Under 10 degrees tilt? Try groovy solar panels made by Winaico (and others).

It’s really bucketing down here in Queensland right now.  I’m relieved because until this evening there was a remote but real possibility of everything going all orange and wavy and really hot.  I have friends coming over from Taiwan and I’d be most dreadfully embarrassed if all we had to offer them was a fine selection of ashes. [Read more…]

HT-SAAE: not a bunch of random letters, but a Chinese government owned company that has manufactured panels for use in Australia, space and other weird places.

I have two pieces of good news about HT-SAAE solar panels I’m just dying to tell you.  They are:

1. No one’s going to get mad if you call them HT panels for short.
2. The product warranty for panels sold in Australia has increased from 10 to 12 years.

—
UPDATE: January 3, 2022. This blog post is a couple of years old. The product warranty on HT-SAAE solar panels has since been boosted again a couple of times, most recently to 25 years. The latest warranty document (as at January 3, 2022) can be found here.
—-

[Read more…]

Good news, friends!  I’ve discovered a new solar panel manufacturer site full of bizarre English!  It is brilliant!  I haven’t been this happy since since the days when Risen Energy boasted about having a blue ocean strategy instead of a red ocean where the fish keep biting each other. [Read more…]

Hyundai have increased the product warranty of their solar panels from 12 to 25 years!  O frabjous dai! Hyun! Hyai!

I have great news for anyone who wants a 25 year product warranty on their solar panels but doesn’t want to pay big bucks to get it.  On the first of this month Hyundai Energy Solutions increased their product warranty in Australia from 12 to 25 years.¹

[Read more…]

Backsheet failures from the field. Images: Crap Solar FB Page

On the 19th of June DuPont, the world’s largest chemical company, released their Global PV Reliability 2019 Field Analysis report.  It contains disturbing news on the reliability of plastic backsheets used for solar panels. [Read more…]

A new Module Reliability Scorecard was published earlier this month.  It reveals the sadistic practices of a standards organization that subjected solar panels to torturous tests so they could announce which ones came out on top. [Read more…]

Today I spoke with Michael Rush, the head of Sales and Marketing for Canadian Solar in Australia.  Well, I say I spoke to him today, but you’re actually reading this during my tomorrow — so my today is now your yesterday.  I guess time really is a wibbly wobbly thing.

He told me some interesting things.  They included: [Read more…]

Discover typical solar payback in 2019 for each of Australia’s state capitals.

One year and one month ago I wrote about the simple payback time of rooftop solar, which is how long it takes the savings from solar power to equal the cost of a system.  In most Australian capitals it took around 5 years or less, which meant rooftop PV was one of the best investments households could make.

I have done the same thing again — except differently [Read more…]

Large 72 Cell Solar Panels Can Go On Home Roofs But They Must Be Clamped Correctly

This article is about big solar panels.  Bigger than the standard sized 60 cell panels commonly installed on residential roofs.  Those are only around 1m by 1.65m.  I’m talking about larger ones with 72 cells that are about 1m by 2m.  These larger panels are mostly used for commercial installations and solar farms, but they can be used on household roofs provided they are installed properly.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. [Read more…]