this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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When I was in grade 9, in 1977, my science teacher told us about his solar panels. He was projecting that they would pay off the investment in about 20 years. How much better must that be now (and we are talking about Ontario, Canada, hardly the best place for solar power)?
This site is slow af to load a measly pdf so im gonna add this screenshot. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35489.pdf
"Current" are the numbers from 2004, anticipated is probably realistic for what we have now. This calculation is not for private installations tho, because those get much less money for each kWh. With huge scale commercial installations 2-3 years is probably realistic. For private installations its still like 10 years for it to pay back its cost. Depends heavily on you local weather and electricity buy/sell prices ofcourse.