Solar panels are slowly becoming the new normal, but plenty of questions come with the most accessible form of renewable energy. Are plug-in solar panels any good? How much maintenance do they need? And, most importantly, how long do solar panels last?
There are plenty of hidden costs of home solar panels, but thankfully, frequent replacements aren’t something you’ll need to worry about. According to Sunrun, an industry-leading manufacturer, solar panels are made to last more than 25 years, with many from as early as the 1980s still working today. This Old House corroborates this statistic, saying that while it’s hard to gauge precisely how long solar panels last, many come with 25 to 30-year warranties, ensuring they’ll stick around for the long haul.
So, although you may need to fork over extra cash upfront, installing solar panels is a worthy investment for any household looking to cut back on energy costs. Given that they’ll last you a few decades, you won’t need to constantly spend money to maintain solar panels, and you can do a few things to make them last even longer.
How to make sure your solar panels last long
Solar panels aren’t cheap, and you’ll want your investment in green energy to last as long as possible. Thankfully, they aren’t very fragile either, so barring any unforeseen natural disaster or randomly accurate lightning strike, your solar panels will last you a few decades. But there are a few things you can do to ensure you get the most out of your investment.
First, you want to keep your solar panels clean and clear of any debris. While dirt, grime, pollen, and leaves won’t destroy your panels, large buildups could impact their efficiency. Usually, rain will be enough to get rid of most of these, but regular cleaning with a broom or hiring a professional team will secure your solar panels a long lifespan.
You should also frequently monitor the usage of your solar panels. Sometimes, after a cleaning, solar panels can develop random electrical problems, so if you notice a spike in your utility bill, it’s best to call a professional to check on them. And if your systems have a shut-off switch, make sure it doesn’t accidentally get turned off by yourself, your children, or anyone else. Although useful, if you, your children, or someone else accidentally shut off your solar panels, you likely won’t notice it immediately, which could result in wasting built-up energy generation.
There has been no shortage of bleak climate news this year: unprecedented global heat fueled deadly extreme weather events, scientists issued dire warnings that next year may be worse still, and the world’s carbon pollution kept rising.
But amid the gloom, there have also been signs of progress. Renewable energy records have been set, the world celebrated one of its greatest environmental wins and countries made a cautious but historic step towards a fossil fuel-free future.
Here are five reasons to be hopeful.
A surge in renewable energy
As the need to rapidly wean off planet-heating fossil fuels becomes increasingly urgent, there have been some clean energy bright spots around the world.
On Halloween, Portugal started a record-breaking streak. For more than six days straight, between October 31 to November 6, the nation of more than 10 million people relied solely on renewable energy sources — setting an exciting example for the rest of the world.
The year 2023 is on track to see the biggest increase in renewable energy capacity to date, according to the International Energy Agency.
China, the world’s biggest climate polluter, has made lightning advances in renewables, with the country set to shatter its wind and solar target five years early. A report published in June found that China’s solar capacity is now greater than the rest of the world’s nations combined, in a surge described by the report’s author, Global Energy Monitor, as “jaw-dropping.”
It can’t be ignored, however, that China also ramped up its coal production this year, turning to the fossil fuel as devastating heat waves increased energy demand for air conditioning and cooling, and as persistent drought in the country’s south impacted hydroelectric supplies, which are reliant on sufficient rainfall.
Hopes were raised that the country’s coal production will peak and come downsoon, when China and the US in November announced they would resume cooperation on climate change, pledging a major ramp-up of renewable energy, specifically to replace fossil fuels.
A climate deal that targets fossil fuels
After more than two weeks of fraught negotiations, the COP28 climate summit in Dubai concluded in December with nearly 200 countries making an unprecedented commitment to move away from fossil fuels.
While the agreement fell short of requiring the world to phase out coal, oil and gas — which more than 100 countries had supported — it did call on countries to “contribute” to a “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” This marked the first time that all fossil fuels, the main drivers of the climate crisis, were targeted in a COP agreement.
COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who presided over the negotiations, called the agreement “historic,” adding that the deal represented “a paradigm shift that has the potential to redefine our economies.”
Howimpactful this deal ultimately is will depend on what countries do next to implement it. Many experts warned of loopholes that could leave the door open to a continued expansion of fossil fuels.
But that a deal was struck at all on fossil fuels was widely welcomed seen as a breakthrough.
“We got people to do things they haven’t done before,” US climate envoy John Kerry told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour after the summit, describing it as a “historic success.”
Plummeting deforestation in Brazil
After years of soaring deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, there was good progress this year in reducing forest destruction.
The Amazon is the world’s biggest rainforest and its protection is seen as vital to curbing climate change. It acts a carbon sink that sucks in planet-heating pollution from the atmosphere. When forests or trees are destroyed, they emit greenhouse gases. Deforestation and land degradation is responsible for at least one-tenth of the world’s carbon pollution.
Deforestation in Brazil fell by 22.3% in the 12 months through July, according to data from the national government, as President Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva started to make progress on his pledge to rein in the rampant forest destruction that occurred under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Marcio Astrini, head of advocacy group Climate Observatory, described it as an “impressive result” that “seals Brazil’s return to the climate agenda.”
Still, Brazil’s deforestation rate remained nearly twice that of its all-time low in 2012. Around 9,000 square kilometers of rainforest were destroyed in the period. There’s a long way to go to meet Lula’s pledge to reach zero deforestation by 2030.
