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How companies offering solar panels mislead their customers

When photovoltaics became more popular, the market got full of  imprecise taglines and opinions.

Although investors have learnt throughout time certain expressions and the mechanism of how photovoltaic  systems work. Still, some companies mislead their customers.              

We introduce few characteristic inprecise statements.

The price is what counts most

Not true at all. In most of cases, by selling the cheapest products to your customer, companies just increase investor’s costs in the future due to reeplacements and reparation needed. So in long-term perspective the customer pays much more.

All solar panels are the same

No, they are not. Even if the label or technical data sheet says same power and same warranty. It’s true that the multitud of different manufacturers makes it difficult to see the difference. Manufacturers test their modules for years so why not to look at the results and certifications. It’s also good to find out how the installations with these modules work on other plants.

Country of origin – how important is it?

Is country of origin that important? Are modules from Germany engineered there or rather manufactured in China and only distributed there? First of all, it’s imprecise to select modules based on the country of origin. In recent years, a lot of progress was made in solar panels manufacturing process and many manufacturers extended their operation on global market.

The leader in both manufacturing and investment is China but we’re dealing with a wide range of different manufacturers producing modules or better and worse quality. Some of them decide to rebrand, sell their production or continue under the same brand. But still- what’s most important is to have a look at module tests results and their certificates.

Oh, these kilowatpeaks!

Apart from problem with distinguishing power units (kW) from energy units (kWh), there is a problem with understanding kilowattpeaks, a unit of peak power. What’s interesting is that some companies give a design power of PV system in kW instead of kWp. This can be confusing since peak power only works for STC. What can convince customer is however the positive power tolerance.

Warranty – 25 or 10 years?

Some companies convince their customers that their solar panels have 25-year warranty. As much, as it can be true, it has to be precised that it is a performance warranty, not manufacturer warranty that usually has 10 years. What’s more due to exposure to different atmospheric conditions, using low-quality modules wrong installation or damages made during transport,  modules can work slightly shorter than this time. It’s important to avoid these factors.

We should therefore take care of the market as well us our customer, offering them high quality, certified modules and sharing facts.