West Central Illinois | AVP_Matt - 5/14/2026 16:20
13+ years payback doesnt sound terrible until you realize the advertised useful life is 20.
Most panels are warrantied to produce 95% of original rating for 25 to 30 years. They don’t just shut off. All the solar lease proposals I’ve seen have options to extend the lease up to 40 years or so.
My home system should pay itself off in about 5 to six years. That’s with tax credits. When the federal credit goes away this year it would still produce about a 10% return.
Simple math comparing btu output compared to ethanol and ddg value shows it isn’t even close - solar produces 40 to 50 times the energy.
Farmdoc did an analysis showing that. |
Acre of corn for Alcohol VS Solar panels