How Long Do Solar Panels Last?

Solar panels are a great source of green energy and a wonderful way to provide an efficient and renewable source of electricity for your home or business. As time continues to march onward, more and more people are installing solar panels and utilizing the powerful energy of the sun. A common question asked by those new to using solar panels is about how long solar panels will last after they purchase them.

Life Expectancy

Solar panels, like almost everything in our lives, have a life expectancy of their own. Though, like most things in our lives with a life expectancy, just because it reaches that life expectancy does not mean it will automatically stop working or immediately break and warrant a full replacement of your solar panel. So just what is the life expectancy of a solar panel?

In general, when one is purchasing a solar panel or a few solar panels, you typically expect that your solar panel is going to be a long-term investment, something which will be around for a long time and fulfil its purpose without breaking down every other month. Your solar panel will usually come with quite a long life expectancy, usually backed by a guarantee for it to function for the entire life expectancy. 

The average solar panel life expectancy is generally around 25 years or so, with some offering a longer life expectancy and others offering a shorter life expectancy for your solar panel. This means that you can usually expect your solar panel to function properly without any issues for over two decades.

What Happens When a Solar Panel Reaches Its Life Expectancy?

So many things in our lives have a life expectancy of their own and continue functioning just fine after they reach their respective life expectancy. On the other hand, there are things in our lives that almost completely cease all functionality once the life expectancy has been reached. 

Luckily, solar panels are like the former products in our lives, often continuing to work quite well after the clock has completed its countdown on its life expectancy. When a solar panel reaches its life expectancy, it means that it will start to degrade over time from that point on, becoming less efficient as the years continue to go by.

This degradation and loss of efficiency are determined by the fact that the solar panel will slowly produce less energy over time than what is considered “efficient” for the average household. However, you do not have much need to be worried about this degradation of energy production for quite a few years, as the loss of efficient energy production happens at a very slow rate of only roughly 0.5% per year. This means that, theoretically, after 20 or so more years, your solar panel will be producing about 10% less electricity than it did when you purchased it, leaving you with only 90% of the energy production it should be outputting around 45 years after you purchased the solar panel, 25 years after its guaranteed life expectancy.

How to Maintain Your Solar Panel 

Keeping your solar panel properly maintained and cared for may play a large factor in the life expectancy of your solar panel, allowing it to function as efficiently as possible while using the least amount of effort for it to do so. Not maintaining and caring for your solar panel may result in a low energy output or even your solar panel needing repairs you cannot perform yourself, costing you what could be a potentially large amount of money.

Examine Your Solar Panel Regularly

You should be sure to take time regularly to look over your solar panel and inspect it to make sure there is nothing obviously wrong with it. This can help you catch any issues as soon as possible and allows you to see if any other routine maintenance needs to be done at that time.

Cleaning Your Solar Panel Regularly

You should make sure you clean your solar panel regularly, especially if you live in an area or climate that may leave your solar panel regularly covered by debris or air-born particles. Be sure to remove any leaves, branches, and pine needles. Do not forget to regularly wash your solar panel off so that its glass panelling may catch the most solar energy. You can use a garden hose or a bucket of water and a rag to clear off any sand, dirt, dust, or pollen that may accumulate on your solar panel. If you live in a region where it snows during the winter months, make sure you are removing the snow from your solar panel as well.

Know When to Call in the Experts

Oftentimes, people do not want to call in experts to fix an issue they are currently having with something, whether it is mechanical, plumbing, or a myriad of other issues, and instead try their best to fix the issue themselves.

While you may be successful at fixing a problem yourself, you should leave any technical issues and repairs on your solar panel to trusted professionals, as solar panels can be quite the investment and with how complicated some of the issues may be, the best decision you can make to help increase or maintain the life expectancy of your solar panel is to call in someone else to fix it. 

Most often, when you are purchasing a solar panel, quite a few companies have a maintenance package or bundle available for you. This package or bundle exists because many solar panel providers partner with a few trusted companies which are located in different areas to provide maintenance and check-ups on your solar panel to help ensure that your solar panel provides you with the best electricity output it possibly can for as long as it can.

Solar panels are expected to have an average life expectancy of 25 years, though, with proper care and maintenance, they can continue to serve you with little loss of efficiency in the following years, providing you with decades more years of faithful service with only about a 0.5% decay in the efficiency of their energy output.