In the short run sure. But electricity isn't going to get cheaper. Think of it like prepaying your electricity bill for 15 years, and then after that, it's free.
Don’t solar panels have a life span of like 20 years?
Typically they’re warranted to keep supplying something like 80% at the 20 year mark. They’ll actually keep producing a lot longer than that.
I did not know that. Thanks!
They can however fail like any piece of electronics (source: I owned a panel that failed due to cell foil contact separation).
So I assume the panel was replaced under warranty? Was everything pretty much covered, or maybe you had to pay for some installer labor?
The panels I will be installing guarantee 90% output after 25 years.
The life span of the inverter also needs to be considered
Europe's oldest grid-connected PV system is 35 years old, and still running. Inverters had to be replaced 5 times though.
The problem is that if you ever sell, your home's clearing price won't accurately capture the money you put in, and the value of your solar installation.
I don't plan on selling, but the fact that my home will have $0 electric bill should help swing the price higher.
It should, but it won't swing it up as much as it should, because the market is (currently) irrational.
Well really, if solar keeps getting cheaper and better, electricity will get cheaper too.
(I don't mean to deter you, I dropped 20k on home solar, but it wasn't really for the economics).
Maybe not, given Jevons paradox. Bitcoin is almost a pure manifestation of this.
It's interesting thing to consider really. As solar gets cheaper also the cost of electricity generated when solar power is available gets cheaper. So it might even make sense not to install it yourself, but instead buy it when there is inevitable over production. And price at those times might as well be zero.
But what’s the cost of the externalities of non-renewable energy? Solar isn’t perfect, but at this point I’d say it’s actually cheaper than coal (still nowhere close to nuclear) once we talk about actual costs of using it to make energy.
I also see a payoff in not burning coal / gas for this particular household’s power for decades to come.