Greetings EEVBees:
--When I quoted the below article from the Canada Free Press, I was much more interested in the quoted statistics for premature solar panel failure rather than payback time, which can be a complicated issue. Moreover, I naively assumed that everyone would understand that an article in a Canadian newspaper when talking about PV Solar payback times was talking about Canada, and the payback times in Canada. That was foolish of me.
--In the USA where most PV installations qualify for a 30% tax credit (subsidy), if you own the installation you get the the 30%, if you lease, the installing company gets the 30%. So if you cannot afford to pay out of pocket for premature panel failure you may want to consider leasing, and your banker may want you to consider lease as well.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/solar-panel-degradation--True the author of the Canadian Free Press article when talking about payback times in Canada quoted times of around 25 years. That is because he was being generous. As general matter actual payback times in Canada are very much more than 25 years and have never been anywhere near a hallucinatory 5 years. It may surprise some but Canada is rather far down the list of locations favourable for PV Solar. Please see the below article which shows payback times for Solar Thermal Water Heat , and PV Solar. Did I mention we are talking about Canada not Florida.
http://latitude51solar.blogspot.com/2011/03/solar-payback-good-bad-and-ugly.html"To summarise.... Payback for Solar PV and Solar Water Heating
If you spend $8000 on either a solar Water Heating System OR a 1 kW Solar PV System...
1) A solar water heating system payback = approx 7.8% per year investment or about 9 Years
2) Solar PV System, payback = approx 1.4% per year return on investment or about +45 years!
--Lastly please note that since PV Solar generates electricity and not subsidies (government does those), the payback time for the buyer, and the actual pay back time for the government plus buyer are two different things. So an installation that costs $20,000 including tax tag and title and not including subsidies has not reached payback until is saves $20,000, plus miscellaneous additions for interest, maintenance and repair. If a PV Solar installation makes economic sense for you, by all means go for it. But do not let anyone tell you that the subsidy money was grown on trees.
"When ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise.
William Shakespeare 1564 - 1616
Best Regards
Clear Ether