Crossposting from r/climate

At a Supsi University campus in Switzerland, a large PV plant (10 kW, large at the time) was built on the roof of one of the technical college buildings. Despite heavy wear and tear, including multiple forms of corrosion, the formation of hot spots on the panels, and cracks and defects in the various connections and cells, most of the array is still capable of producing at least 80% of its rated output after 40 years. This is important because it shows that, unless the modifications to production since that time have changed the situation, then PV cells will likely remain useable and competitive with new builds decades into the future, with older panels possibly having a resale value.

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Alias_The_J:

Crossposting from r/climate

At a Supsi University campus in Switzerland, a large PV plant (10 kW, large at the time) was built on the roof of one of the technical college buildings. Despite heavy wear and tear, including multiple forms of corrosion, the formation of hot spots on the panels, and cracks and defects in the various connections and cells, most of the array is still capable of producing at least 80% of its rated output after 40 years. This is important because it shows that, unless the modifications to production since that time have changed the situation, then PV cells will likely remain useable and competitive with new builds decades into the future, with older panels possibly having a resale value.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/100t97m/pv_cells_still_generally_produce_80_of/j2jovx9/

Solar is like magic. What else can you buy that will deliver year after year for decades afterwards?

It's fusion power, but already here.

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I love calling them Fusion Panels just to mess with people.. but they are too!

I like how it qualifies it with “most” of the array.

51% of the time, it works 80% of the time!

This is 40 years. That's a huge amount of time, especially considering most warranties are ~25 years to 80%.

But there's only a 10% chance of that

Seriously, how likely is it that the components in that particular experiment are similar to the average of mass produced units over 40 years across the globe?

> but already here

Well, in ~8 minutes.

Seems manufacturing methods likely improved over the past 40 years. It might make sense that cells and panels today may have improved more, even.

Improved manufacturing does not necessarily mean better quality. Likely the producers have optimized production cost that reduces yield loss costs and more risk can be taken using more cost effective components without jeopardizing their business case.

The herpes of power production if you will.

The reason this may be is because silicone panels preform relatively well in > 70f weather but start to quickly lose their efficiency at higher temps.

This speaks well to silicone in optimal weather.

Fusion Panels are people?

But in all seriousness you can call them fusion panels. They just collect the energy from the giant fusion plant we call the sun!

Fusion plant wireless power sockets

I'm a little surprised that i haven't seen the online nut jobs complaining about solar going to use all the sun 😄

A good donkey

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the warranty is about 27 years but they may last up to 40 or more years with a little tender care n keep you company

They can be a bit stuborn at times thought

What if we created a biological equivalent. We could call them... plants!

Ah, quadrupedal power cells

We have higher density cells a crack or spot in one now would make them unusable compared to those on that roof.

And even here I have no idea how they could even calculate it, because those cells in the panel are all in series in which case a single antenna shadow would drop power by 30-50% due to internal resistance.

PV panel duarability varies by brand, but even partially delaminated cheapies often still produce power. A friend of mine powers his place with an array built of low-cost old and damaged panels that he picked up nearly free. We'll see more of this ahead.

I think you mean silicon. And the efficiency loss in hot weather isn't terrible. Usually 10-15% at 95 F.

This is a trend I don't quite understand. We have known for a long time that old solar panels continue to produce at most of their rated capacity for decades. But at the same time, I see a huge glut of used solar panels coming mostly from the closure of utility scale solar power plants built in the last 15 to 20 years. I mean, it's GREAT for people who want to install DIY home solar. But are utility scale inverters and other consumables so expensive that it is cheaper to scrap the entire plant after 15 to 20 years of operation?

Inverters wear out much faster than panels do, and new panels are simply much more productive than old ones, so it usually makes sense to just start with new gear that won't give you any surprises.

The output of new panels hasn't risen much above 14% to 19% efficiency. There are a bunch of exotic chemistries, but they are toxic, expensive, and only really used in applications like space probes and the space station. Many of the solar plant closures are happening well before the design lifetime of the plant. It's even worse when you consider the relatively poor EROI of solar panels. These things need to run as long as possible to amortize their embodied energy.

NREL now rates most new panels at 16 - 22% efficiency, and quickly improving. Meanwhile, the EROI payback is now less than two years (the old Weisbach graph that was kicking around for years, showing poor EROI, was based on pre-2010 German data with cloudy skies, northern latitude and far more materials and energy inputs than present panels use).