^^^ Just curious, what is the size of each panel (how many feet wide by how many feet long)?
Also, when I think about solar I often wonder how long will they last? Are they guaranteed for a number of years? What potential costs would there be for repairs and maintenance? I live up north, but if I lived in FLA like some of you guys I'd worry about a hurricane ripping them off; would they be covered by homeowners' insurance? Any additional insurance cost to cover them? I wonder if ones sold up north have a mechanism to melt the snow off of them after snowstorms? It seems you would want to have a pretty new roof before you install them, otherwise I think it would be a hassle to remove them to install a new roof, this could add to cost if you decide to replace your roof earlier than necessary.
Not sure about the insurance issues, but longevity is not something that is a big issue even for normal panels (if you got some off aliexpress, well, who knows). Mean degradation is around 0.5% per year. That is, your peak output is still 90% of "new" after 20 years.
The system isn't entirely zero-maintenance (what is) and one of the bigger issues is the inverter which typically has a lifespan of 10-15 years. (There are different configurations, such as using "microinverters" for each panel individually, that last considerably longer - upsides and downsides to everything, so the best solution varies by use case.)
The cost of a new inverter is cheap compared to a total install, but not exactly *cheap*. For an install size like Fau's, we're talking several thousand dollars (last I checked, anyway).
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