Although crystalline solar power panels are often sold with 25- to 30-year lifespan guarantees, those 30-year-old modules won’t be performing as well as they did on Day 1. Performance declines as solar cells experience degradation due to unavoidable circumstances like UV exposure and weather cycles. Manufacturers realize this, so solar panels come with a power output or performance warranty that usually guarantees 80% production at 25 years.

Light-induced degradation (LID):

This type of degradation doesn’t always take place, whenever it takes place, it can reduce a panels performance by 30%. PID occurs when different components in a system are at different voltages, for example the solar cell and the frame of the panel, causing a disruption in the voltages. This variance causes voltage leaks, and sub-sequentially reduces a panels power output.

Thinner solar modules are flexible and easy to install but that leads a drawback as well. Since, thinner ones are easy to transport and install, many installers try to transport them with bare hands. That can create micro-crack on the modules, which results degradation.

Naturally, solar modules are exposed to external factors which makes degradation unavoidable. Anti-aging degradation is the natural wear and tear of solar panels. Factors that can cause this include chemical reactions in semi-conductive materials that can cause crystalline hardening, contamination of the cells, shadowing effects and weather cycles.