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Solar modules deployed in France in 1992 still provide 75.9% of original output power (www.pv-magazine.com)

submitted 5 months ago by schizoidman@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] nailingjello@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Newer panels are generally much more efficient and produce more electricity compared to old panels.

The 80% after 25 years might be their warranty, my panels have a similar warranty on them. If they start producing less than 80% of their original output before 25 years, the manufacturer will replace them (or something like that).

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes, I'm looking at the paperwork and I'm realizing that you're right, 80% at 25 is the warranty guarantee, so I'm guessing they're confident it'll typically be much better than 80 at 25

[–] dan@upvote.au 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

It's a very conservative estimate, as manufacturers really don't want to deal with warranty claims.

One part of solar system design is often to undersize the inverter a bit, so you might not see any degradation in the first few years at all. The logic there is that the electricity lost to clipping during peak times of the year doesn't make up for the higher cost of a larger inverter.

Try to avoid SolarEdge inverters if you can. Enphase is really good and has a local API (so you can pull data into Home Assistant and other apps without going via the cloud) with a bunch of data, including per-panel production. Fronius and SMA are good too. Everyone I know with SolarEdge inverters has had issues with them though.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Any thoughts on a set of APsystems DSL3-L inverters? That's what I'm quoted for. I'm in Canada so no idea what the inverter market is here

[–] dan@upvote.au 1 points 5 months ago

Never heard of them so I'm not sure, sorry!

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

This is amazing, because I do have HA running and I do want to pull data. I'll look into what their plan is to see if I can make any last minute adjustments.

Assuming data is sent in the clear over any medium which I can get a receiver for I think I'd be ok, I am planning on getting a software defined radio on my HA in the near future

[–] dan@upvote.au 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

For Enphase, the data is available via a HTTP API. The combiner box (their hardware that all the inverters connect to) connects to your network via wifi or Ethernet, and you can hit its IP directly.

Unfortunately it's kinda-cloud-dependent these days. The API used to take a basic username and password, nice and simple. Now, you need to hit a cloud API to get an access token (and periodically refresh it). The API is entirely local once you have the access token though, and there's no problem with polling the data once per second.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Probably like tire warranties: prorated for expected life, and not including installation cost