How long do PV solar panels last?
The most successful corporations of the 21st-century are now adopting PV solar panels (photovoltaic) because of their longevity.
Despite them being late to the party with British homeowners and farmers pioneering the way forward with over 1 million PV installations in the UK thus so far. Nowadays, the corporate world is adopting alternative technologies as a critical component to their operations – why?
Photovoltaic panels generate power for over three decades plus with solar cells produced in the 1960s that are still providing power today – unbelievably. Yes, I said over three decades. Very few technologies can claim such an accolade.
In a landmark announcement, Amazon’s initiative to generate electricity for its operations by installing PV solar panels and battery storage units on all its distribution centres across the UK is a demonstrable reason for homeowners to follow suit.
With an installed capacity of 20MW, Amazon expects the solar panels to generate the equivalent amount of electricity required to power over 4,500 UK homes and will reduce its carbon footprint by 6000 tones of CO2 annually.
When the world’s most successful companies including Apple, Facebook, Google, and Disney that are now viewing PV solar technology as an integral part of their operations, then homeowners must look again at this technology without prejudice. At these monster sites, the batteries will be charged at times of low demand and will be contributing to its electricity needs when demand is at its highest.
Additionally, in the far reaches of Northern Lancashire, United Utilities are currently constructing the first floating solar farm. If corporations and energy companies can now see PV solar as a financially sound asset, then as a homeowner; you need to take a closer look too.
China too has just completed the world’s largest floating solar park – it’s awesome. This same setup as Amazon’s can work on smaller-scale domestic systems too – with or without battery storage capabilities.
Previous PV solar adopters in the UK didn’t have the option of battery storage, but the interest for battery storage to complement their existing systems is now starting to grow too.
The question of subsidies brought into question is plain stupid.
Our current government belittles PV subsidies publicly, yet gives massive subsidies to corporations like Amazon, Google, and Facebook and those institutions use those subsidies to future proof their operations with PV.
Somethings you can’t make up. You could say, these already wealthy companies are future-proofing their operations because energy costs in the UK will continue to rise like Al Gore’s hockey stick graph.
The government’s subsidies and tax breaks allow them to bring down the operating cost substantially over a three-decade-plus timespan. Large and medium-scale PV solar farms are now appearing without the fledgling subsidies of previous years. Ultimately, building with long-term planning in mind.
So literally, the bottom line is that PV solar panels are more of a strategy than a product.
Savvy adopters of PV in previous years did so look towards the horizon too. Energy-wise, that horizon has thunderclouds as we float aimlessly on the hazardous geopolitical ocean. Your household’s view of expenses and Brexit planning may need to follow these cutting-edge companies through the choppy seas of the 21st-century.
The corporate bottom line trumps everything, including the biosphere. So, when these powerhouses of capitalism see solar technology as profitable, then a precipice has truly been conquered.
The solar naysayers of yesteryear diminish over time. Profoundly, it’s better to believe nothing than something that’s not true. Welcome to the corporate-led solar century – finally. Here’s to acknowledging the 800,000 British homeowners and farmers that were the original tip of the alternative energy spear over the last decade; after Germany.
Is Scottish Power taking the Mickey?
If the choppy seas of the 21st-century, do not sell them to you, then Mickey Mouse’s eye on profit should be a sign to invest in photovoltaic systems that’s visible from space.
Scottish Power is to develop a sizeable UK-based PV portfolio of solar farms following their decision to divest from fossil fuels. But, the UK doesn’t get enough sunshine propaganda can finally lay to rest!
Ten years of anti-solar rhetoric by press barons with fossil fuel energy investments is blown out of the water by the UK’s most northerly regional supplier opting to create a Smart-Grid.
Ironically, our nation has been garnishing multinational corporations with direct and indirect subsidies that are used to invest in PV technologies, while government policy aggressively diminishes support for its own citizens.
A Smart-Grid fit for the 21st-century will grow organically with or without governmental support. By looking at what tech-giants do is the illuminated path forward (solar powered of course).
Today, a ScottishPower spokesperson said: “PV solar has seen major cost reductions, and we are actively seeking opportunities for solar in the UK”.
There you go, you’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth.
Corporations and a progressive energy company with a laser-pointed eye on the bottom line are telling you the future is solar panels on your roof to escape the poultry battery farm system that today’s energy consumption has become.
Continuing to rely on fossil fuels for your home’s energy requirement is a dead duck over the long-term timescale of photovoltaic panels lifespan. The world is changing fast, and Brexit could be yet another stress factor on your annual energy expenditure.
Given the extended lifespan of the average human being in the 21st-century, adopting solar panels into your family is an easy decision to make once you learn the real benefits over a minimum of three decades of service that solar technology provides. PV’s strength comes from its’ longevity, and like cloud servers with connectivity joining together to create something as awesome as The Internet, PV’s potential can look like energy-producing Interweb too.
Grandchildren and children of the first motor vehicle owners used to brag that their forebears were the first motor vehicle owners. Pride propelled the 20th-century forwards towards the world we see today.
PV and EVs could be the focus of pride for the youngsters looking back in this century – maybe?.
That’s how long solar panels last.