NYT article - solar panel failures???

mtdoc
mtdoc Solar Expert Posts: 600 ✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Saw THIS article today. Is there really an issue with numerous defective panels out there? I have not heard this before. It's interesting they did not name any names ...:roll:
LOS ANGELES — The solar panels covering a vast warehouse roof in the sun-soaked Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles were only two years into their expected 25-year life span when they began to fail. Coatings that protect the panels disintegrated while other defects caused two fires that took the system offline for two years, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenues.

It was not an isolated incident. Worldwide, testing labs, developers, financiers and insurers are reporting similar problems and say the $77 billion solar industry is facing a quality crisis just as solar panels are on the verge of widespread adoption.

No one is sure how pervasive the problem is. There are no industrywide figures about defective solar panels. And when defects are discovered, confidentiality agreements often keep the manufacturer’s identity secret, making accountability in the industry all the more difficult.

The article goes on to quote representatives of several manufacturers - Trina, Yingli, Suntech, etc - who all say it isn't us. So who is it?? I don't buy the "confidentiality agreement" bs. I can't think of any other instance when the manufacturer of a massive failure of a consumer product been kept secret?

Articles like this tend to make the big oil conspiracy theories seem plausible.
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Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???

    Sounds like a load of anti-solar propaganda to me.
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  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???

    the writer should ask the insurance companies, who (which company) has placed a claim? I have to believe that with that potential liability they are insured for loss...
     
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???

    i don't think it is aimed at solar in general, but seems to be aimed at undermining the chinese solar industry specifically. i haven't been watching the rss feeds much, but has anybody noticed info coming across it related to this claim?
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    niel wrote: »
    i haven't been watching the rss feeds much, but has anybody noticed info coming across it related to this claim?

    Nope. And I do watch the RSS feeds. ;)
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  • KnowledgeSponge
    KnowledgeSponge Solar Expert Posts: 173 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???

    Seems reasonable.

    Some manufacturers will always cut costs to maximize profits.

    Especially if they can make a fortune then when the claims start rolling in, fold and restart under a new name.

    What's "unreasonable" is to assume ALL panel manufacturers will have integrity and not cut corners in the name of profit.
    I'd bet we start hearing of at least some stories of this before too long.

    The solar game is just heating up on a large scale. Time will tell.

    Check your panels ;)
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???

    Well if people will insist on buying El Cheapo made-in-China-and-dumped-on-the-market-to-destroy-legitimate-manufacturers panels, that's what will happen.

    You can't fix stupid.
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  • KnowledgeSponge
    KnowledgeSponge Solar Expert Posts: 173 ✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Well if people will insist on buying El Cheapo made-in-China-and-dumped-on-the-market-to-destroy-legitimate-manufacturers panels, that's what will happen.

    You can't fix stupid.

    Aren't most people buying Chinese made panels? (honestly dont know)
    (Mine are supposedly German made ($1.65 / watt) but who the hell really knows.
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    KnowledgeSponge wrote: »
    Aren't most people buying Chinese made panels? (honestly dont know)
    (Mine are supposedly German made ($1.65 / watt) but who the hell really knows.

    Please read my whole description.
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Please read my whole description.
    We did. Some might say that ALL Chinese modules fit your description.
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    ggunn wrote: »
    We did. Some might say that ALL Chinese modules fit your description.

    I don't agree. There are things made in China which are not junk. It all depends on how much the company in charge cares about its reputation.

    Unfortunately there are numerous companies who do not care, and even when they are "found out" they just start up again under a new name. British Columbia is a dumping ground for poorly-made Chinese goods, including counterfeit items (faked UL labels and all). When they manage to close one down, another takes its place. Like trying to kill the Hydra.
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  • RandomJoe
    RandomJoe Solar Expert Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    #12
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    KnowledgeSponge wrote: »
    Aren't most people buying Chinese made panels? (honestly dont know)
    (Mine are supposedly German made ($1.65 / watt) but who the hell really knows.

    My last set of Kyocera panels said "Made in Mexico"! The first batch were "Made in Japan" but that was a few years back. (Just did some searching, looks like they currently make them in Tijuana, San Diego, Japan, China, Czech Republic.)

    Hoping I don't have to find out where the most recent ones are made... YET ANOTHER hailstorm headed in... Seems like solar panels on the roof are weather magnets for hailstorms! Can't believe how many we've had since I put these things in! :p
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Sounds like a load of anti-solar propaganda to me.

    Cross reference this thread: http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?19990-Is-Solar-at-Risk-of-Becoming-as-Trusted-as-a-Used-Car-Salesman&p=158050#post158050
    From the article fed (emphasis mine) :
    Incident #3. Finally, on Wednesday, Todd Woody, a well known solar business reporter for the New York Times and Forbes, published “Solar Industry Anxious Over Defective Panels.” There, he described several solar projects that have received defective panels. I’ve heard about the same issues anecdotally through my installer friends, but when the issue is published in The New York Times? Not good.
    Suddenly, the entire industry has a problem. Now, anyone considering solar — utility scale or residential — is going to question whether they’re going to be ripped off with defective panels. And that lack of trust is then going to lead to more customers wanting to delay their purchase decision or to cancel it entirely.
    On top of that, any oil/gas/nuke lobbyist can now print Woody’s article, send it to policymakers, and say, “See? We told you solar wasn’t reliable. But you can count on gas and nukes. It pollutes and it’s dangerous, but hey, at least it’s reliable.”

    But nobody knows whose panels they are. Several thousand DIY panels from 100 different home manufacturers?
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #14
    Re: NYT article - solar panel failures???

    As long as nobody posts the "good and the bad" about the different suppliers--Then they will all eventually be tarred with the bad.

    Love it or hate it, BBB, Consumer Reports, and other private and industry groups have banded together in the past to get information out about vendors (albeit imperfectly). Yelp and others on the Internet have tried--But sometimes seem open to "bribery" and other scams too.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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