A: The only time your solar panels stop generating electricity is when the sun’s not out. That means at night and few winter periods. The sun rises and sets pretty routinely. Solar energy is more predictable and reliable than power plants, which often experience outages several thousand times every year.

A: Your solar panels don’t need sunshine, per se, to generate electricity as much as they need direct, unobstructed access to the sun’s UV rays. Your solar panels will still generate electricity during cloudy and rainy day — they just won’t produce as much energy as they do during clear days. Solar panels do not generate electricity at night since the sun is not out.

A: That depends on how much electricity your home or business uses, the rate the utility company charges for electricity, and several other factors. Most solar providers aim to offset 70–90% of your monthly electricity bill, so that’s a good place to start your calculations.

A: Very harmful. It affects not only the performance of your system but also the lifespan of your panels. When a cell on a panel is shaded, it stops the production proportional to the percentage of light that is blocked on a cell. This causes the production of the panel and the others on that string to lower to this weakest point. Also, the good cells are fighting the blockage, causing temperatures to rise drastically across the shaded cells. This reduces the panel’s lifespan and can even cause fires in extreme cases.