Solar Power - Not So Sunny - Part 3

This is the third in a series of blogs about #Solar power.  The deeper I dig, the more I find out, so I don't know when this will end.

Solar panels just sit there - there are no moving parts, there are no levers to pull or knobs to turn, so it seems that they might just produce electricity forever...

There are only a few articles out there that tell you how much solar panels degrade - on average - about 1% per year.  That means for each Kilowatt your panels produce, each year they will produce less and less power for you.  So, it follows that the first year you use solar will be the best year ever.  Every year after that, your power output decreases.  Here is a chart that shows how much power output is warranted by several solar power panel producers:

This degradation is covered in the lease - as a matter of fact, the lease under-promises so much that it is almost funny.  Remember Mr. and Mrs. Smith?  Their system is supposed to produce 9 Kilowatts of power.  In Arizona, the sun shines nearly every day for at least 8 hours.  The system should easily produce 72 Kilowatts per day.  The lease promises nearly 15,000 Kilowatts to be produced Annually, which sounds like a lot, until you discover that 15,000 Kilowatts is only 200 days worth of energy production - or just a little over 6 months of power.

So, the warranty is nearly worthless.  The power produced by the Smith's solar system could be cut nearly in half, and the warranty would still hold.  They would still be paying the same lease amount, their bills from their power company could double, and they would have no recourse.

At the end of the lease, the system is only warranted for 12,000 Kilowatts annually - nearly 25% less than originally promised.  That means the amount paid to the power company will go up proportionately, and their "savings" will decrease.

Let's pretend that a car had a warranty on gas mileage like solar systems have a warranty on Kilowatts produced.  A car that gets 20 MPG brand new would only be warranted for 15 MPG by the end of the warranty period.  Is that OK with you?

Yes, there is still more to come!


#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman