If you want to install solar panels on your home or business, one of your first questions is going to be simply whether they’re a good investment or not.
There are a few factors that can affect the economics of solar panels for your home or business, including how long they will take to pay off. And there are other, non-monetary reasons why installing solar panels is a good idea, like sustainability and energy independence. Overall, solar panels are worthwhile for almost everyone in the long run. A commercial or residential solar installation will eventually pay for itself, and will provide you with clean, trustworthy, and cheap electricity for decades.
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Of course, that’s what you might expect a solar installation company to say. But we can back up our claims with a few simple facts about solar panel installations. Cromwell Solar has been installing solar panels in Kansas and Missouri for over 40 years, and we’ve seen the advantages of solar panels confirmed time and time again. Read on and let us show you why solar panels are worth it.
What’s the Average Solar Panel ROI?
Your average return on investment (ROI) for solar panels will depend on a few factors. How many solar panels you have installed, your average energy usage and cost, and weather can all play a role in how much money solar panels save over their lifetime. If financed, monthly payments for solar panel installation are typically lower than your monthly utility bill meaning you start saving money immediately.
For cash purchasers, most people will pay off their solar panel installation within 8-12 years, and even less if they take advantage of incentives like the federal solar tax credit. Considering that adding solar panels has been shown to increase your home’s value by as much or more than the installation cost of the panels, payback on solar panel installation can be said to be instantaneous. With solar panels lasting for more than 40 years, you’ll have multiple decades to watch your solar ROI grow.
A home solar installation from Cromwell Solar.
How Sustainable Are Solar Panels?
Solar panel installations let you create your own electricity instead of needing to take it from the grid. Instead of using power generated by greenhouse-gas-emitting coal or natural gas power plants, you’re turning energy from the sun into renewable and plentiful solar energy.
Solar panels make up for the emissions used in creating them in about five years, far less than their useable lifetime. Exactly how much carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gasses you’ll keep out of the atmosphere by switching to solar varies depending on how your area’s power is generated. For example, 66% of electricity in Missouri is generated by coal, and 9% by natural gas, meaning you’d be making your carbon footprint for electricity around 75% more sustainable by switching to solar.
On average, installing solar panels on your house offers sustainable energy equal to taking one car off the road per year or planting about 4,000 trees. Solar power also doesn’t require water for generating electricity, as many traditional power plants do, cutting down on water usage.
How Long Do Solar Panels Last?
Solar panels are not used up in the process of creating electricity from sunlight. Solar panel installations using Tier 1 solar panels and components, the highest quality rating offered, can last more than 40 years. Solar panels do lose around 0.5% of efficiency every year. But after 20 years, your solar panels are warrantied to still be generating 90% as much electricity as when they were first installed.
Home solar panels from Cromwell Solar.
Is Solar Panel Maintenance Difficult?
Solar panels require little to no regular maintenance to continue providing cheap, sustainable energy for you. While in some arid areas solar panels are recommended to be periodically cleaned, the regular rains in Kansas and Missouri naturally do the cleaning for us meaning no required cleaning of solar panels in our area.
If your solar panels do get damaged, which is unlikely, as top-tier panels are quite strong, they can be easily repaired or replaced. Solar panels are built to last for more than 40 years with little necessary work on your part, meaning you can rely on having sustainable power for more than four decades.
New Solar Panel Technology Means More Efficiency
When home solar panels first became popular, many commercial designs achieved around 15% efficiency. That means 15% of the total energy in the sunlight hitting the panels was turned into electricity.
Today, home solar panels are over 50% more efficient than those early solar panels , and will slowly become even more efficient in the future. New silicon-perovskite solar panels announced by researchers this year achieved better than 30% efficiency, while other solar panel technologies created in the lab are nearing 50% efficiency. Waiting to put more efficient panels on your house may not be a smart idea, however. More efficient panels mean potentially one less panel on your roof but not a real cost difference. Additionally, these new solar panel technologies may take some time to make it to market and could be very expensive, while installing solar panels now means you can begin saving immediately.
Cromwell can also install solar panels on your carport, garage, or pergola.
Solar Panels Mean No Blackouts
Solar systems include inverters that turn the electricity a solar panel generates into usable AC power, and today often include battery systems that store that power for later use. Solar panels typically produce more power than is needed for your home or business, so extra power can be stored or sold back to the grid.
That extra power, stored in a battery backup like a Tesla Powerwall, can be used at night when solar panels don’t produce energy, or during periods when the grid is down.
Solar battery systems can ensure seamless power even during blackouts that cut power to nearby buildings. Adding a generator can often provide even more stability, including in the event of longer blackouts. Solar systems integrating solar panels and batteries offer true energy independence and mean you’re not reliant on the power grid.
Why You Should Trust Cromwell Solar With Your Solar Installation
Cromwell Solar is one of the one of the oldest operating solar panel installers in the nation. We have been installing solar panel systems for almost 40 years in Kansas, and Missouri.
Cromwell Solar has experience in installing over 23 MW of solar at more than 3,000 unique installations ranging from small offgrid to muti-megawatt installations. We use only the highest rated Tier 1 solar panels and equipment, and our design and installation teams consist of North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP®) and licensed electricians, complemented by a staff of engineers and administrative support with decades of industry experience.
Cromwell Solar offers complete energy solutions including battery storage and automatic backup generators as well as EV chargers and power monitoring. Contact us today for a free quote for solar panel installation.