Well really, if solar keeps getting cheaper and better, electricity will get cheaper too.

(I don't mean to deter you, I dropped 20k on home solar, but it wasn't really for the economics).

It's interesting thing to consider really. As solar gets cheaper also the cost of electricity generated when solar power is available gets cheaper. So it might even make sense not to install it yourself, but instead buy it when there is inevitable over production. And price at those times might as well be zero.

Maybe not, given Jevons paradox. Bitcoin is almost a pure manifestation of this.

The problem is that if you ever sell, your home's clearing price won't accurately capture the money you put in, and the value of your solar installation.

I don't plan on selling, but the fact that my home will have $0 electric bill should help swing the price higher.

It should, but it won't swing it up as much as it should, because the market is (currently) irrational.

Don’t solar panels have a life span of like 20 years?

Typically they’re warranted to keep supplying something like 80% at the 20 year mark. They’ll actually keep producing a lot longer than that.

They can however fail like any piece of electronics (source: I owned a panel that failed due to cell foil contact separation).

So I assume the panel was replaced under warranty? Was everything pretty much covered, or maybe you had to pay for some installer labor?

I did not know that. Thanks!

The panels I will be installing guarantee 90% output after 25 years.

Europe's oldest grid-connected PV system is 35 years old, and still running. Inverters had to be replaced 5 times though.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/07/02/exploring-the-depths-...

The life span of the inverter also needs to be considered