What Can Solar Panels Be Used For

An Example Of Solar Depreciation Benefits

Lets figure out the MACRS depreciation for a solar system that costs $300,000 before incentives. As long as you install this system in 2021, youll be able to take advantage of the Federal Solar Incentive Tax Credit at 26%. But since we have to calculate depreciation with half of the tax credit reducing the depreciable cost basis, well have to take 13% off the cost of the system to get the basis of depreciation. We can do this by multiplying the cost by 87%, which gives us $261,000.

Next, youll need to know your federal and state tax brackets. For this example, well use a 24% federal tax rate and a 7% state tax.

To calculate federal tax savings from depreciation, multiply the $261,000 by 24%. Because you can take advantage of 100% of this in the first year, youll enjoy $62,640 in tax savings the year that your solar system is placed into service.

To get state savings, multiply $261,000 by your state tax rate, which in this case is 7%. Youll get $18,270 spread over the 5-year MACRS schedule..

That means a total savings from depreciation of $80,910. In this example, thats just about 27% of the entire systems cost!

You wont get all of this in year one, but you will get most of it! With 100% bonus depreciation, you will receive all of the federal depreciation and the first years state depreciation according to the five-year MACRS schedule as follows:

Do Some States Get More Solar Energy Than Others

Obviously, some states get more sun than others. So the real question is: if weather can affect solar energy production, are some states better candidates for solar energy than others? The short answer is yes, but not necessarily because of weather.

Take clouds for example. Anyone who has been sunburned on a cloudy day knows that solar radiation penetrates through clouds. For that same reason, solar panels can still produce electricity on cloudy days. But depending on the cloud cover and the quality of the solar panels, the efficiency of the solar panels electricity production commonly drops from 10 to 25 percent or more compared to a sunny day.

In other words, solar power can still work well in typically cloudy, cold locations. New York, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Boston, Seattle – all of those cities experience inclement weather, from rain and fog to blizzards, yet they’re also cities where people see huge savings by getting solar.

No matter where you live, solar energy can be an excellent investment and an excellent way to help combat climate change. How much you’ll save – and how quickly you’ll see a return on your investment in a particular state – depends on many factors, like the cost of electricity, solar incentives available, net metering, and the quality of your solar panels.

How Solar Panels Work

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Solar panels act as a way to mount a series of solar cells so that their unique properties can be used to generate electricity. Individual cells absorb from the Sun, which results in the production of an electric current in the cell through a phenomenon known as the . An inverter is used to convert thedirect current generated by a solar panel into alternating current. Combined, these two technologies create a photovoltaic system. When installing a solar panel, the proper orientation is chosen so that the solar panel faces in a direction that is most suitable for the specific application. This is most often to produce the maximum annual energy, but is not always the case.

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Ingots & Wafers: The Backbone Of Solar Cells

Several types of wafers are cut from the ingots: monocrystalline, polycrystalline and silicon ribbons. They differ in terms of their efficiency in conducting sunlight and the amounts of waste they produce.

Monocrystalline wafers are thinly cut from a cylindrical ingot that has a single-crystal structure, meaning that it is comprised of a pure, uniform crystal of silicon. A diamond saw is used to cut the wafers off the cylinder, resulting in a circular shape. However, since circles dont fit tightly together, the circular wafers are further cut into rectangle or hexagonal shapes, resulting in wasted silicon from the pieces that are removed. According to GreenRhinoEnergy.com, this wasted silicon can be recycled into polysilicon and recut. Researchers are trying to find ways to create monocrystalline cells without so much cutting and waste.

Polycrystalline, sometimes called multicrystalline, ingots are made of multiple crystal structures. They may produce less waste, but they are not as efficient as monocrystalline. The ingots are cube-shaped because they are made from melted silicon poured into a shaped cast. This means the wafers can be cut directly into the desired shape, creating less waste.

How A 100% Green Electricity Plan Is A Great Alternative To Solar Panels

With its perpetually sunny climate, Texas ranks in the top 10 U.S. states in its cumulative solar capacity. As a result, the Texas solar industry has grown rapidly in terms of electricity generation and the number of people it employs. With it, household enthusiasm for solar panels has also increased. However, the two main concerns people have when it comes to solar panel installation are production capacity and costs.

Solar panels in residential settings currently face limitations since most homes have no way of storing extra solar power on sunny days when solar panels create more electricity than the home can use. Thankfully, further technological progress will likely address this storage problem, as it plagues the entire industry.

