating its electricity from dirty, non-renewable fossil fuels that harm the planet and threaten our health.

You can start using solar power without spending a penny. Apart from the obvious financial benefits, there are other pertinent reasons why you should convert to using solar power instead of fossil fuels. In fact, you will end up saving money by using this green energy.

For instance, you can allow the sun to pour into your house through the windows so that it can warm it during winter. Alternatively, you could add thermal curtains during the summer to prevent your house from overheating. Taking advantage of solar energy like this will ultimately reduce your electricity bills. Moreover, the technology used to make standalone solar lights utilize the energy from the sun. Although they are not expensive, they make your yard safe while saving your money by reducing the use of electricity.

Since solar is truly a completely clean, no-emission energy, there is nothing to measure of its environmental impact. Instead, solar’s effects are usually evaluated in terms of the environmental harm saved from an equivalent amount of fossil fuel energy otherwise being used.

You can also choose from other solar equipment, for instance, a whole pool solar system is very affordable, and more importantly efficient. You may elect to power your whole pool system with solar energy by installing solar panels. You can also buy a floating solar heater to improve your system or use it in your garden ponds to keep your fish warm if they cannot withstand winter temperatures.

In case you are planning to have a new home, you should choose to make use of the tremendous advantages of solar power. To do this, you should find an architect who can make the most of energy efficient materials to cool or heat your home without using fossil fuel. This type of construction may be quite expensive initially but it will save you a lot of money in the long-run and make your investment worthwhile.

Besides, solar energy is the right choice for an off the grid home since you can be energy independent if, for example, you set your cabin with full solar system. You will save lots of money for future use the moment you decide to go solar. Using solar systems is a smart choice since solar systems work efficiently for many years with little or no maintenance.

Storage of Solar Energy to become Cheaper and Easier

For decades, solar energy was seen as being too expensive. However, the cost of solar-generated power has been steadily coming down whilst production costs of conventional electricity have risen.

This is mainly due to two things. Firstly, the advances in solar cell technology and secondly, the development of storage technology. This has allowed solar energy to be more readily available to consumers and become a real alternative to conventional grid power.

Storage of abundantly available cheap renewable energy – Solar has always been a costly affair so far with lithium-ion batteries. Three UK research organizations Faradion and Moixa Technology, WMG, part of the University of Warwick have teamed up to develop sodium-ions cells with considerably lower-cost as compared to current lithium-ions cells for storing solar power.

All these three organizations in this team have their own strengths, Faradion eyeing innovation in the sodium-ion battery technology and the battery business, while Moixa specialising in smart Photovoltaics storage systems, whereas the researchers of electrochemical engineering at WMG lead by Rohit Bhagat, will bring expertise in large-scale prototyping and electrode coating technology.

Battery-grade salts of sodium are cheap and abundantly available. This makes them a cost-effective alternative especially in the applications where weight and energy density are not constraining factors, such as grid energy storage for renewable energy sources like solar. This makes them a cost-effective alternative especially in the applications where weight and energy density are not constraining factors, such as grid energy storage for renewable energy sources like solar.

With power storage gaining popularity and lithium ion batteries becoming cheaper and more abundant, installers and consumers, realize that tying systems to batteries will be more cost effective. Presently, lithium-ion batteries are used for storage as part of solar energy systems, which are expensive.

However if abundantly available sodium salts on Earth are used in cells rather than lithium, cells could be up to 30% cheaper to produce. With this solar energy, storage would be cheaper and the possibility of storing it for self-consumption by a greater number of homes and smaller businesses can be explored. This will also mean no transmission losses and expenses of grid network. Moreover, unseen now but the predicted advantage is very important. Advances in this area can achieve a CO2 reduction of 500,000 tons per year.

This partnership will principally be focusing on small-scale solar energy storage; the efforts are made by companies like Ambri, also researchers at Harvard and other institutions, on the development of flow and other types of batteries for large-scale storage. As the storage of solar energy is a concern in front the world today!

Developments in solar cells and power storage over the last couple of decades mean increased conversion and storage efficiency. As technology becomes cheaper and competition drives prices down, consumers will get a lot more for less.

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The Solar Industry Has Paid Off Its Carbon Debts

The solar photovoltaic panel was introduced around 1954 and since then the cells have become more efficient and are manufactured at cheaper rates. Think of all the energy that goes into making a single solar panel. Quartz and copper must be mined. The raw materials must be converted into wafers, then encased in protective material. In addition, after panels leave the factory, they must be shipped all over the world. A question, which comes up, is whether the solar industry has saved any energy in the process. To that concern, a new analysis answers “Yes”.