The ozone layer is healing well
The Earth’s ozone layer is on track to recover completely within decades, a UN-backed panel of experts announced in January, as ozone-depleting chemicals are phased out across the world.
The ozone layer protects the planet from harmful ultraviolet rays, but since the 1980s, scientists have warned about a hole in this shield due to ozone-harming substances, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which wereused widely in refrigerators, aerosols and solvents.
International cooperation has helped stem the damage. A deal known as the Montreal Protocol, which came into force in 1989, began the phase-out of CFCs. The ozone layer’s subsequent recovery has been hailed as one of the world’s greatest environmental achievements.
If global policies stay in place, the ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 levels by 2040 for most of the world, the assessment found. For polar areas, the timeframe for recovery is longer: 2045 over the Arctic and 2066 over the Antarctic.
A study published in November, however, cast some doubt on this progress. The paper, published by Nature Communications, found that a hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic “has not only remained large in area, but it has also become deeper throughout most of the Antarctic spring.” But some scientists were skeptical of the study’s findings, saying it relied on too short a time period to draw conclusions about the layer’s long-term health.
Electric vehicle sales surge
The popularity of electric vehicles has surged this year, with American sales at an all-time high. People in China and Europe are snapping up EVs in large numbers as well.
Electric vehicles — which are better for the planet than gas and diesel-powered cars when they run on renewable energy sources — are key to decarbonizing road transport, which is responsible for around one-sixth of planet-heating pollution globally, according to the International Energy Agency.
Electric vehicles accounted for about 8% of all new vehicles sales in the US during the first half of 2023, according to the report. In China, EVs accounted for 19% of all vehicle sales, and worldwide, they made up 15% of new passenger vehicle sales.
EV sales in Europe were up 47% in the first nine months of 2023, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (EAMA). However, car dealers have warned that sales are dropping off as consumers wait for cheaper models, expected in two to three years’ time.
In order to make your EV green-energy approved, you’ll need to charge it using a renewable energy source. Solar panels are one way to accomplish that.
Charging your electric car at home will only increase your electric usage unless you add another renewable energy source, such as solar panels, to offset it.
For the eco-conscious EV driver, an electric vehicle is only as clean and green as the source of electricity charging its battery.
That’s because EVs plugged into the grid can either be powered by “dirty” sources such as fossil fuels such as coal, or from “clean” renewable energy that comes from sources such as solar, hydro or wind power. With many utilities, it’s likely to be a mix of renewables and fossil fuels. The best way to ensure your EV is actually powered by renewable energy is to connect your home’s EV charger to a solar energy system or use a public charger also sourced by solar panels.
Forget the statistics, it’s in plain sight and we can’t ignore it. EV charging stations are becoming the norm, automakers are making headlines as they invest in new EV technology, and rooftop solar panels are also becoming commonplace to see.
Even with the upswing in EVs and home solar systems, switching from a combustion car to an electric vehicle, however, can be a complicated decision with considerations conventional car drivers don’t have to worry about, like installing a charger in your garage. Adding solar panels to the equation adds even more layers of complexity to an already significant investment.
Here’s what you need to know about powering your home and EV with solar panels and how many you’ll need if you do.
Why use solar panels to charge an electric vehicle (EV)?
There are some less obvious benefits to home solar charging in addition to watching free, clean electrons pulled from the sky streaming into your car’s battery.
Most home EV chargers treat your car like any other appliance that needs to be plugged in and charged overnight. Actually, it’s more like a quite needy appliance that requires a particular current (DC) and lots of it as quickly as possible, which can mean operating at high voltage.
All of this increases strain on the grid and can add a load to your home’s electrical system, especially if your wiring is older or in need of upgrading. In the worst cases of neglect or poor electrical work, it can even be dangerous.
Using solar panels to charge an EV actually streamlines the charging process because both systems speak the same electrical language, in a way.
As Wyldon Fishman, founder of the New York Solar Energy Society, explained, solar panels and electric vehicles both operate with direct current (DC), meaning there’s no need to install an inverter between your panels and EV, although a charge controller is still imperative to have in the circuit. DC can also run at lower, safer voltages.
Relying on solar panels rather than the grid to charge your electric vehicle also means not having to worry about being stuck at home with a dead battery if the power goes out, especially if you opt to pair your panels with a battery or other solar storage.
A home’s energy set up could consist of solar panels, battery storage, inverter and an EV charger. Depending on the consumption, size, efficiency and how many panels you get, this equipment could accommodate all or some of this home energy production. – Getty
How much energy is needed to charge your EV at home?
First, consider your goals for your solar charging system. Do you want to charge your car using your solar panels, and will you primarily be charging overnight? If so, you’re going to need to install a battery or other storage system.
In most cases, you’re likely to have a solar system that’s hooked into the grid as well as your home, perhaps with a connected battery for emergency backup, or not.
If this is your scenario, it could be helpful to know how much of your existing solar output the rest of your home is consuming. If you never pay a utility bill or your utility bill is primarily for nighttime or cloudy days (when your solar panels aren’t at work), this means your existing solar system is probably producing more than you need and the extra is being fed into the grid or a battery or both. Some of this excess energy could be used to charge your EV, meaning you will need fewer solar panels to drive a fully solar-powered car.
Once you’ve got an idea of whether you’re running a solar surplus, the next step is determining how much additional demand an EV will add to your system.
