Engineering Research Papers Examples

Solar Panels

Costs Analysis for Maintaining and Repairing Solar Panels in Five Years
Cost Benefit Analysis
Maintenance Costs
The essential expenses for sunlight based or the solar power are those connected with expenses and establishment or installation. Changing over a private home can run the proprietor averages of 35K to 40K relying upon what sort of framework is acquired and how huge their assessed vitality needs are [3]. Nevertheless, there are tax cuts and other money related motivators or the financial incentives accessible to help the property holders who are considering putting resources into a solar framework. As the innovation becomes accessible, the expenses are likewise diminishing [2]. Consequently, the solar energy expenses are higher than the utilization of oil or coal to create electricity. Power from oil or coal is still delivered at not more than approximately $.05 per Kilowatt Hour [5]. On the same scale, the costs of solar energy average approximately $.37 cents per kilowatt-hour. However, what influences this number is the quantity of hours in a day that sunlight is accessible, capacity to tilt the panels towards direction of the sun, and the lifespan of most of the current systems of solar energy.
In addition, there are negligible costs of maintenance that decrease over the long run. An appropriately installed system of solar panels does not oblige much maintenance [1]. Through the span of its lifespan, there are few continuous expenses connected with the framework, essentially with the batteries used. For the off grid installations and systems, the larger part of frameworks introduced on the globe are lattice time frameworks. The normal lifespan of the batteries is around six to twelve years. This aspect implies that within the five years, the batteries may not require replacement. On the other hand, depending on the included guarantee, the batteries could be incorporated and in this manner will cost no extra expenses.

As such, based on this information the costs of maintaining the solar panels are as follows [1]:

The anticipated production per year is 1,565.5 MWhrs/yr
In 5 years, given steady production annually, the production will be
1,565.5 MWhrs/yr × 5 = 7827.5 MWhrs
The approximate costs of maintenance per Kwh is ($.05+$.37) cents= $.42 cents
However, 1Mwh = 1000Kwh
Therefore 7827.5 Mwh = (7827.5 × 1000) Kwh
= 7827500 Kwh
Maintenance costs in five years will be 7827500 × .42 = $ 3287550 cents
= $ 32875.50

Costs of Repair

The need for the repairs of the solar panels will be dependent on the maintenance offered for the systems. Some of the expected repairs include the broken glasses, the cracked panels, the loose connections of the solders and the roof repair. As such, the reported average costs of repairing the solar panels are $466, which translates to $2330 in five years [3].

Benefits

The benefits of the maintenance and the repairing of the solar panels are elemental. One of the main benefits is that it reduces the operational costs. If the maintenance and the reparations of the solar systems were to be neglected, the anticipated or loss would be the total costs of repairing and maintaining the systems, which is $ (2330 + 32875.50), resulting to $ 35205.50. These expenses or costs would be channeled to other sectors or the project such as the installation costs, which are often high. In addition, maintaining and repairing would keep the panels through a twenty to thirty years lifespan [4].

References

[1]H. SEKINE and D. AOKI, 'Effective Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis and Optimum Design of Composite Patch for Repairing Structural Panels.', JSME Int. J., Ser. A, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 553-560, 2002.
[2]S. Webb, 'Covering the Planet With Solar Panels', Science, 2007.
[3]M. Yahia, 'High-performance solar-power panels', Nature Middle East, 2011.
[4]S. Jubran, Modeling and optimization of a hybrid solar PV-powered air conditioning system with ice storage. 2011.
[5]J. Ward, G. Löf and L. Hadley, Maintenance costs of solar air heating systems. [Washington]: Energy Research and Development Administration, Division of Solar Energy, 1977.

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