[RE-wrenches] Defective modules-Chinese crap?

[frenergy]

Hilton,

        I have not been experiencing anything unusual in failure rates.....of course I have not caved to the up-front lower cost tease of Chinese PVs and have only sold USA made PVs built by manus in biz for decades.  This choice has lost me only a few customers, maybe now they will come back.  It seems interesting to me that you would mention 3 Chinese companies as 'first tier'.  When I think of first tier I think of companies that have been around for much longer than that.

        You are absolutely right though, as an industry, "we" need to identify this problem and deal with it now, like now, lest we go the path of solar thermal in the 80's.  Possibly the solar bandwagon has become overloaded?

Bill




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Hilton Dier III 
  To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 6:08 AM
  Subject: [RE-wrenches] Defective modules


  Greetings wrenches,

  I'm sure many of you have seen this article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/business/energy-environment/solar-powers-dark-side.html?hp&_r=1&

  I have already gotten an email from a panicked client asking about canceling his project.

  First question: Has anybody dealt with defective modules lately, and if so, what brands?
  Second question: How much does this affect first-tier manufacturers (Trina, Suntech, Yingli...) and how much of this is "no-name" brands?
  Third question: Is this restricted to a particular technology such as thin film?

  And the big question: How do we deal with this? I can imagine the fossil fuel and nuclear industries promoting this story with enthusiasm.

  Thanks,

  Hilton

-- 
Hilton Dier III
Renewable Energy Design
Partner, Solar Gain LLC
453 East Hill Rd.
Middlesex, VT 05602


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