Yes, from a traditional accounting perspective, solar panels on an apartment house are technically a depreciating asset. AND there are some very significant factors to note:
1. Once the PV system is installed, you effectively have eliminated any volatility for part of your electric expenses on the building. There really, truly is zero maintenance 99.99 percent of the time.
2. Depreciation is an expense you can take to reduce your income taxes.
3. The actual solar cells themselves don't degrade over time: solar systems, after 20 or 30 years, don't work as efficiently as they did on Day 1. For most of us, our PV arrays will be working until we retire or die.
4. Buying electricity from the grid gets more an more expense every year per unit of electricity, on average. In Wisconsin, this is mostly coal and natural gas powered. So there are very real, huge pollution and health costs that aren't even included in that price per kWh.
5. What is the definition of an Appreciating asset? The example is land, right? Land "always" goes up in value over time, right? Except when it doesn't, of course, but the accountants don't talk about that. Polluted land, re-zoned land, land that has rising property taxes associated with it -- that must be paid in cash, land in a neighborhood that goes downhill, land that used to be quiet and peaceful on the edge of town when we bought it but now is crowded and noisy.
