Solar Panels are fast becoming one of the fastest growing products for homes in the western world driven by the 75-80% reduction in the costs of solar panels in the last 3 years.The sharp reduction in the costs of solar panels has been driven by the improvement in efficiency of solar panels,increase in scale by Chinese solar panel manufacturers,solar equipment sophistication and advancements in the learning curve. Also the importance of Solar Energy keeps growing with the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster,Coal Mine Deaths,BP Oil Spill constantly reminding us the dangers of Coal,Oil and Nuclear Energy.On the other hand Solar Panels lead to no deaths directly or indirectly and are incapable of causing large scale disasters..Solar Panels these days are being made by a wide variety of manufacturers in different shapes and sizes.Different types of solar panels are also being made from different materials like silicon,CIGs,CdTe etc.Solar Panels are also finding uses in outdoor camping,boats,swimming pools,solar carports etc.Besides solar panels are also being used to power off grid systems in far off areas plus mobile phones and laptops.The advantages and uses of solar panels are growing by the day.Solar Power’s greatest advantage is the declining cost which had made solar electricity from panels on par with grid retail electricity prices in places like Italy and Germany.With costs continuing to go down,its easy to see that solar panel generated power will reach the electricity prices in most places in the world in 2-3 years.

Advantages of Solar Panels

1. No Fuel Cost – Solar Panels does not require any fuel like most other sources of energy.This is a huge advantage over other fossil fuels whose costs are increasing at a drastic  rate every year.Electricity prices are increasingly rapidly in most parts of  the world much faster than general inflation.Price shocks due to high fuel costs are a big risk with fossil fuel energy these days
2. Reasonable  Lifetime – Solar Panels have a life of 25-30 years which is increasing as the technology improves and matures.Most solar panel suppliers give  a performance warranty of 25 years and a product warranty of 10 years
3. Can be built on small scale – Solar Panels  can generate power from 5 Watts to 500 MW  unlike other types of power which require much larges scale.For example nuclear energy requires a typical plants size of at least 500 MW to make it economical
4. Quick Installation – Solar Energy can be installed very quickly.Small residential installations can be installed in as low as 3 days.This is much faster compared to other  energy sources
5. Declining Costs – Solar Costs are declining at a rapid pace and are rapidly approaching grid parity in most parts of the world.The use of semiconductor techniques ensures that the costs should continue to decline in the future as well
6. No Greenhouse Gas Emissions/Air Pollution – Solar Panels  electricity does not produce any GHG emissions or cause air pollution from the combustion of fossil fuels unlike coal,oil or gas.This makes them very attractive as a source of cheap,non carbon dioxide producing electricity.
7. Distributed Nature – Solar Panels can be used  in remote areas and used as a distributed form of power generation

Advantages of Solar Panels for Businesses

For Businesses there are additional advantages of using solar panels which are over and above that for homes which have been given above

1) Faster Depreciation – Most countries in the globe allow faster depreciation of solar panels which help in increasing the profits for businesses.For example USA allows 100% depreciation of solar panels systems in the first year which increases the returns from solar panels installations quite a lot

2) Tax Breaks – Solar Panels get tax breaks and other incentives which can reduce the costs of solar panel installations which are the biggest since solar panels require almost no running cost during its operations

3) Social Benefits – Companies are being required by investors and government to own up more responsibility for the environment and society.Using solar systems is one way to enhance its reputation and responsibility towards green causes and the society

Read more about solar panel manufacturers.