Agreed.

As I say, it's just the idea of 1.5m can't be wrong that is wrong. More so coming from a newspaper that depends on the success of marketing for its revenue.

Approx 2% of a population can definitely be sold a crock of shit if the marketing is good. Just look at the numbers who voted Trump in the US or Reform in the UK.

Honestly, if solar Balconies produced 30% of the nations' electricity, then it would be very impressive.

But while Germany producing 54% clean energy is bloody impressive. Honestly, 30% is likely to be solar as a whole, not just balcony solar.

The number of locations where the low sun would be inline to balconies is limited. Due to urban conditions. Mainly only higher flats over the average city line and rural areas.

And while in those higher or rural flats. The low sun may shine the correct way 30% of the day (if the panels can tilt). For that to generate 30% of the flats use over a whole year. Would take a pretty big balcony. The best panels available commercially nowadays are <300w per m2. So most balconies would have 600 to 1200w max. The whole side of the flat would likely be 4x to 6x times that.

I'd guess it's still worth doing. (def the whole side of the building thing) Mainly because the panels are so freaking cheap atm. It's the cost of bats and volt/current/charge management that would be the greatest cost part. But for most users. 30% from balcony alone is not realistic.

I dont understand. These people can just install more switches to solve this problem, right?

We were just dumb before and thought power was unidirectional. Now we have evolved into a decentralized grid. So we just need to add another switch to cut off power coming out of every room, building, etc. Right?

That seems like the obvious long-term, safest solution.

that's so dangerous...

That's so cool!

They don't drop from 100% to 80% year 26. It's a gradual but accelerating slide, with 80% still warranted at the end of the timeframe.

That doesn't make PV a bad investment; overselling it puts people in the sceptic camp, though, which is what we're seeing in this thread.

If you think this is going to help climate change at all, then you have been seriously made led by corporations trying to sell you shitty solar panels. insane is that you think a solar panel will have any microscopic impact.

Do you expect a fridge to work in six years?

Yes, I expect household appliances to last at least a decade. My current fridge is from 2004, and whilst it will probably need replacing soon, 20 years is not an unreasonable run.

Honestly, it depends on what you spend. Many high-end fridges in Europe come with 10 year manufacturer's warrantee. And EU law requires manufacturers to provide parts for 10 years on such goods. So honestly yeah.

That said, cheaper ones tend to make it past 5 (mine is 8 years old) without maintenance. And if I had to replace it 3 times in 10 years, it would still be cheaper than getting the expensive ones. (worse for the environment)

As for solar panels. I am about to replace the one on my boat. It is well over 5 years old and still works. I'm replacing it because I can get 2 410w huge panels for way less than the 100w one cost the past boat owner.

6 years really is nothing for a solar panel. My new ones came with a 20-year warrantee. (something like 85% after 20 year). High-end ones are better.

The 2 MPPTs are likely to need replacing first. But again, 6 years may be well beyond their warrantee. But is reasonable to expect. The lifepo4 battery should just manage 10 years. Before losing significant storage. But that is with the BMS set to keep them from 10-90% charge.

So no, 6 years is a very reasonable time to expect from solar.

EDIT: In a house setup. It is the inverter that is most likely to need replacing. But again, 6 years is more than likely for a quality one.

On my boat, the vast majority of the equipment is 12v, as it's just more efficient. But the cheap (very) Chinese inverter did not last a year. So yeah they can be cheap crap if you don't get good ones. But we don't really use it much. So haven't bother replacing it yet. Will do so this summer.