Solar Technology FAQs
What is the “break even” point on a solar panel?
There are actually two distinct breaking points for solar panels. One is energy cost, and the other is monetary cost. Up until the mid nineties, solar panels actually produced less energy over their lives than it took to produce them. This meant that as an energy source they were completely unrealistic. Breakthroughs in durability changed that, and today a panel will recoup its energy investment in 2-3 years.
So if that’s the energy breaking point, what is the cost one?
There is an obvious discrepancy between what it costs a company to make a solar panel in energy, and how much that panel will be sold for. The company has to pay for machinery, overhead, and skilled workers to produce the panels, and these costs are passed on to the customer who buys the panel. So while the panel will recoup the energy investment in a mere 3 years, it takes 5-6 years for it to produce enough energy to offset the cost of an average panel to the customer. That figure is arrived at by comparing the price of fossil fuel driven energy and extrapolating it out over time to get a date.
So I need six years just to recoup the cost of my solar panel, is it even worth buying them then?
Absolutely! As mentioned earlier, significant strides have been made in solar panel durability. Current panels are designed to last at least 10 years. Even if you assume that the panels give out at 10 years; that equals a forty percent savings over grid supplied power! The other assumption is that there won’t be any spikes in energy cost over the next decade. History tells us that is a faulty assumption, there are energy crises about once every 10 to 15 years, and prices don’t recede all the way to pre-crisis levels afterwards. So if a spike occurs after buying a panel, you further increase your savings over grid power.
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