In regard to costs, regular electricity companies can offer lower rates on traditional electricity plans than those powered by solar energy because of an economic concept called economies to scale. In essence, the costs for each additional unit of output decrease as more output is created. In other words, because more households are connected to the Texas electricity grid than use solar panels, the average cost of electricity is lower for each household than it would be with individual solar panels.

Click here to learn how Chariot Energy is cutting out the middlemen and providing customers 100% clean, renewable solar energy.

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Annual Savings When Using The Electricity You Generate

Most households will use about 15-25% of the energy you generate, though this can change quite dramatically based on:

• Whether you work from home.
• How many people are at home during the day.
• Whether you have an electric vehicle.
• Whether you heat your home or hot water using a heat pump or other electrical heating.
• Whether your cooking is done using electricity.

Instead of sending surplus electricity to the grid, a PV diverter switch can power the immersion heater in your hot water tank, storing hot water for you to use later. On its own, excess solar energy is unlikely to meet all of your hot water needs, but it can help reduce your bills.

Hot Air Solar Systems

There are also full-house heating systems that use hot air rather than water or another liquid as the medium for moving warmth around the house. These systems work by gathering the air that has been heated by the sun beating down on a roof or an exposed wall, and circulating it through the home. For example, clay roof tiles may have air channels built into it that allow the warmed air to circulate.

Houses that use hot air solar heating often have roof or siding surfaces designed to absorb heat. Many systems have some form of a powered circulating fan to distribute warm air. These systems are often designed to heat single rooms only. You can see this type of system as a much more sophisticated version of the old-fashioned sunroom, which was kept warm by sunlight beating down through large windows and heating up a stone or ceramic tile floor.

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In Case Of A Power Outage Your Solar Panels Will Keep You Supplied With Energy

The grid-tied system is also known as the grid interactive solar panel system since it can send excess electricity to the grid. If you are not using all the electricity produced by your solar panels, any extra will automatically be sent to the grid and credited back to your account. This means that you will not have to worry about storing excess energy since any extra from the solar panels will automatically be fed into the grid and your account credited back.

Freezer Solar Panel Requirements

To be clear, this guide is for freezers only, and does not include refrigerators with freezers. We have a separate guide if you want to run a refrigerator on solar power. While there are all kinds of freezers, it is possible to use the following guidelines and determine how much solar power you will need

The formula is: find the freezer power consumption in watts and add 20%. The result is the minimum solar panel size you should use. The following chart shows the most common freezer sizes, their power consumption and the minimum solar panels required.

Solar panel power output should be rounded off to the nearest size available. If a 9 cu. ft. freezer requires 144 watts of solar power, get a 150W PV module. We recommend the Newpowa 160W solar panel as it is made of high quality monocrystalline and can be used in homes, RVs and boats.

If your 15 cu. ft. freezer needs 528 watts, two 275W or 300W solar panels will do. A good choice would be the Huajin 300W flexible solar panel as it has a high efficiency rating and works in different environments.

As you may have noticed the power consumption varies quite a bit. That is because freezers come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and designs. Some models are also more energy efficient than others.

Freezer power consumption is affected by several factors, so under certain conditions a freezer may consume power than what you might expect. This is particularly true if the freezer is full.

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Best Quality Small Cost

Cost: $103.44 Buy Now

The Renogy 100W 12V solar panel is a great option. At 21%, it is a high efficiency monocrystalline panel manufactured by a reputable solar panel company.

There are pre-drilled holes for easy drilling to a mount on your boat. If you have space to secure solar panels to a mount, the Renogy panels will help you maximize energy output.

Economical Than The Off

The battery-backed solar panel system is more affordable than the off-grid solar panel system. It costs a lot less since you will not need any batteries and inverters to connect your appliances to your panels. All your appliances will be directly powered by the electricity from the grid, which makes it very efficient and simple to run.

Also Check: How To Convert Your Home To Solar Energy

Smart Blinds And Solar Panels

Smart blinds on their own are a fantastic way to increase energy efficiency in your smart home. Did you know that by adding a solar panel to your smart blinds you can increase their energy efficiency?

At SmartWings, we offer you the option to add a solar panel charger to your smart blinds purchase. This addition will not only make it so you dont have to worry about charging the blinds, but you will be powering your smart blinds with a clean, renewable source of energy.

Lets look at how solar panels power smart blinds and why it is a good addition to your smart blind window treatments.

