[RE-wrenches] Whats with Kyocera

Wed May 19 04:10:46 PDT 2010

Ray,

In addition to _your_ Rouges Big Three of 

Kyrocera
BP
Photowatt 

let me add _my_ recently discovered Rouges Big Three of 

Q-Cells
Sharp
Abound Solar

which are being sold direct from the manufacturer to the end user.

Seems like many manufacturers have lapses of conscience, some continuously others intermittently.

Thank you,

Bill Loesch
Solar 1 - Saint Louis Solar

I would hope that other _distributors_ like AEE and manufacturers, like Evergreen, continue to pass on their leads as long as the established distribution channels remain in place.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: R Ray Walters 
  To: RE-wrenches 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 6:47 PM
  Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Whats with Kyocera

  Interesting, because we quit working with all three Manufacturers mentioned for the following reasons:
  Kyocera had that 1999 bad batch that is still giving them a bad name in the back woods here. So glad I never sold those.
  BP bought Solarex, and starting making crappy polycrystalline stuff, (and had their own bad batches) we got tired of making excuses for under performance.
  FInally, Photowatt in Albuquerque was selling to end users very small quantities at our wholesale price. We didn't need the competition from a supplier. Again they had some bad batches too.
  These three companies have a long track record of bad service, bad products, and poor performance.
  With so many top quality modules available: Sunpower, SolarWorld, Sanyo..... Why would any of you mess around selling 
  for a company that doesn't take care of you?
  Just my opinion: you're only going to install so many systems this lifetime, so don't put your name and reputation out on 2nd rate stuff.

  R. Walters
  ray at solarray.com
  Solar Engineer

  On May 18, 2010, at 2:56 PM, Joel Davidson wrote:

    In 2002, Kyocera cut off American distributors shortly after hosting their distributor visit to Japan. Kyocera started shipping everything they could to Germany where they were getting over $1/W more than in the US. BP Solar also cut off American distributors. Remember BP distributor Mark Weidhaas in Temecula? Photowatt also cut off American distributors. Remember Bernard Stuart in Albuquerque? I'm sure wrenches can think of other foreign manufacturers that left us high and dry.

    PV manufacturing is nowhere near maxed out. PV industry manufacturing capacity utilization is now around 60%.

    See slide 2 http://www.luthcommunications.com/uploads/Paula_Mints_presentation.pdf

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: Keith Cronin <electrichi01 at yahoo.com>
    To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
    Sent: Tue, May 18, 2010 10:59:04 AM
    Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Whats with Kyocera

    I've heard alot of manu's are struggling or will be struggling to meet demand this year- SunPower, Canadian and now it seems Kyocera.

    Who is next?

    Seems like 2006 all over again.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: Steven Lawrence <SLawrence at smartenergygroup.net>
    To: "re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
    Sent: Tue, May 18, 2010 7:51:51 AM
    Subject: [RE-wrenches] Whats with Kyocera

    It's the same thing here.  They aren't taking any large orders from us.  

    Steven Lawrence
    NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer(tm)

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 18:22:27 -0700
    From: i2p <i2p at aol.com>
    To: "List for complaining about anything RE."
        <re-bitching at lists.re-wrenches.org>
    Cc: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
    Subject: [RE-wrenches] Whats with Kyocera?
    Message-ID: <A1E17F2D.C667.4A0B.80D8.4725C33305E2 at aol.com>
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

    Without any word, they have stopped taking orders.! Not only could they not fulfill an immediate need, they refused to even take a pretty nice order for future delivery.????

    Who is still getting Kyocera? Whats the deal.? Are they dumping the small accounts??

    If you are still doing business with Kyocera, what size orders are you placing.? Not looking for biz intelligence here, just respond as small , medium or large.

    Thanks for comments and information. Just trying to figure out where to go from here. Like I'm looking for a supplier who treats smaller shops with some respect. My comments do not reflect on my salesperson at Kyocera who is very upset by being forced to refuse orders.

    Don Loweburg
    Offline Solar

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