[viraptor]

> they get destroyed by weather

We get anything from storms to hail few times a year here. My patio roof got holes in it from the ice balls, but the panels are fine. Are you missing some qualifiers on that one?

> get dirty

You clean them every few months or monitor for issues per group of panels.

> require significant maintenance

Just like every other device out in the real world. Coal, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, thermal generators require maintenance.

[marcosdumay]

What I think the GP is blowing completely out of proportion is:

> they get destroyed by weather

A few of them, every year. It makes a visible dent on their average longevity.

But I don't think distributing them has any impact on this. They just create a risk situation that nobody seems to be insuring and that large farms will self insure without problems. (Anyway, with the price going down the way it is, that will soon become irrelevant.)

> get dirty

Each person stopping to clean their own panels is much less efficient than professional cleaning centralized panels. It does increase your electricity costs.

> require significant maintenance

Home maintenance is an entire other level of inefficiency. That extends to any kind of equipment in your home.

But again, none of those is a big deal. Solar is mostly operation-free, so distribution mostly doesn't matter.

[cupcakecommons]

We were originally discussing offshore wind. These things have to function in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. We don't really fully understand how weather patterns will change over time with climate change. The idea that these factors won't represent serious risks to output over 50-year lifespans is delusional. We should be building modern nuclear reactors. Small scale distributed solar in sunny environments is fine - the rest of this stuff is just a massive waste.