J1nx
Member
- Messages
- 632
- Location
- Somerset UK
Yes those sort of figures can make sense, just a few percent can be worth it. However, most solar farms currently up and running were made back in the 2013 area, these benefit hugely from the feed-in tariffs.Could it not be that putting in more efficient panels allows more generation to be gained say 2.6 % . Figures like that would lead bean counters to think it is a good ROI to replace by more efficient panels and sell off the old ones still at a profit to what they were originally purchased for ?
The tariff contracts are very lucrative and as such any contraventions, such as increasing the agreed output would lead to penalties or even revoked contract. I know it’s crazy but they are deliberately capping output.
One current problem now showing itself is the old ~250W panels all these old farms have installed are not available any more. Bear in mind these panels really need to fit the existing tables (frames) options are limited. Farms are being checked and monitored for installing more powerful panels. These panels are now failing and it’s not a rare event. Impact damage, low Riso reading, delaminating of backing and junction box failure all take panels out of action.
In some cases 2 strings of old panels will be removed and replaced by a single new string, less output but can keep that tariff in most cases.