Common scams that I came across when dealing with pv manufacturers

Dricus
Dricus Registered Users Posts: 3
in Solar Skeptics, Hype, & Scams Corner #1
Hi,

Over the past years I've been the purchaser of many containers of solar panels in China, and
you would be amazed by the number of scams and tricks the Chinese manufacturers try to pull off.

There's a lot of fraud related to Output power (flash test lists), Micro Cracks (EL results), subcontracting, Grade B cells
and many more. If you're buying from manufacturers, then you would probably be interested in this article here:

www.sinovoltaics.com/quality-control/sneaky-pv-quality-frauds-part-1/

Hope it's useful. Cheers, D.
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Comments

  • verdigo
    verdigo Solar Expert Posts: 428 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: Common scams that I came across when dealing with pv manufacturers

    Talk about scams? Or was that spams?
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  • Andy Nguyen
    Andy Nguyen Registered Users Posts: 2
    #3
    Re: Common scams that I came across when dealing with pv manufacturers

    The IV tests can be easily manipulated to provide overmeasurements even though these bad PV manufacturers claimed to use the primary reference module when calibrating the sun simulators. The class of sun simulators minimum requirement can be easily met and does not need to be AAA for production (only for lab). What they did is to increase the RCCC or FF in the sun simulator after doing the calibration. This helped them to boost the Isc or FF and the end result is an increase in Pmax. This is a very common practice in China. In regard of subcontracts, these PV manufacturers claimed to be partnership with others to make the cells and modules for them in order to get the contract with the customers. They invited you to visit the OEM factories and there would be hanging sign showed the name of their company in the section reserved for their products. It is nothing else than a scam. More, the inspection can be easily cheated. They will remove and hide unauthorized components away while you inspect their factories. None of the auditors can have the access to everywhere in the factories.
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  • Dricus
    Dricus Registered Users Posts: 3
    #4
    Re: Common scams that I came across when dealing with pv manufacturers

    Completely agree Andy. The only way to make sure that Chinese pv manufacturers don't cheat is to have your own
    people on-site and inspect a fair amount of panels randomly before shipping. Your team then needs to know how to calibrate a flash test
    and the data can be easily compared to the outputs measured by the manufacturer.
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