| Warranties |
|
Every panel manufacturer will offer both a warranty against faults in workmanship (typically 5 years) as well as a guarantee of output over a period of time. Typically they will guarantee that a panel will be performing at 90% of its original capacity after 10-12 years and 85% after 25 years. It is important not to confuse a “25 year output guarantee” with a general warranty of the product as they are simply not the same thing. If somebody offers you a “25 year warranty/guarantee” you should look very closely at the details; it won’t be a guarantee to replace a non-working panel. If you are offered a warranty/guarantee, you need to consider exactly what might happen in, let’s say, 10 year’s time when you feel that one of your panels might not be working properly. There are currently a number of companies offering a 10 year insurance backed warranty on some Chinese panels. The insurance document is from a Chinese accident insurance company and would be completely worthless if you tried to claim against it. You would, at your own expense, have to get the panel disconnected from the array, arrange for it to be sent to a registered test centre, pay for the testing to prove it was faulty and then arrange for the faulty panel to be swapped for a working panel. You would then have to pay for the working panel to be re-connected to the array. Not much use to anybody. Inverter warranties are slightly different. Most manufacturers will offer a standard 5 year warranty against manufacturing faults. These warranties can generally be extended at a cost of between £600-£800 to cover a period of 10-12 years. Working with an installer such as The Green Home Company gives you the peace of mind that comes from knowing we have been getting things right and looking after our customers for 20 years. If you have are a having a problem with your PV system in 10 years time, we’ll still be there to help... |
