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  • grahamc2003
    grahamc2003 Posts: 1,771 Forumite
    zeupater wrote: »
    Hi


    .... as for San Francisco, don't believe everything on TV - I spent quite some time around the Bay Area around 20 years ago, it seemed to be much colder and windier around SF itself with some early mist, but cross any of the bay bridges and move inland and the temperature and air clarity increases by the mile .... I've got the requisit pictures of the base of the Golden Gate shrouded in mist with the towers in gleaming sunshine, but needed to get up pretty early to get the best effects .... ;)

    HTH
    Z

    Not sure where 'don't believe everything on TV' came from, since I said more or less the same as you!

    I also worked there for a couple of years some years ago - a pleasant short trip was to head to Sam's Caff over the Golden Gate at Tiburon, to watch the fog roll in over the city, more or less as regular as clockwork.
  • WestonDave
    WestonDave Posts: 5,154
    Rampant Recycler
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    This a few months old but interesting nonetheless. HSBC has a strong far east presence so will have good contacts to know what is happening in China regarding the struggles of their solar producers. Goes along with the article in post 2 but its clearly not just the smaller producers that are struggling.

    http://www.hsbcnet.com/gbm/global-insights/week-in-china/2012/light-diet-required.html
    Adventure before Dementia!
  • How to bring light to the masses, South African style.

    iShack a bright idea
  • WestonDave wrote: »
    This a few months old but interesting nonetheless. HSBC has a strong far east presence so will have good contacts to know what is happening in China regarding the struggles of their solar producers. Goes along with the article in post 2 but its clearly not just the smaller producers that are struggling.

    http://www.hsbcnet.com/gbm/global-insights/week-in-china/2012/light-diet-required.html

    This has been going of for some time and is the reason we cannot recommend chinese panels as an installer. If you value a warranty. We will install them if the customer insists and knows the risk but in just about every case you'd be better off spending an extra £500 for a known trusted manufacturer that you trust to be around in the future to honour warranties.

    We are still selling mostly Hyundai, and mostly the all black ones. They are quite a bit more than the teir 2 chinese silver framed polys but worth it IMO. We also sell Sunpower, the most expensive panel in the world, which comes with a 25 year product warranty, it's not all about price...
  • However, China has just connected its first domestic PV system and if their incetives work they could soak up all the extra production domestically.

    There is a theory in the industry that their government has had a plan to push production costs down by flooding the market to make their panels affordable domestically and also eliminating competition in the west. They have a proper plan there...

    http://www.solarguide.co.uk/chinas-first-home-solar-pv-system-connected-to-state-grid
  • rogerblack
    rogerblack Posts: 9,446 Forumite
    Energetic wrote: »
    This has been going of for some time and is the reason we cannot recommend chinese panels as an installer. If you value a warranty.

    Can you comment on actual panel failures in the field, and how they die?

    Clearly, nothing other than infant mortalities at this point. :)
  • spgsc531
    spgsc531 Posts: 250 Forumite
    The way technology advances, I wouldn't be surprised if some time in the future it might even be worth changing panels for more efficient ones anyway(financially especially), considering the 25 year (now 20 year) time line of FiTs. And even after the FiT stops being paid beyond that it may likely still be a viable thing to do the way electricity prices are going. There doesn't seem to be much evidence of solar panels failing common place so far.
  • rogerblack wrote: »
    Can you comment on actual panel failures in the field, and how they die?

    Clearly, nothing other than infant mortalities at this point. :)

    Only for sunpower, they have panels in the field 30+ years old.

    I can comment on consrtuction though, some of the cheaper chinese panels don't feel very robust and clearly haven't had as much time spent designing the frames or attention to detail in their manufacture.
  • rogerblack
    rogerblack Posts: 9,446 Forumite
    Energetic wrote: »
    Only for sunpower, they have panels in the field 30+ years old.

    I can comment on consrtuction though, some of the cheaper chinese panels don't feel very robust and clearly haven't had as much time spent designing the frames or attention to detail in their manufacture.

    And only time will tell if they've used the comparatively expensive silicone gel to attach the cells to the glass, or a cheaper knockoff which goes yellow in 15 years.
  • rogerblack wrote: »
    And only time will tell if they've used the comparatively expensive silicone gel to attach the cells to the glass, or a cheaper knockoff which goes yellow in 15 years.

    Indeed, the cheaper ones also seem to rely heavily on mastic to hold everything together.
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