Exposed: Myths of Solar Energy for Home
Myth : Solar Panels do not work well in cold climate or winter season
Reality: Solar PV Plants works on the light energy (photons) emitted by the sun and is inversely depended on the heat component of the sun. Also the recent developments in the technology combine means, that the solar panels work perfectly well in the winter season as long as there is light present. The perfect working conditions for a solar panels are in-fact low temperature range (20-25deg c) and high lumen levels.
Myth : Solar PV Plants are expensive
Reality: If you look at the graph of the cost of solar pv plants of the last decade, it has reduced and is going down drastically. Due to heavy investments in this technology on a global level the production of components has increased along with the efficiency of the solar panels. All of this results in a very economical system which can give about 23% return of investment if system size is calculated accurately.
Myth : Solar PV Plants installation is complicated task and also requires high maintenance
Reality: The installation of the plant only takes about 3 days on site and is a pretty straight forward and procedural work. There is no special requirement or tools used and there is no danger what so ever to the structure of the building the solar plant is being erected on. Post installation, the only monthly maintenance required is the cleaning of the solar panels and quarterly maintenance of the plant. If you go with a reputed company they generally include this maintenance component as a part of their offering.
Myth : Solar Plant size is according to the size of the home or the sanctioned load of your property
Reality: The size of your solar pv plant is carefully calculated based on your monthly consumption and yearly average consumption and not based on your home size. If any, the other factors considered is the shadow free space available on rooftop or financial constrains.
Myth : The batteries used in the plant are very expensive and require frequent replacements
Reality: There are two types of Solar PV Systems, On-Grid and Off-Grid plants. Off-Grid solar plants are the old generation ones which require batteries to store energy. Currently as there is implementation of net metering policy in every state of India, nearly all the plants installed are On-Grid ones which don’t require battery at all. Under this policy the excess energy generated is exported to the grid (DISCOM) instead of storing it in battery, in other words the grid acts like a battery bank for the customer. This eliminates all the need of battery maintenance and replacement costs.
