PV panel degradation [RE-wrenches]

[Windy Dankoff, Dankoff Solar]

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Keith,

Informal observation of single-crystal modules in New Mexico, dating
back to 1980, indicate that (barring blatent defect, like browning)
the degradation is 1% per year in some, and much less with others. It
might be safe to say the average is <1%.

A lot of that seems to be sand blasting or other factors etching the
surface of the glass. That will vary a lot with climate, I presume.
Ours is probably relatively harsh.

Windy


At 10:55 AM -0400 9/16/03, Jeff Clearwater wrote:
>Hi Keith,
>
>>From what I've seen I think it is less than 1%/yr and I don't think
>it's linear and I think it's dependent on temp and sun hours.  Panels
>seem to level out in loss after an initial loss and then I'm not sure
>what happens after many years in terms of the curve.
>
>Anyone out there with real data?  Keith is right that we should have
>more of a handle on this - both in terms of promotion and in terms of
>figuring it into the economics.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Jeff Clearwater
>Village Power Design
>
>>Hi
>>
>>
>>
>>Does anyone have historical data on pv panel degradation?  Is it safe to
>>say it is ½ to 1% per year?
>>
>>Shouldn’t this be factored into the purchase, from a potential client’s
>>perspective? Let’s say a 150 watt panel hypothetically only puts out 120
>>watts real world, would it be a 1% degradation to get to the 25 year
>>warranty?
>>
>>
>>
>>Thanks for the feedback!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Keith Cronin
>>
>>President
>>
>>Island Energy Solutions
>>
>>318A Kuulei Rd
>>
>>Kailua, HI 96734
>>
>>808-262-3268 Tel
>>
>>808-263-0338 Fax
>>
>>www.islandenergy.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
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>
>
>--
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Jeff Clearwater
>Village Power Design Associates
>Sustainable Energy & Water Solutions for Home & Village
>
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>
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>Founder:  Ecovillage Research, Development, and Demonstration Program:
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>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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