Solar power has come a long way since it was first introduced as a viable alternative energy source, making great strides, especially in the last 5 to 10 years. These strides have made it see such incredible increases in popularity among the average consumer. What changes have been brought to the solar power industry in the last five years? Keep reading to find out.
Improved Efficiency
There are many types of equipment involved in a solar power system, and each of them has an efficiency rating. This rating tells you how well that piece of equipment does its job and how much energy is lost during the process. Over the last five years, the efficiency of every major piece of solar power equipment has improved significantly. For example, the most efficient solar panels you could find five years ago had a 17.8% efficiency rating. Now, you can easily find panels with 20% to 23% efficiency ratings. Solar inverters and batteries have also seen incredible increases in efficiency, with many models now providing above 90% efficiency.
Smaller Equipment
Incredibly heavy solar panels could be difficult and expensive to install on your average home’s roof. It often involved putting reinforcements into the roof before adding the panels’ mounting brackets to ensure that the roof could support the panels’ weight. Now, panels are much lighter and easier to manage, making them a more viable option for roofs of all types. Solar inverters and battery banks have followed suit, taking up less space so that they can fit into more homes without interfering with the home’s storage spaces too much.
Rise of Solar Storage
Over the last five years, the area of solar that has seen the most growth is solar power storage. More residential solar systems than ever are now being installed with connected battery banks. This allows homeowners to get more out of their systems and rely less on the city grid, even if they remain connected to the power grid. (This is known as a hybrid system.) This is likely due to the increased availability of solar storage solutions, with more manufacturers entering this particular corner of the market. Solar power batteries are now more efficient and compact (as already mentioned), and their prices have fallen in recent years, which brings up the final point in this article.
Falling Prices
The biggest reason that solar has grown in popularity over the last 5 to 10 years is that it’s become more affordable. Even while technology is getting better and more efficient, prices have declined significantly. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the cost of solar equipment has dropped about 55% in the last five years—and even more over the previous ten years. Ten years ago, a 6-kilowatt system would have cost about $53,000. Now, it runs a homeowner about $20,000. These declining prices are thanks, at least in part, to the wider availability of technology and increased competition among solar wholesale distributors.
