How I make my solar panels last long enough to pay for themselves

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

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ZDNET's key takeaways

It will take many years for a solar panel to pay for itself.

Cleaning is vital, as dust can dramatically reduce power output.

Testing a suspect panel is pretty straightforward.

Even small solar panels are expensive, so they need to last a long time in order to make their money back.

Take my EcoFlow 400W flexible panel. This retails for $550.

If you take the average price for a kWh of electricity in the US (let's say $0.19), combine that with the average amount of peak sunshine (let's say 5 hours), and allow for losses through inefficiencies, this panel can make about 1.5 kWh a day, or just under 30 cents a day of power.

Also: Avoid these 8 solar mistakes that cut your power output in half - I learned the hard way

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