Author Topic: solar evergreen (Read 6202 times)

thirteen · « **on:** November 29, 2011, 11:17:27 AM »

Is Evergreen going out of business? I'v seen two adds for liquidations of their solar panels.

DamonHD · « **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2011, 11:20:12 AM »

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/198151/20110815/evergreen-solar.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=evergreen+bankruptcy

Rgds

Damon

Volvo farmer · « **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2011, 07:42:27 AM »

Makes you think twice about the 25 year warranties we are being promised when we buy solar panels nowadays, huh?

ghurd · « **Reply #3 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:24:25 AM »

Quote from: Volvo farmer on November 30, 2011, 07:42:27 AM

Makes you think twice about the 25 year warranties we are being promised when we buy solar panels nowadays, huh?

Is there any PV company that has been around for 25 years?
I can't think of one.
G-

TomW · « **Reply #4 on:** November 30, 2011, 10:50:51 AM »

Quote from: ghurd on November 30, 2011, 10:24:25 AM

Is there any PV company that has been around for 25 years?
I can't think of one.
G-

Good question!

These companies change owners, names, etc a lot these days it seems.

I have Siemans and Kyocera here I think the Siemans are half way or better to 25 years in use and, frankly, I am not even sure they exist any more?

Tom

DamonHD · « **Reply #5 on:** November 30, 2011, 12:41:47 PM »

Siemens certainly still exists and is one of the huge German engineering companies, so is likely to be around for a while!

It's also just got out of nuclear generation entirely, so may be paying more attention to solar PV in future.

In fact, the presence of somewhere over 17GWp of PV in Germany means you're not alone!

Rgds

Damon

oztules · « **Reply #6 on:** November 30, 2011, 01:53:59 PM »

Volvo
"Makes you think twice about the 25 year warranties we are being promised when we buy solar panels nowadays, huh? "

I guess if you make em yourself, you know who to chase up for warranty.

Near 12 months now, and still making 18kwhs of power each reasonable day.....some days better... and some days only 4kwh.

They have seen rain, hail, ice, frost, fog, and huge winds.... so far no change that I can find in any way.

Damon.... if they keep ditching the base load generating capacity, their 17gw will be as useful as a fifth thumb.

...................oztules

DamonHD · « **Reply #7 on:** November 30, 2011, 02:15:33 PM »

The Germans are exchanging nukes for new coal plants! Duh! %-P

But yes, lots of energy is being shipped out of the UK in the general direction of Germany much of the time because it's already shut down some nukes in a panic. Up to 3GW (all our wind power on a good day)!

Look down at Half-hourly Interconnector Flows here: http://www.bmreports.com/bsp/bsp_home.htm

Rgds

Damon

SparWeb · « **Reply #8 on:** November 30, 2011, 03:22:07 PM »

According to company website, Sharp has been in it since 1963.

I'd say Sharp has something to base their 25-year warranty upon.

It's like pulling teeth trying to find this on anyone else's.
Apart form the Evergreen mentioned above, the only others I came up with is Mitsubishi: 2007 and Canadian Solar: 2002

DamonHD · « **Reply #9 on:** November 30, 2011, 04:05:12 PM »

Sanyo seems to have been producing commercial PV since at least 1990 according to one document I found.

Anyhow, its new owner probably isn't going bust any time soon. Which is good, because I have lots of Sanyo HIT on my roof.

Rgds

Damon

rossw · « **Reply #10 on:** November 30, 2011, 04:32:38 PM »

Quote from: SparWeb on November 30, 2011, 03:22:07 PM

It's like pulling teeth trying to find this on anyone else's.
Apart form the Evergreen mentioned above, the only others I came up with is Mitsubishi: 2007 and Canadian Solar: 2002

BP Solar are claiming over 30 years, and I know they've been around for a long time too.

freejuice · « **Reply #11 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:32:22 PM »

LOl I took the plunge on those cheap Evergreen panels ....sure the warranty is a bit of a concern but from my best information at hand Evergreen had a good reputation....but if one or two crap out, I hope it wont be that painful, since other panels are down to just over a dollar a watt.

If I was battery charging I would not even worry too much about a warranty at all and plunge head long into those laminate panels at 50 cents a watt, but supposedly some of those laminates also come with a 20yr warranty.

