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Old 07-31-21, 10:42 AM   #7
Piwoslaw
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When I read/hear that "PV is now very cheap", I remember something I read recently, related to the boom on PV in Europe and the rest of the world. It stated that among the reasons for the fall in PV prices are not only large-scale production and new technologies, but also companies riding the wave of popularity by producing poor quality panels.
The life expectancy (drop in efficiency) of such panels is half of what the standard was until recently (25-30 years), and this is assuming they survive even moderate hail storms, not to mention short circuits and other failures.

Now, some customers are OK with paying less and getting less, but this moves us even more into the direction of short-lived disposables. This means that in 10-15 years we will see more electronic waste, which will have to be replaced, including all of the energy consuming steps of mining, processing, manufacturing, transporting, etc.

Yes, due to the cheap price of low quality many people can afford PV, who normally would not be able to invest in it. So they will produce energy, somewhat offsetting today's nuclear and fossil pollution, but actually only moving that burden to the next decade.

I dunno, maybe it's still worth it. Or maybe this isn't the right thread.
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