How Long Do Solar Panels Last?

If you decide to invest in solar, you’ll want to know what exactly you’re getting for your money. And one of the most common questions is… how long do solar panels last? Will I just have to buy a new system when the 25-year warranty ends? 

Well, that's a great question. From the evidence of the panels that have been up and running over the last many years, the answer is, no, you probably won’t have to buy a new system when your warranty ends. 

Let’s think about a car for the sake of comparison. A car doesn’t quit working the day the warranty expires, right? It will most likely have a long life well past the life of its warranty. Most solar panels have a production guarantee of 25 years which means they typically can't go down more than .05% a year. That means they must be at least producing at a percentage of at least 85% by year 25 of the guarantee. And now we’re seeing that 25-year-old solar panels are showing better numbers than that.

In an effort to create excitement around solar, Jimmy Carter commissioned solar systems on several high schools around the United States in the early 1980s. One of those schools included Beverly High in Boston, MA. It’s been over 40 years and that solar system is still operational and  still producing over 90% of what it was rated for when it was installed!

While the technology of solar hasn’t changed, the panels built today are better quality and it is more likely that, in 50 years, a panel will be producing a very high percentage of what it was initially designed to at the time of install. 

In short, the electricity the solar produces will create a savings and level of independence for decades to come and, since electricity doesn’t change, there will not be a need to “upgrade” the tech. Phew! It’s just producing electricity. 

The only change may simply be that you’ll need to add more solar panels as the need for more and more electricity in the home grows with an increase in home electronics, and a dramatic increase in electric consumption with mass adoption of electric vehicles which will be primarily powered by the garage it sits in at night.