How many solar panels will I need to charge just my EV?
First, consider how much you typically drive in a day. Put simply, the more you drive, the more wattage you’re likely to need in panels.
Here’s the steps to figuring out how your average daily energy needs to power an EV.
Step 1. Determine how many kilowatt-hours your EV uses per mile. The EPA and US Department of Energy’s fueleconomy.gov site lists the estimated efficiency of all electric cars in kWh per 100 miles; simply divide by 100 for a per-mile estimate.
Step 2. Multiply your EV’s kWh/mi by the number of miles you anticipate you drive on an average day. (You can get your average daily miles by observing your driving habits for a few days or by dividing your annual observed mileage by 365). This gets you the total number of kilowatt-hours you’ll need to produce to power your daily driving.
Step 3. You can then divide the EVs needed kilowatt-hours by the number of peak sun hours you can expect to receive at your location each day.
Step 4. The final figure should give you the size of your ideal EV-charging solar array in kilowatts.
Step 1. According to fueleconomy.gov, it averages 24 kWh/100 mi or 0.24 kWh/mi.
Step 2. We’ll also use the EPA’s average mileage estimate of 15,000 annual miles, which works out to around 41 miles per day.
Step 3. 0.24 kWh/mi x 41 miles = 9.86 kWh daily power EV usage
Step 4. 9.86 kWh / 4 peak sun hours = 2.4 kW (This is how much solar energy in kW you will need to charge your EV).
Step 5. We will use a solar panel wattage of 410W, such as the Q.PEAK Duo Black from Qcells, to calculate the number of panels needed for the Hyundai Ioniq 6. Convert the 410W to kilowatts by dividing by 1,000 (0.41 kW).
Step 6. EV production needed to charge the Hyundai Ioniq 6 (in kWh per day) / energy needed per Q.PEAK Qcells solar panel) = number of solar panels needed. 2.4 kW / 0.41 kW = 5.85 solar panels
In this example, six Qcells solar panels are needed to accommodate the energy needs of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 with average driving habits. Six Qcells solar panels don’t accommodate the rest of the home’s energy consumption.
Meanwhile, at the other extreme, dropping the Ford F-150 Lightning‘s 48 kWh/100 mi into the same formula yields a daily energy use of 19.68 kWh and a 4.9 kW solar requirement, doubling the Qcells solar panels needed to 12 panels.
If that’s too much math, Fishman simply recommends putting around eight to 12 solar modules on a canopy that you can use as a solar carport.
“It’s about 2.5 kilowatts that you need for a canopy. You might go a little more, but that’s all you need,” Fishman said.
We’ve seen others in the industry put the figure at closer to 3 kW, but if you’re unsure, you can run through all the math for your situation.
How many solar panels will I need to power my whole home?
This basically comes down to figuring out your home’s total energy needs and then designing a solar array that can meet those needs.
There’s a lot of things to consider to determine both sides of this equation, and CNET goes into further detail on the subject here. Adding EV chargers to your home simply means adding more energy use to both sides of the equation.
Most reputable solar companies will help you work out your energy needs and propose a solution that they will surely be willing to install for you. But doing the math on your own as well can help you make the most informed choice when it comes to picking an installer and assisting in designing a system that meets your needs best.
Don’t forget that there are other things you might want to do before even beginning to consider solar for your home. Making energy efficiency improvements can go a long way toward shrinking your overall needs and thereby shrinking the size of the solar system you require.
Is it worth it to add more solar panels to accommodate an EV?
Adding more panels to your existing solar system or to one that you’re planning is one way to power all your home’s energy needs, including your EV. But it isn’t necessarily the only way to charge your EV. You can also build a stand-alone off-grid system that’s dedicated to just your car.
Fishman recommends building a carport topped with solar panels at just the right tilt to get a good amount of sun on average, based on your location on the globe.
“A carport is fixed at latitude,” she explained. “So if you’re at 42 degrees above the Equator, then your tilt for your solar modules is 42 degrees.”
Which comes first: A solar panel or EV purchase?
If you’re dedicated to renewable energy and kicking fossil fuels to the curb, it makes sense to have your solar system all setup before you spring for the EV so you never have to worry about charging your car from dirtier energy sources that mix with renewables on the grid.
But the reality for many people will be that an EV and home solar energy are two very costly investments. A car or EV tends to be a personal purchase that we spend a lot of time in, whereas energy is a readily available commodity that we tend to think about less. So it wouldn’t be surprising for people to prioritize a flashy new EV over adding solar panels to a home that already has access to electricity via the grid.
Ultimately, it comes down to your priorities and your situation. Maybe your utility is good about incorporating solar into its energy mix via its own solar farm systems, renewable energy credits or offering a community solar program. If so, you might have fewer qualms with plugging in your car at night, no matter how many panels are on the roof.
After Hurricane Maria devastated the island, residents launched community-based solar projects to keep the lights on. Activists call it an “energy insurrection.”
Hurricane Maria knocked down power lines across Puerto Rico. Some remote villages were without electricity for nearly a year.
On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico and devastated the island’s aging and inefficient power grid.
Air conditioning couldn’t work. Water couldn’t be pumped to higher floors. Hospitals couldn’t maintain lifesaving machinery. Diesel and propane generators helped, but they’re costly and unwieldy and pump noxious fumes into the air.
