Solar panel warranties

[sub3marathonman]

There has been some debate on another forum about the panel warranties. Some feel the 25 year guarantee isn't worth the paper it's written on. Others, such as Bill here, have made successful claims and apparently come out OK.

I was doing some research, and it seems that Canadian Solar purchases an insurance policy that is in effect for the 25 year warranty. Does such a method give people more confidence in them?

What has happened to the people who have Evergreen panels? Is their warranty gone?

So, theoretically everything else being equal, with the one warranty in effect and the other void because the company (not necessarily Evergreen) is gone, if you were purchasing one of these two panels, what would the price premium be for the panels with the warranty still in effect?

[Eric L]

IMO, the main value of the warranty comes in the first day the panel is turned on; making sure it works to specification. Also, it's nice to know as it heats up and cools down in the first days/weeks, that no contact breaks.

Nowadays, the cost of a single panel is often less than the cost of shipping it pallet freight. Obviously, if the warranty covers shipping, it's a different story, but to my knowledge, they typically do not. So if the panel breaks in five years, are you going to pay $500+ to ship it round trip?

If all your panels have a defect, then the warranty is really worth something, of course. But I wouldn't pay a premium for a warranty to protect against this, if I had the choice not to.

As far as Evergreen, hopefully everyone who was buying their panels last year discounted the value of the warranty.