Alternatives To Covering Solar Panels When Not In Use

By now you can see why solar panels dont need to be covered when not in use, butalso why they can be covered when not in use.

As it turns out, there are actually some alternatives to covering your solar panelswhile not in use. So, if you dont feel like you want or need to cover yoursolar panels, but still feel like you want to offer more protection to them,there are some other solutions. Lets get into it!

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Silicon Production And Mining Facts

• 430,000: Metric tons of silicon mined in 2018 in the U.S.

• 90%: The percent of modules sold today that use silicon.

• 468 billion: Global semiconductor sales in 2018.

• China, Russia and the U.S. are the biggest silicon producers.

Silicon trends are on the rise and are projected to significantly increase in the next 10 years. This abundant resource comes from numerous countries and has many uses solar cell production is just one small part. Sources: USGS, U.S. Department of Energy, Semiconductor Industry Association

What Happens In The Recycling Process

The first step is disassembly and dismantling of the PV array, including cables, steel, aluminum, racking and other electronics . Then, solar panels are packed and transported to recyclers or landfill sites depending on local regulations.

Since most PV systems were installed from 2010 onwards, PV waste quantities are still not as large as to create massive market incentives for investors to install specialized PV recycling plants. Thus, solar panels are typically processed in general recycling plants.

Major components such as glass, aluminum, wiring, and polymers can be easily recycled by merely mechanical separation. Then, to ensure that these materials do not contain high impurity levels that could reduce the resale prices of these materials when getting back to the market, it is necessary to conduct a combination of thermal, chemical, and metallurgical processes.

Regarding the process for the laminated glass component of silicon modules, we can see the steps in the figure below.

IRENA Report End of Life Management

Aluminum, steel frames, and copper from wires can be included in metal recycling loops, while polymers can be processed in waste-to-energy plants. On the other hand, recovering rare or hazardous materials requires advanced processes. Through pyrolysis it is possible to remove the solar cell metallization and dopant layers to cast a new silicon ingot from the silicon material obtained. More detailed steps can be found in the figures below

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Solar Power Creates Jobs And Economic Growth In The Uk

Our national economy can be helped by solar power. The more people who opt for solar, the more needs will be for companies to install solar panels. This creates additional jobs for skilled workers, and consequently keeps the economy growing.

In 2015, for instance, the UK become the second-largest solar employer, with 35,000 people, and the continents largest solar photovoltaic panel installation market.

How Much Do Solar Panels Cost

Prices for solar panels has decreased substantially in the last couple of years. This is great because, combined with the 30$ federal solar Investment Tax Credit and other applicable incentives, NOW is the best time ever to invest in a solar power system. And, consider this: a solar power system costs about the same as a mid-sized car!

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Which Type Of Freezer Is Best For Solar Panels

Our goal of course, is to use the most energy efficient freezer possible. However there are other factors that should be considered because some freezers are designed for particular tasks. See which one below best fits your situation.

Portable Freezers

As the name suggests, these are lightweight freezers designed for picnics, camping, tailgating and generally any outdoor activity. They often use less than 100 watts so a portable solar panel will be enough.

Some portable freezers run on AC, but others use DC power. So check the specs if you will need an inverter. For keeping foods and drinks cold on the go, a portable freezer is often the most sensible option.

Upright Freezers

Upright freezers are available in various sizes ranging from portable to over 18 cubic feet. They consume more power than chest freezers, but its advantage are its organizational shelves.

You can arrange the contents of an upright freezer easily, so no need to dig through the whole thing if you are looking for something. While you will not save as much power compared to a chest freezer, more energy efficient upright freezers are being developed.

Chest Freezer

Chest or deep freezers are shaped like a box and the most popular type available. They are bulky and dont have shelves, but it uses less solar power than upright freezers. Plus they are more affordable.

Hazardous Materials Used On Solar Panels

Some of the materials used to make solar panels can be hazardous to both our health and the environment. Although not ideal, toxic substances are sometimes used to help improve the efficiency and durability of solar energy systems. The following table details some of the hazardous materials that can be found on a solar panel.

As you will see, most of the above only concern thin-film solar technologies. Traditional silicon solar cells are considered safe, but the manufacturing of those cells does produce silicon tetrachloride a highly toxic byproduct harmful to plants and animals. Manufacturers should take steps to reduce the amount of silicon tetrachloride that is released into the surrounding environment.

Whilst there is no denying that solar panels come with their own environmental concerns, using the sun as an energy source is still one of the best things we can do for the environment.

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