The solar industry probably paid off its long-term energy and climate “debts” in 2011, a study published this week in Nature Communications finds.

The research was conducted at the University of Utrecht and the University of Groningen. Spearheaded by Dr. Wilfried van Sark, the study was published in Nature Communications. This study, conducted by researchers at the University of Utrecht and the University of Groningen, is a type of research called “lifecycle analysis,” which investigates the total environmental impact of a product over time. The study states that since 1975, the solar-panel industry has almost certainly prevented more greenhouse-gas emissions than it emitted. It has also cumulatively produced more energy than it initially required.

The objective was to study the environmental impact of the solar panels over time. The researchers had to find and then calibrate 40 years of data (both economic and energy) from different countries. The study has a best-case and worst-case scenario, and the authors suggested a break-even on the net energy in 2017. In 2018 the break-even on the greenhouse gas emissions is suggested. The optimistic view states that the energy debt was paid off in 1997.

In other words, the solar industry is now likely historically carbon-neutral, if not carbon-negative.

Professor of chemical and environmental engineering at Olin College, Scott Hersey, said that the study had solid methods but was fraught with assumptions.

Once the solar industry becomes net carbon-negative, it will stay that way, as solar-panel manufacturing has gotten cheaper, cleaner, and more energy-efficient over time. In addition, of course, the carbon footprint of the solar industry is much, much smaller than that of the oil or gas business.

Location of panel production: Solar panels manufactured in Europe and China varies. As China relies more on coal burning for its electricity and is fraught with lax environmental protections. Whereas, EU, has more clean energy and stricter environmental bases. Solar panels thus manufactured in China would require a lot of energy as against EU.

How old is the solar environmental-impact data? The study’s explicit task is to compare the environmental-impact data from the 1970s to the same data from the 2010s. However, most people consider the newer data to be of significantly higher quality.

The future development of photovoltaic maybe be difficult to predict, but it is certainly getting more efficient, and cheaper.

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The Health & Environmental Benefits of Solar Energy

Solar being the renewable energy sources is safer because they produce little to no global warming emissions. This results in the reduction of air and water pollution and abundant renewable energy source directly from the sun. Therefore, increasing the supply of renewable energy will reduce global warming emissions to a significant level.

The health and environmental benefits are as follows:

Solar reduces water pollution

While all manufacturing processes require some water, solar photovoltaic cells do not need water to produce electricity. This is one of the biggest, yet least talked about environmental benefits of solar. Traditional biomass and geothermal power plants, such as natural gas and coal-fired facilities, need massive amounts of water to aid their vital cooling requirements. With solar energy, there is no pollution of local water resources, nor does their operation (which again requires NO water) strain local supplies such as agriculture, drinking systems, and other vital water needs.

 

Solar reduces air pollution

Harmful carbon dioxide and methane emissions from fossil fuels are leading contributors to global warming and decreased air quality. Therefore, generating electricity with solar panels produces no greenhouse gasses whatsoever and will aslo help in curbing air pollution from the environment.

 

Solar energy decreases greenhouse gas emissions

Generating electricity with solar power instead of fossil fuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gases produced when fossil fuels are burned, lead to rising global temperatures and climate change. Already, climate change contributes to serious environmental and public health issues including extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and ecosystem changes.

Solar reduces the need for finite resources

Solar energy is renewable. The sun is the world's most abundant energy source, producing an amazing 173,000 terawatts of solar energy every second. That is more than 10,000 times the world's total combined energy use, and it can be used repeatedly.

Whereas, fossil fuels are non-renewable and while they may seem in abundance today, there will come a time when the world will run out or the cost of finding and extracting these sources will become too expensive. At that time, the resulting damage to our financial infrastructure and environment may be unrepairable. Switching to solar today is the best way to hedge against the reality of finite fuel resources.

Solar energy reduces respiratory and cardio health issues

One of the biggest benefits of solar energy is that it produces very few air pollutants. According to the experts, widespread solar adoption would significantly reduce nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter emissions, all of which cause health problems. Among other health benefits, solar power results in fewer cases of chronic bronchitis, respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and lost workdays related to health issues.

In addition, generating electricity from renewable energy will offer significant health benefits. The use of wind, solar, and hydroelectric systems positively impact electricity and water resources which affect daily human lives.

Solar is rapidly becoming one of the desirable options for power across the globe, therefore with proper research and investments, renewable energy is becoming a staple source of energy while reducing costs, as consumers continue to recognize the need for clean, renewable energy.