It would be late November before more than half the island’s 3.4 million residents had electricity. And some remote areas were without power for nearly a year.
Even in the absence of natural disasters, though, outages, rolling blackouts and appliance-frying surges are a daily reality. This ongoing energy crisis has forced residents to evolve quickly on renewables, especially solar power: The US territory has more rooftop solar installations per capita than all but six US states. (And that doesn’t include smaller systems that aren’t hooked up to the grid.)
Puerto Rico is especially well positioned to embrace solar: Studies suggest it receives enough sunlight to meet its residential needs more than four times over.
“Everyone should be keeping their eye on Puerto Rico,” said Lauren Rosenblatt, co-founder of Barrio Electrico, which provides solar energy to low- and moderate-income households on the island.
“What the [rest of the] US is going to see is that there are a lot more options for resiliency and sustainability,” Rosenblatt told CNET. “Not every solution that works in Puerto Rico will work in your community, but they’re generating myriad solutions. We’re lucky to have them leading the way.”
Climate change is putting energy infrastructure to the test all over the US, and the challenges Puerto Ricans face — and the solutions they’re finding — could be a glimpse at the future for those far from the island.
Here’s what Puerto Rico can teach us about energy resilience, the benefits of solar and the role of community groups, utilities and government in reaching a sustainable future.
Solar power is critical to climate resiliency
Climate change is making hurricanes more extreme and destructive. Scientists at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences found that, from 1850 to 2020, human-generated greenhouse gases led to an increase of more than 1 degree Celsius in global average surface temperature.
That warming trend “will lead to yet further increases in North Atlantic hurricane season extreme rainfall rates and accumulated amounts,” the researchers wrote in the journal Nature Communications in April 2022.
As the intensity of severe weather incidents increases, so will the frequency of power outages. Solar panels, though, are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds: When Hurricane Maria hit, a VA hospital in San Juan remained fully operational while others lost power, thanks to its solar setup.
Javier Rúa-Jovet is chief policy officer for the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico, a regional trade association. After Maria, his home in a middle-class part of San Juan was without power for six weeks.
Relying on a 17-kilowatt generator for power, he said, was traumatizing.
“My whole nervous system was in tune with the noises it made,” Rúa-Jovet told CNET. “Every day I was afraid the generator was going to die.”
By the time Fiona made landfall last year, though, Rúa-Jovet had connected a Tesla Powerwall to his rooftop array and was able to maintain full power. Now, whenever there’s an outage, the system kicks in automatically, often in less than a second.
“Sometimes you see the lights flicker when there’s an outage,” he said. “But usually you don’t know until you get a notification on your phone.”
Crises can bring opportunities for innovation
A worker installs solar panels in Puerto Rico
Before Hurricane Maria, there were maybe 9,000 rooftop solar setups in Puerto Rico, according to Rúa-Jovet, and most weren’t connected to batteries.
“After Maria, solar is basically universally installed with storage,” he said. “It was really a paradigm-shifting event.”
New installations have grown from a few hundred a month to more than 3,000.
In January 2022, there were 42,000 homes and businesses with solar-plus-battery projects in Puerto Rico, more than eight times the number before Irma and Maria.
This summer, that number is nearing 80,000.
That’s still only a fraction of the close to 1.2 million households in Puerto Rico, but the desire to move beyond the grid is growing exponentially.
Solutions have to be cost-effective
In Puerto Rico, power isn’t just unreliable, it’s expensive. Residential electricity averaged 24.17 cents per kilowatt-hour in May, compared with 16.14 cents in the continental US. The cost of importing petroleum, natural gas and coal means electricity can be up to twice as much as it is on the mainland.
Solar is more reliable and cheaper in the long run, but installing a rooftop system still runs between $10,000 and $13,000. That’s a steep price in a territory where the median household income is just under $22,000.
Financing options grew substantially after Hurricane Maria. Rúa-Jovet said solar companies like Sunrun and Sunnova offer terms that enable residents with a credit score of about 640 to get a rooftop setup without any upfront costs.
Instead of monthly electricity bills, he said, approved customers pay roughly the same amount in loan payments “for power that is clean and doesn’t go away.”
And unlike energy costs, the loan rates are fixed.
Vulnerable populations can’t be left behind
While Sunnova and Sunrun offer solar loans, there are still many in the commonwealth who can’t afford financing. According to the US Census Bureau, 40.5% of Puerto Ricans live in poverty, more than twice the 19.7% poverty level in Mississippi, the poorest state in the US.
“There is a place for for-profit companies like Sunnova and Sunrun to offer [financing], but it’s not a silver bullet,” said Andrew Hermann, executive director of the Monte Azul Foundation, a nonprofit focused on energy and food equity. “We’re going to need a lot of different solutions.”
On July 31, the US Department of Energy announced more than $450 million was being allocated for distributed solar and battery storage in some of Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said her agency was committed to expanding access to clean energy in Puerto Rico, “especially for the communities most at risk.”
The funds will enable up to 40,000 setups to be installed in low-income areas hit with frequent and prolonged outages. (Households with energy-dependent devices like electric wheelchairs and at-home dialysis machines are also being targeted.)
“That’s the best population to direct incentives toward,” Rúa-Jovet said. “It’s very targeted money that will help people that are basically outside of the financing market.”
