Solar Panel Warranties

[mbcijim]

I have a 200KW Evergreen Panel array with a 20 year warranty on the panels.

Evergreen of course, went bankrupt.

Any thought on the warranty? Worthless?

 

[peakbagger]

Given the massive liabilities, I would expect the warrantee is worthless.

In reality, panels very rarely fail once installed. Evergreen made a good panel and I expect you will get long service out of them.

 

[jimbom]

I am sure there are some lawyers on here, but the bankruptcies that have taken some of my contractors in the past followed the same script. The procedure is in the federal court public access web pages. In those pages you can find the rules of bankruptcy. Also, you can find the court where they filed, the case number, and read all of the filings and rulings in the case. You may want to register as a creditor and put in your claim, but I am sure in the pecking order, warranties are not listed or they are listed last on the to pay list. Doesn't cost to file a claim, but probably not worth the effort.

 

[Slow1]

Also consider who installed your array. You may have some ability to get warranty relief from that company depending on the terms of your contract and/or the laws of your state. As Jimbo stated, check with your local and perhaps seek legal counsel to be sure.

In any case, the actual panels are generally not considered a high failure item from what I understand. My larger concern would be replacing panels in the case of some other non-warranty damage (storm damage, whatever). With the company out of business it will not be any easier to find identical replacements to replace missing panels in a string.

 

[jebatty]

Warranties always have been a conundrum for me. If a product is good, it doesn't need a warranty; and if a company is good, it will stand behind its product even with no warranty. And if a product is not good and the company is bad, a warranty can end up being a real hassle; or if the company that made a warranted product goes belly-up, what good is the warranty?

The bottom line is deal with reputable companies, installers, suppliers, etc., as best you can. Research products well before buying for reliability, etc. Don't always select the cheapest based on purchase price. And never expect perfection. That may only exist with the Creator, and some would argue that even that design was not too intelligent.

 

[mbcijim]

I spoke with my installer about it. He mentioned the arrays (12) would still work without the panels, but they operate at the voltage of the smallest voltage panel. So don't put a 210W panel in a 245W array.

The part I didn't understand as much is he mentioned the voltage needs to be the same. I would have thought that different manufacturer's would be at the same voltage, but I guess not. Long story short he recommended we buy a half dozen panels and store them on site for future replacement, that way we don't have to worry about wattage or voltage.

Guess there isn't much more that I can do about it.