[RE-wrenches] REC Solar melt-down

[Matt Lafferty]

Thanks for posting this, Marco.
 
Somehow I missed this story last week. Funny in an ironic, twisted way. A
friend of ours was in town visiting this afternoon. He mentioned that he was
considering buying some REC modules out of Norway... Good deal on them, etc.
(Can't tell ya the price he mentioned, 'cause, well, you know...) 
My other half and I kinda looked at each other in that, "gee... I didn't
know they made modules" sort of way. We got to talking about pricing and
which manufacturers or country of origin you can trust for quality,
reliability, etc. We collectively figure that a Norway product has got to be
better than a China product. At least with this situation, the mfr has
issued a formal recall and is intending to remedy. Can't say I believe the
same will be true of a growing number of companies out there. Did I say,
will? Yep.
 
So, Marco, in answer to your question... I'm not as horrified by this kind
of news from REC as I will be when it's "not news" and the system owner is
holding the whole bag because the mfr is in serious denial or can't be found
at all. Hope it all turns out for the best for REC's customers. Once that
happens, I'll be happy to wish REC all the best!
 
I read on a European site that the modules supposedly can be repaired.
http://www.totalrecallinfo.com/freerecalls.php?id=12200 That's not "official
news", but the translation is at least entertaining... I like the deputy CEO
quote, "This is boring thing for us". Nothing is said about whether or not
the defect is a potential safety hazard, but you can rest assured that they
wouldn't issue a full recall if it wasn't scary or failure wasn't imminent.
 
Don't know if it's really boring for REC or not. I do hope that these
defective modules don't migrate and get resold or redeployed... At least not
in their defective condition. If they are salvageable, I would hope they
would be perrmanently marked as refurbished and perhaps redeployed in
limited situations... Such as ground-mounted, utility-scale PPA projects
where REC is a financial stakeholder. If the matter is internal to the
module, I don't want previously recalled products back on rooftops. No sense
in that. 
 
I recall (pun intended) a big shipment of relabeled reject Sharp modules
back in about 2001 or 2002 that caught a boat out of Japan and invaded us.
Right about the time module prices took their first decent drop. They
couldn't sell them in Japan after the whole Sanyo Solar Ark monument, but
guess who would buy them in a jiffy? These were NOT marked as seconds, or
rejects. They were labeled as if they were perfect... Same volts, amps, and
watts as the modules they weren't. These modules, Schott-Applied Power
Corporation SAPC-165's, never got close to making their nameplate numbers,
by the way. Haven't heard of any systemic failures though. That's a plus.
Now to go make the rounds doing performance testing to make sure they are
within warranteed specs!
 
The market is dynamic right now. Oversupply, or in REC's case, a 420,000
module shortage, combined with fast-changing pricing, combined with more new
manufacturers than you can count is likely to result in more opportunities
for scheisters. Never been a better time to take care of those who have
taken care of you. Don't sell your loyalty and better judgement for a nickel
a watt! 
 
Pray for Sun and Relible Glass!
 
-Matt Lafferty
 
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