Life expectancy of photovoltaic solar panels

[dede2002]

I think there are a lot of panels still functional in the 5.000 t of recycled solar panels. Someone to confirm?

...

I would even say more ... I think that in non-functional panels the majority of cells are still functional.

It would be enough "to" take them apart and reassemble them ... Too much work, of course, yet a lot of people are complaining about not having work ...?

[phil59]

Panels which we do not know the source = big risk of fire, we do not know how it was assembled, disassembled, stored ....

But, if we take precautions, and put at the bottom of the garden, with nothing nearby, etc .... I will take the risk, me ....

[Nathan from Le Havre]

Normally a solar panel on the paper (if all goes well) is 30 years excluding extreme weather conditions, fire, tree falling on your roof etc ...

on the other hand, as specified https://izi-by-edf.fr/blog/panneaux-solaires-duree-vie/ in this article. It is the quality of the energy return output that will deteriorate over time

[Christophe]

That's it Nathan, it's exactly like for humans: if we don't die of an accident, we will be less efficient from a certain age!

[ENERC]

In fact it's a little more complex than that: there are several factors involved:
- the degradation of photovoltaic cells is of the order of 0,2 to 0,3% per year. Which makes 12% loss over 40 years. The problem is that we have little data on panels that are more than 10 years old. But on the panels produced 10 years ago this is what we can see.
- but that's not all: the main factor of loss of production is fouling panels: moss near the frame, hard-to-unhook lichen which attaches to the glass (this is my case), soil which attaches to the bottom of the panel, pollens which bind permanently and which does not leave only when brushing, etc ...
- shade of growing trees
- brambles, nettles, etc. when it is placed on the ground
- we have breakdowns on the junction boxes. There are the vagaries of electronics. The MTBF is high, but sometimes we are unlucky and a crame junction box. it remains rare.
- connector that oxidizes if badly crimped or of poor quality
- we have cables cut by the animal world (personal a weasel ate a cable - a 4 mm2 cut with the insulation gnawed on several cm)
- inverters are also more or less reliable - I had one in which the power stage literally exploded. A pile of plastic at the bottom of the box when opening - but changed free of charge because still under warranty (10 years for high power inverters).

All that to say that a panel is part of a system that includes several components and that you have to follow the installation to make small repairs when you have a problem.
But it is true that the most reliable part is the solar panel itself. We have no more hassles with connectors and inverters.