[RE-wrenches] Trina Module Annual Degradation

Sat Jul 18 18:46:00 PDT 2015

Hi:

This thread reminded me of an article I saw about 2 years ago, where the 
researcher had compiled a graph of solar module start-ups per year up 
until 2012, with the limiting constraint that the companies had to UL 1703 
listed and qualify for the California Solar Initiative.

Virtually all the companies started their business less than 10 years ago 
during the first boom in the second half of the 2000's.  Only three have 
actually been through a 25 year warranty period.

JARMO
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From:
"boB at midnitesolar.com" <boB at midnitesolar.com>
To:
RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>, 
Date:
07/18/2015 11:09 AM
Subject:
Re: [RE-wrenches] Trina Module Annual Degradation
Sent by:
"RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>

Hi Bill

From what I understand, and I have asked this question to different
people at different companies, the 25 year warranty people hear about
concerning PV is not for a broken panel within 25 years but the
degradation in performance over the years.

If a PV module just plain old "breaks" (goes to zero output) in, say
20 years and it has a 25 year degradation warranty, the PV manufacturer,
(if still in business), is not obligated to replace the defective 
module....
...Even if it resulted from a factory defect.

I do not know what the warranty period is for manufacturing defects.
I hear warranty times of around 10 years.  I am not exactly sure on that
though.

Having said all this, there are companies that do replace modules after
their short term memory is up due to manufacturing defects.  
Kyocera comes to mind immediately.  These are typically larger
companies from what I see.

I'm just repeating what I have heard over the years regarding PV.

It just seems to me somewhat misleading the words "25 year warranty".
There may be some companies that actually DO offer a full 25 yr. warranty
these days but what if they aren't around before then ?

I bet that Bill Hoffer could offer way better information than I can
about this.

boB

On 7/18/2015 3:29 AM, solar1online at charter.net wrote:
boB,
Can you expand on the warranty coverage in this situation?
TIA,
Bill

-----------------------------------------
From: "boB at midnitesolar.com" 
To: "RE-wrenches"
Cc: 
Sent: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 19:01:32 -0700
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Trina Module Annual Degradation

It's too bad that when a module goes to a REAL high degradation, like, 
100% down to nothing
before that 25 year "warranty" is up, that it is NOT considered 
degradation and is not covered
under "warranty".

P.S. This has nothing to do with Trina or any PV company in particular.

boB

On 7/16/2015 6:24 PM, jay wrote:
> HI Peter,
>
> I’ll bite.
>
> From the folks I know who deal with multi mega watt systems, are seeing 
less than that level of degradation.
>
> That said, the standard module 25 yr warranty to 80% is just on .7% year 
if I have my math correct.
>
> jay
>
> peltz power
>
>
>
>
>> On Jul 16, 2015, at 9:08 AM, Peter Parrish 
<peter.parrish at calsolareng.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have recently been in discussion with a company that builds a large 
number
>> of medium-sized PV ground mount system (30 kW to over 100 kW). They 
claim
>> that they have been seeing something on the order of 0.7% annual 
degradation
>> in the output of their systems due to intrinsic degradation in the PV
>> modules. They also claim that this number is supported by the PV module
>> manufacturer. Many years ago (2007?) I remember reading a report 
containing
>> data gathered by NREL that showed the number was about 0.4%, and I 
thought
>> the number was actually decreasing over time.
>>
>> The module in question is the Trina TSM-310 (PA14.8, I believe, if it 
makes
>> any difference).
>>
>> Has anyone read anything recent about annual degradation in general or 
Trina
>> modules in particular?
>>
>> - Peter
>>
>> Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D.
>> President, SolarGnosis
>> 1107 Fair Oaks Ave. Suite 351
>> South Pasadena, CA 91030
>> NABCEP Certified PV Installer #031806-26
>> (323) 839-6108
>> petertor at pobox.com
>>
>>

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