The investment is part of the $1 billion Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund established by the Biden administration to strengthen the island’s grid and help it reach its clean energy goals. Further investments will be directed at community solar projects, microgrids and grid modernization, according to the Department of Energy.
Community-based solutions can lead the way
A private US-Canadian consortium, Luma Energy took over responsibility for maintaining and improving the island’s utility grid in June 2021. Its predecessor, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, was a government monopoly that filed for bankruptcy following decades of mismanagement, negligence and corruption.
Luma inherited a decrepit system, but it has been blamed for failing to improve service and future-proof the grid.
“Its performance so far has been, in the best case, deficient, and in the worst, dismal,” said Sergio Marxuach, policy director for the Puerto Rican think tank Center for New Economy.
Luma didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On the ground, residents aren’t waiting for Luma — or lawmakers — to provide solutions. In rural areas, grassroots groups are constructing standalone solar networks, known as microgrids, to ensure hospitals, schools and fire stations have power.
In Caguas, about 20 miles south of San Juan, donated solar panels were attached to the roof of an abandoned office building, transforming it into a supply center that doesn’t rely on electricity from the utility.
“There are many communities — small communities — that are really making big waves and developing solar-plus-storage microgrids,” Hermann said.
There’s been so much interest, he added, “because so many people are just fed up with the current system. These communities are coming together to really choose a different path.”
Arturo Massol-Deyá, executive director of the community environmental group Casa Pueblo, calls the movement an “energy insurrection.”
Casa Pueblo has been the driving force behind community solar in Adjuntas, a mountainside town of about 18,000. In an area where some people were without power for 11 months after Maria, the organization was able to install 700 solar panels and provide 220 kilowatts to more than a dozen businesses downtown. Second-hand EV batteries donated by automaker Rivian provide a megawatt of battery storage and allow Puerto Rico’s first community-owned microgrid to provide power independent of the grid for up to 10 days.
Casa Pueblo worked with nonprofits like the Honnold Foundation and the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas to fund the $2 million project. And while the merchants pay for the energy they use, their rates are significantly lower than Luma’s. Profits are used for maintenance and to finance rooftop solar installations for low-income residents.
The Monte Azul Foundation is working to develop a smaller microgrid in Maricao, a village of less than 5,000 residents that sees outages several times a week. It’ll only generate between 100 and 150 kilowatts, but it will power a pharmacy, a gas station and the only bank in Maricao.
“When we don’t have power, we lose access to ATMs and all our financial services because the bank has no backup power,” Hermann said.
But support from the government and utilities is essential
While the federal government has allocated more than $30 billion to help Puerto Rico recover from Maria and the 2020 earthquakes, critics say not enough is being done to develop energy resiliency.
In 2019, the legislative assembly passed the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act, or Act 17, which set an ambitious deadline to use 100% renewable energy by 2050.
“Puerto Rico’s Green New Deal,” as Rúa-Jovet called it, sets a benchmark of 40% of electricity from renewables by 2025 and 60% by 2040. Right now, though, solar, wind and other clean energy sources generate only about 3% of the island’s electricity. The remaining 97% come from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
In February 2022, the government-appointed Puerto Rico Energy Bureau conditionally approved 18 renewable power plants projected to produce 884 megawatts by the end of next year.
That’s supposed to boost the share of electricity from renewables to 23%, but that’s still short of Act 17’s 40% goal. And environmentalists are suing to halt the projects because, they say, the plants will be built on agriculturally valuable land instead of rooftops, parking lots and landfills.
Regulators have also been accused of targeting recovery funds for fossil fuel projects. They even floated the idea of taxing solar users up to 4.6 cents per kilowatt-hour to pay down PREPA’s $8.2 billion debt and discourage people from defecting from the grid.
Neither Luma nor the government in San Juan has actively opposed community microgrid projects, activists say. But they haven’t done much to help, either.
“There isn’t a whole lot of government involvement in rural mountain communities to begin with,” Hermann said. “They’re forgotten about in many ways.
Virtual power plants can take stress off the grid
In addition to keeping homeowners’ power on during a blackout, solar-plus-battery systems that are connected to the grid can send energy back to the network during high-usage periods.
Using connected households or businesses to meet grid needs is commonly referred to as a virtual power plant, or VPP.
Luma is enlisting 6,000 customers for a pilot VPP program expected to launch this fall. When high-demand situations arise, the utility will access battery reserves from the participants, who are credited for the energy they provide.
“This program is being developed to address those days when Luma has a shortfall in energy generation,” said Michael Juarbe, Sunnova’s senior manager for government affairs. “What’s very important to understand is that this is an opt-in program — we’re not forcing anyone to participate, and people can set how much they distribute.”
The technology is there to do a much larger VPP network, Juarbe said, “but we know that you have to take slow steps.”
Should it be successful, Juarbe could see a VPP generating a gigawatt of energy for Puerto Rico.
“We could replace a power plant based on dirty fuels and provide clean energy consistently to the grid,” he said. “In the short term, we’re talking about avoiding outages. But long term, I think virtual power plants are the future.”
Decentralize the power supply
Puerto Rico’s largest power plants are along the southern coast. But the most populous areas, like San Juan, are in the north. Transmission lines that cross remote mountain ranges are vulnerable to hurricane winds and take a long time to repair.
“Our energy paradigm is still a centralized system based on imported fossil fuels,” Rúa-Jovet said. “That’s the opposite of resiliency. If you hit one part, everything goes down.”
