''How many solar farms will be destroyed by hailstones and need to be replaced?''
what exactly is the issue with the cost of replacement for hail damage?
there is a thing called insurance - and it would have to be in place anyway - so, the cost from such damage - is already built into the business model
and as far as hail damage goes - there would be only so many farms in a half century that were damaged to the point of unserviceability - whilst all the other farms take up the load of farms that are offline -
try that one with a single nuke station - servicing a set sized area
there is also the war and terror and vandal risk --------- lose a solar farm here and there - no big deal
lose a single nuke plant - it's a very big deal
as to replacement times during a working life of a large solar farm - the answer appears to be ------- ONCE, not really a big deal and factored into the business model
the maintenance of the farms would be a fraction of the maintenance to a large nuke facility as well - I expect that even you know that
Solar panels in a large solar farm typically have a lifespan of around 25-30 years, so they would likely need to be replaced once during a 40-year working life of the farm.[1][4]
The key points regarding solar panel replacement in a large solar farm over 40 years are:
- High-quality solar panels are generally warranted for 25-30 years of operation.[1][2] After this period, their efficiency drops significantly and they need replacement.
- For a 40-year solar farm lifespan, an upfront provision of spare solar panels (known as Module Replacement Allowance or MRA) should be factored in starting from year 26 onwards.[4] Approximately 5% of the solar panels may need to be replaced during the remaining 14-15 years after warranty expiration.
- Inverters, which convert the solar panels' DC power to AC, have a shorter lifespan of around 10-15 years.[4] They would likely need to be replaced 2-3 times over a 40-year period, with around 175% of the inverters being replaced.
- Proper operations and maintenance (O&M) practices like regular inspections, preventive maintenance, and timely corrective repairs can help extend the lifespan of solar panels and inverters.[1][4]
So in summary, for a large solar farm designed for 40 years, the solar panels would typically need to be replaced once after 25-30 years, with around 5% spare panel provision, while the inverters may require 2-3 replacements during this period.[1][4]
