Blog Post: How Long Will a Solar Panel Continue to Make Electricity?

Many people are concerned with the length of time a solar electric system will continue to produce electricity. The answer is that the system will probably be making electricity long after we have all gone to see our maker.

A crystalline solar panel will lose about ½ of 1% per year in production capability.  That means that after twenty years, the system will still be making 90% of the amount of electricity that it made on the day it was installed on your roof. And in forty years, it will still be making 80% of its original production.  Even better, there are no moving parts, nothing to break, nothing to maintain. The solar panels will just sit up on the roof and produce electricity for the rest of our lives.

The crystalline solar technology has been in existence for the last forty years, and most of the panels that were installed then, are still operating throughout the country. Of course, the panels that are made today are far superior to those of yester-year. But the technology is the same, and it is time tested.

Considering that a solar electric system will typically “pay for itself” in five to seven years, and it’s life expectancy is over forty years, that will be at least 33 years of free power and no electric bill.