The solution, he added, “is to have systems that are widely distributed, with lots of redundancies.”
Solar-plus-storage microgrids “can decouple and operate independently of the main grid during blackouts,” according to a position paper from the Rocky Mountain Institute, a clean energy think tank.
“We champion a highly decentralized, bottom-up grid approach that starts with personal microgrids, aggregated microgrids, then community microgrids — all the way to municipal or even larger solar and storage systems,” the group said.
Puerto Rico’s present is the mainland’s future
Puerto Rico has been grappling with an energy crisis for years. But it’s only recently that other parts of the US have realized how fragile their energy grid is.
Century 21, a leading real estate company, and SolarBuzz Jamaica, an innovative player in the renewable energy sector, have joined and formed a partnership which was the subject of a signing ceremony earlier today.
With the recent majority stake acquisition of Century 21 by FirstRock, a prominent real estate company, the partnership takes on even greater significance, establishing a robust foundation for an ambitious expansion. This alliance between Century 21 and SolarBuzz Jamaica marks the first of many strategic collaborations as Century 21 paves the way for key industry partnerships.
“Century 21 is thrilled to embark on this transformative journey alongside SolarBuzz Jamaica,” said Jordan Chin, Executive Chairman of Century 21 Heave Ho Properties. “This partnership opens up remarkable opportunities to enhance our services and provide unmatched value to our customers. Together, we will revolutionise the real estate industry and exceed expectations.”
Jason Robinson, CEO of SolarBuzz Jamaica, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “We are delighted to collaborate with Century 21 on this strategic venture. By combining our renewable energy expertise with Century 21’s exceptional real estate services, we can create sustainable and innovative solutions for our customers. This partnership marks a significant milestone in reshaping the industry and driving positive change.”
To solidify their commitment to delivering specialised services to clients and customers, Century 21 and SolarBuzz Jamaica have signed a memorandum of understanding. This agreement not only ensures superior service but also guarantees heightened brand exposure and publicity, bolstering the reach and impact of both companies.
It’s no secret, there are a lot of solar panels on the market. Many promise different results from lower prices to better aesthetics. But what factors should you weigh when evaluating which solar provider to choose? It all comes down to these 3 things – efficiency, durability and warranty.
Efficiency
SunPower® solar panels are widely known to be the most efficient on the market*. That’s because SunPower solar cells are unobstructed by metal gridlines across the top, unlike most conventional solar cells. That means that there is plenty of open space for each solar cell’s unique light-trapping surface to absorb more than just visible light rays such as ultraviolet and infrared light.
SunPower also uses intra-digitated back contact technology, meaning all of the wires that carry the electricity from each cell in the solar panel are placed onto the back. This eliminates shading and helps SunPower solar panels generate more energy, even when the weather isn’t ideal. SunPower’s technology and strategic design give its solar panels the ability to harvest more sunlight than conventional solar panels.
Durability
In addition to their design for efficiency, SunPower solar panels were also created with durability in mind. SunPower solar cells have a strong copper backing that is resistant to corrosion and weathering. This is incredibly important because solar panels sit on rooftops and are subject to harsh temperature and weather changes. Exposure to the elements causes all solar panels to degrade over time. But the rate of degradation can vary heavily from one solar panel provider to another. For a conventional solar panel, this reduction of power output happens at an average rate of 0.5% each year. But a SunPower solar panel degrades much more slowly at only 0.25% each year. That’s a big difference and illustrates just how durable SunPower solar panels are.
Warranty
Not all warranties are created equal. To find the real value behind a warranty, homeowners should look past just the years a solar system is covered. Some solar companies have warranties that only cover the materials but not the loss of power production. Or, they source parts from different manufacturers, leaving you with multiple warranties to sort through. SunPower offers the most comprehensive warranty in the industry, with coverage spanning both power and product. In addition, SunPower is the only company that stands behind the entire solar system, not just the panels. In the rare likelihood that something does go wrong, you only need to contact one company to fix the issue – SunPower.
But SunPower doesn’t just stop at the product. We also guarantee that your panels won’t lose more than 8% of their original DC power output in 25 years. When compared to conventional solar providers that only guarantee 19%, there’s a clear winner.
When deciding which solar panels are right for your home, do yourself a favor and evaluate which option delivers the most overall value. Chances are, you’ll land on SunPower as the obvious choice.
The rapid transition to renewable energy offers opportunities to reset the broken relationship between energy production and nature, according to a new report by the Coalition Linking Energy And Nature for action (CLEANaction).
In its first major report, CLEANaction confirms that even when the full range of environmental impacts — from sourcing raw materials to final operation — is considered, generating and storing energy from renewables is far less environmentally damaging than using fossil fuels. The report argues that a transition focused on wind and solar can result in significantly reduced environmental impacts compared to other renewable energy types, although other renewables can be the most appropriate solution depending upon the local circumstances.
To limit global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst risks of climate change, renewable energy will need to account for more than 90% of electricity generation by 2050 according to International Energy Agency projections. The report explains how, in a vital decade for action, the potential for negative impacts from the energy transition can be carefully managed to ensure that renewable energy technologies causing the least damage to nature are prioritized.
CLEANaction is a coalition of NGOs, leading businesses, government bodies and financial institutions established in recognition of the urgent need for a global and just transition to a low-impact and nature-sensitive renewable energy system. The founding members are WWF, IRENA, ICLEI, The Nature Conservancy, Birdlife International and the Alliance for Rural Electrification.
