How many years does it take to recover your investment? In other words what is the solar payback period?
Installing rooftop solar is a significant decision for any family.
It comes with the promise of:
- Never having to pay hefty electricity bills again
- Enjoying free electricity for a minimum of 25 years
The most remarkable aspect? The initial investment in solar installation pays back within a mere 4 years (check the calculations in the accompanying infographic).
This breakeven period remains consistent regardless of your system’s capacity. In reality, with electricity costs escalating annually by 3-10%, the 4-year mark is a conservative estimate.
Often, diligent system maintenance, as recommended by experts, accelerates the cost recovery to within 2-3 years, or even less. Solar payback period is just 2-3 years in totality.
Now, let’s take the example of a 3 kW system to figure out how much money solar will save you after the initial investment is recovered.
- Annual savings of ₹56,000
- Electricity costs rising by 3-10% annually
- Breakeven achieved in 4 years
- Solar’s lifespan is 25 years
- Post breakeven, enjoy 21 more years of free electricity
- The cumulative savings over 25 years, factoring in escalating electricity costs, amount to at least ₹13-15 lakh.
So, what’s stopping you from being the Ambani of your destiny – producing your own power and getting richer by the day?
