A commercial solar array does not stop generating after 25 years. The average panel degrades by around 0.5% each year, so a system installed on day one is typically still producing roughly 87% of its original output twenty five years later. The real planning question for a Finance Director or Operations Manager is not whether the array survives that long. It is what happens to those panels, and what the business is required to do, once they are retired.
Solar panels are a long term investment and it's prudent to keep the system in good working order. Like a car needs an MOT, or a boiler an annual service, a much larger investment the size of a solar array is definitely worth checking periodically to ensure everything is ticking over. There are several reasons for doing this, read on for why you should get your panels serviced and cleaned regularly.
Topics: Maintenance, Solar PV, Inverters