“Climate change is causing havoc across the globe and, together with habitat loss and overexploitation, is a leading cause of reduced biodiversity worldwide,” said Dean Cooper, WWF global energy lead. “This loss of biodiversity, and of the natural carbon uptake and storage enabled by healthy ecosystems, exacerbates the climate crisis and threatens the health and wellbeing of humankind around the world. We all must urgently shift to 100% renewable energy, but we must take care to protect and enhance nature at the same time.”
Existing global-scale mapping of sites for wind and solar indicate there is enough energy available in areas that have low conflict with biodiversity to achieve projections from the International Energy Agency for a power system consistent with holding global temperature rise to below 1.5ºC. This Paris Agreement goal is a crucial threshold to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change on people and nature.
Significant changes are also needed in how we source and trace materials, such as rare earth elements, for developing our energy infrastructure. A new, circular economic model is essential to reduce environmental impacts, according to the report.
A circular economic and energy efficient model should prioritize the reduction of primary materials, as well as reuse and recycle to minimize further extraction and impacts related to the disposal of end-of-life equipment. When mining occurs, rigorous environmental and social safeguards must be in place to avoid the degradation of natural habitat and other harms, according to the report.
To achieve a clean energy future that takes full account of the impact on nature, CLEANaction is urging governments to:
Undertake strategic-level energy planning at national or regional scales to identify potential energy savings, suitable renewable energy sources and sites for energy expansion in areas of low biodiversity sensitivity.
Consider the impact on nature at the earliest stage of integrated clean energy planning, taking account of the full value chain (from sourcing material to disposal).
Develop national regulatory schemes that require energy developers to contribute to national conservation targets.
Invest in timely nature-sensitivity mapping to help direct technology siting through proper data and require industry to avoid protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas and other areas of particular sensitivity and value.
Apply stringent environmental impact assessment processes and required standards to all new developments according to best practice.
Adopt a circular economy approach with optimized energy efficiency, to maximize reuse of energy materials, and minimize demand for natural resources.
CLEANaction is calling on renewable energy investors and developers to:
Integrate biodiversity, social and environmental risks early into renewable energy planning and investment decisions.
Apply effective biodiversity safeguards and environmental impact assessment procedures to avoid and minimize impacts, and offset any residual impacts to achieve net-positive outcomes.
Ensure there is traceability of raw materials and account for supply chain impacts within corporate commitments to nature.
Apply a circular approach to minimise the use of primary materials and maximise the reuse and recycling of materials.
Strengthen corporate disclosure and reporting on biodiversity, environmental and social impacts.
International Solar Alliance’s (ISA) Chief of Operations Joshua Wycliffe (right) speaking recently at the organisation’s office in Dehli, India. At left is ISA’s Chief of the Project Implementation Unit Remesh Kumar Kuruppath.
DEHLI, India — International Solar Alliance (ISA), based in this populous Asian city, has expressed interest in furthering its work with the Jamaica Government after providing funding of US$50,000 to complete the Little Park Solar Pump Station in St Elizabeth last year.
According to ISA’s chief of the Project Implementation Unit Remesh Kumar Kuruppath, Jamaica is the first country to benefit from this type of developmental solarisation project from the organisation.
“Jamaica is our first project in the solarisation of an agricultural pumping system. It is a water pumping system that has been solarised, and this was commissioned sometime in September last year. This is the first demonstration project we have done with the country to solarise a water pumping system there, and we have a very close interaction with the Jamaica Government and team there, and they want us to do more,” Kuruppath told journalists from the Caribbean and Latin America now in India on a familiarisation tour organised by the Indian Government.
This addition to the Little Park Pump Station saw the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) obtaining a 30-kilowatt solar retrofit to the Little Park-F3 Solar Pump Station through which over 390 farmers in the rural parish were already benefiting from increased and reliable access to water.
The organisation’s Chief of Operations Joshua Wycliffe told the Jamaica Observer that ISA believes Jamaica’s next step is to solarise other key sectors.
“It has been an absolute delight working and partnering with Jamaica. One of the areas that we are now looking at is how we have solarised our hospital rooftops. We would love to do that to health-care [and] educational facilities in Jamaica. These are two demonstration projects that can be replicated across Jamaica next,” Wycliffe said.
Pointing to the negative implications on the global job market and economy, Wycliffe went on to note that the project commissioned at the Little Park Pump Station in St Elizabeth by NIC supports the push for a more sustainable agricultural sector. Furthermore, the chief of operations told the Sunday Observer that the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic saw an undeniable increase in agriculture due to the loss of jobs, and that ISA played its part in providing solarisation.
“Now Jamaica, like most island states, would also have a lot to do with fishing and marine exports, so coastal ridges are areas that we can support in terms of solarising that industrial segment. Recently there were countries, and I suspect Jamaica would be no exception, where hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost during the pandemic so people went back to farming — and we were able to provide solarisation to sustain that,” Wycliffe explained.
He continued, “This saw that a new channel for exporting was created so what we have looked at is being able to provide sustainable agriculture through solarised power. So, remote villages and communities where they don’t have power grid support to run the irrigation pumps, solarised pumps are an answer. They provide support for people living below the poverty line, so these are two broad areas where we can support Jamaica in being able to further solarise and transition.”
