[RE-wrenches] Solyndra

[Keith Cronin]

William

I appreciate the sentiment. To understand the genesis of the query, we must look to the analogousness of watching Sunday nights 60 Minutes TV program. Every week, for years, there are commercials on relating to all sorts of pharmacology which inspires an individual to ask their doctor (and sometimes educate them) about using such and such a product for their "condition". The public at times has more info than the doctor......Knowing a few doctors, they have expressed this to me over the years and it "encourages" them to do some research as they get caught off guard....

The same holds true for Solyndra (our SolViagra/Flowmax etc.). Customers stumble upon this type of product, and pelt us with questions. I pinged Solyndra a few times via email and phone with no reply. Seems they are angling towards the roofing contracting community, sewing up relationships with Carlilse, the roofing manu as a channel for distribution. So, trying to be helpful, and doing my (our) best to dig into the details and provide some feedback for the query. The enthusiasm of virtually zero roof penetrations and all of the other claims, whether substantiated or not, require some research......

As we all have looked at a Popular Science as youths, there will always be a new solar promising technology to breach the scene and it is our fiduciary responsibility to identify the pros and cons to support our industry in the determination of its efficacy. If we don't at least discover what is around the corner, we have the propensity to miss the trend. Sure we need to concern ourselves with longevity, but the MTBF of even the enphase products is unproven and accelerated, but is very promising and catching alot of positive waves. Even at 90 cents a watt installed, almost double what a comprable string inverter is being peddled for, the perceived features and benefits have caught alot of attention of the end user and appear willing to fork over a premium for the telemetry and diagnostics. To me, this is an excellent accountability mechanism- from the manu of the modules to the integrators design as well as historical harvesting of data to support a
 future world of smart meters and other spine tingling technologies not even hallucinated about to date........




________________________________
From: Bill Brooks <billbrooks7 at yahoo.com>
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 6:57:41 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Solyndra

 
Keith,
 
Since it seems quite quiet on this subject,
I have to ask why a SHARP guy like you would consider such a rounded or Solindrical
technology. Actually, I have heard through the grape vine that their products
have an interesting performance characteristic in that their output looks
similar to a single-axis tracker—which makes sense—sounds good.
 
The must larger issue than the short-term
performance of the product is the longevity. Nobody has a clue on that item—not
even the manufacturer. I’m sure they have put it through torture tests,
but the real world is a different story. Not sure they have seen the sun for
more than a few years. I hope it works out for them and it becomes a viable
part of the PV industry. I, for one, will be cheering from the sidelines.
 
Bill.
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Keith Cronin
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009
12:05 PM
To: RE-Wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Solyndra
 
http://www.solyndra.com/

Anyone have any feedback on these folks and their products?


      
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