In the meantime, Wycliffe told the Sunday Observer that the ISA is hoping to meet with delegates from Jamaica at its upcoming regional committee meeting in the summer.
“We have had a great working relationship with the Jamaican Government, and that has certainly helped us in putting in small demonstration projects. We are looking forward, eagerly, to the regional committee meeting that is coming up; we would like to further work with them,” he said.
ISA is an international organisation with 110 member and signatory countries. It works with governments to improve energy access and security worldwide, and promotes solar power as a sustainable way to transition to a carbon-neutral future.
To support those projects the organisation partners with multilateral development banks, development financial institutions, private and public sector organisations, civil society, and other international institutions to deploy cost-effective and transformational solutions through solar energy, especially in the least -eveloped countries and the small-island developing states.
According to a review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy sources provided almost 23% of the nation’s electrical generation in 2022.
The latest issue of EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through December 31) reveals that renewable energy sources (including small-scale solar systems) increased their electrical output by 12.37% last year compared to 2021. By comparison, electrical generation by all energy sources combined grew by just 3.47%.
In 2022, renewables provided 22.58% of total U.S. electrical generation versus 20.79% a year ago. Accordingly, they modestly surpassed EIA’s earlier forecast of renewables providing 22% of U.S. electricity in calendar year 2022.
Once again, solar was the fastest growing renewable energy source. Output by solar increased by 24.14% and its share of total U.S. electrical generation for the year was 4.74%. A year earlier, solar’s share was 3.95%. Five years ago, it was 1.91% and at the end of 2012, solar’s share was only 0.11%.
Electrical generation by wind also expanded significantly — growing by 14.97% and providing over a tenth (10.11%) of total U.S. electrical generation in 2022. Combined, solar and wind contributed nearly 15% (14.85%) of the nation’s electrical output last year.
In addition, generation by hydropower grew 4.14% and accounted for 6.09% of the total. Electrical output by geothermal as well as wood and wood-derived fuels also increased by 6.43% and 0.29% respectively. Only generation by “other biomass” fell — by 5.06%.
Taken together, in 2022, renewable energy sources comfortably out-produced both coal and nuclear power by 17.18% and 25.90% respectively. However, natural gas continued to dominate with a 39.27% share of total generation.
Renewables’ growing share of U.S. electrical generation last year mirrored their expansion in other sectors such as transportation and heating.
For example, a second EIA report — its “Monthly Energy Review” released last week — reveals that the mix of renewable energy sources, including biofuels, accounted for 13.03% of total U.S. energy production during the first 11 months of 2022. For the same period a year earlier, renewables’ share was 12.50%.
On the consumption side, renewables were 13.20% of energy use during the first 11 months of 2022. Renewables were 12.43% of energy consumption during the same time period a year earlier. Actual consumption of renewables increased by 8.96%, while total energy use for all sectors increased by just 2.59%.
“Last year set a new record for renewably generated electricity in the U.S.,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “Renewables are now on track to reach one-quarter of electrical generation in 2023 as well as one-seventh of total domestic energy production and then accelerate in the years to follow.”
Deputy official for China’s National People’s Congress, Liu Hanyuan, is chairman of the Board of Directors of Tongwei Group and co-chairman of the China Photovoltaic Agricultural Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. Liu spoke with reporters during the Two Sessions on climate change issues on March 8, 2023.
Chinese deputy official Liu Hanyuan said China’s is willing and ready to assist Caribbean regions with the transition to renewable energy, particularly solar, through collaboration and technological assistance.
Speaking with Loop News for the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), Liu said because of the Caribbean’s sunny location solar is a good choice for alternative energy.
Liu said from the technical perspective it is possible to reduce the cost for solar energy, however in the Caribbean region photovoltaic (PV) systems are still being introduced. Another issue would be shipping, which contributes to higher costs.
He said however if there is enough demand this could help make solar more affordable.
“If there is the demand, the price would be cheaper and cost could be lower, and they could also enjoy the same prices as people in China.”
He added that there are no limitations with regard to the sharing of Chinese technology and skills in assisting the Caribbean region in the transition to solar energy.
“From the Chinese perspective of the government with regard to these enterprises, there are absolutely no limitations for the transmission of this technology into the Caribbean region. But we need two things, more demand and the new systems being established, which will help bring lower energy costs.”
He said however that once these systems are built the price of energy will be comparatively lower than fossil fuels.
He said it’s hoped that they can assist with the construction of more solar facilities to assist with the Caribbean region’s energy goals.
Liu, who is chairman of the Board of Directors of Tongwei Group and co-chairman of the China Photovoltaic Agricultural Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, said China’s green development strategy has clear goals for reducing C02 emissions, one of which is developing its solar energy production.
China is also open to developing and providing technological support for other countries in this regard via its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Plans are also underway for the construction of the country’s largest solar energy project to be developed and executed by a consortium between Lightsource bp, bp Alternative Energy Trinidad and Tobago and Shell Renewables Caribbean.
It is the first joint project between the three entities.
The 148MW total is split over two sites, Brechin Castle (122MWp) and Orange Grove (26MWp), the latter of which will see bp and Shell collaborate with the University of the West Indies. Construction is expected to begin in Q1 2023, and operations in Q3-4 2024.
The project came about in response to the Trinidadian government’s request for proposal (RFP), seeking projects to contribute to the country’s commitment to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector by 15 per cent by 2030.