Slap some kind of aluminum frames on those laminates; keep the batteries loaded and forget!

bvan1941 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 30, 2011, 09:43:08 PM »

Ghurd,
to answer your question------ I have installed 60W BP solar panels on my boat and several other cruising boats in 1990-1992 period and they are still producing as well as they were at installation. We were all stationed in NAS Key West at the time. By the way, in a heavy salt water environment and very hot operating area we were getting approximately 12 -15 % more output with basic flat position brackets on all. NOTE: all boats cruised basically in Bahamas area during the (3yr) monitoring period i kept close records on. I have kept in perodic contact with all my friends for curiosity of their satisfaction. All have still got the original panels and now have added much more powerful panels. they feel like they have saved money and gotten rid of the aux gens and gained useful space on the boats.
FWIW-
Bill

Volvo farmer · « **Reply #13 on:** November 30, 2011, 11:05:48 PM »

I'm pretty sure that when one company buys another that they take on the responsibility for the warranty. For example, BP is now responsible for the 60W panel I bought from Solarex in 1999. When a company goes completely chp11 though, that's the end of the warranty.

ghurd · « **Reply #14 on:** December 03, 2011, 09:23:16 AM »

Siemens.
IIRC, Siemens solar division was sold to Shell (a fuel company like BP for those not familar). Then Shell sold it to SolarWorld several (5~7?) years ago. I thought SolarWorld was a new start-up company. Now SolarWorld is claiming "since 1975".

Sharp.
1963! Anybody remember Sharp PVs from more than maybe 5 years ago? I don't.

GE and BP
Seems to me like they are mostly just an importer of decent quality Chinese PVs.

Just off the top of my head. Don't take any of it as fact.
G-

XeonPony · « **Reply #15 on:** December 03, 2011, 01:58:52 PM »

Sharps' been in the electronics game for a very very long time not nescisarely Pvs, but their company history stems from vacuum tubes! That's where their base is still in the component level semiconductors.

So I'd wager they won't go any where any time soon!

Volvo farmer · « **Reply #16 on:** December 03, 2011, 02:04:12 PM »

Just to play devil's advocate...

All it takes is for Sharp (or BP, or GE) to sell their solar division to some other company. If that company fails, poof goes the warranty.

DamonHD · « **Reply #17 on:** December 04, 2011, 04:38:55 AM »

I suspect that consumer protection law, not to mention very bad PR, would have them over a barrel if they tried to walk away from their responsibilities that way. I think a certain German manufacturer of mobile phones already mentioned above tried it and was badly bitten.

Rgds

Damon

richhagen · « **Reply #18 on:** January 09, 2012, 06:32:35 PM »

Well I have a bunch of Arco panels on my roof that were made some time in the 80's (33 round cell panels). They should be at or near about 30 years old, although I purchased them used. they have been on my roof for about a decade or so. Now they sold their operation on to Siemens, and they in turn to Shell and they in turn to Solar World, which is I presume where Solar World gets the 25 years of history from, but I don't know for sure. At any rate I suspect those panels of mine are way past their original warranties and still putting out power. Last time I checked the current was still good, but I haven't pulled the fuses and measured the current from them for a year or two and they were good then, but I do check the voltage from the strings periodically upstream from the diodes and all of those are still good. I had a Photowatt string go open circuit on me in the past year, and wound up bypassing half of one panel which has an open circuit somewhere inside the panel and generally the string still has a high enough voltage that it contributes. That one actually would still be under warranty as I bought them new ten or twelve years ago and they had a 25 year warranty at that time, but I suspect that finding the paperwork and forcing them to make good would likely require more of an investment than the value of the panel given current pricing. Rich

SparWeb · « **Reply #19 on:** January 10, 2012, 01:49:32 AM »

Quote from: richhagen on January 09, 2012, 06:32:35 PM

... but I suspect that finding the paperwork and forcing them to make good would likely require more of an investment than the value of the panel given current pricing. Rich

So true. How often do most of us pursue the warranty on things if the replacement cost is low?
It's like the 70$ extended warranty on the 700$ computer.

richhagen · « **Reply #20 on:** January 10, 2012, 09:23:04 PM »

Warranty any good or not, I took delivery of 4300 Watts of Evergreen panels today. I plan to ship a few to the Philippines for a project and the rest I will use around here . . . . hopefully for at least the next 25 years or more or until the user's lifetime has expired. (Actually I hope my son takes a bit of interest in RE as I suspect barring any calamities he will inherit many solar panels in working order) Rich

DamonHD · « **Reply #21 on:** January 11, 2012, 03:04:36 AM »

4.3kWp of solar. Mmmm! B^>

Rgds

Damon

freejuice · « **Reply #22 on:** January 11, 2012, 04:24:45 AM »

You too? I nabbed 4.6 worth of the panels...I wish I had sprung for a whole pallet of 28 panels....at the shipping terminal I saw at least two other orders going to folks in the region...at 78cents a watt no wonder they sold fast...

Striider · « **Reply #23 on:** January 18, 2012, 03:25:57 AM »

I am using (2) 195 watt Evergreen panels. In March, they will be 3 years old in the Colorado sun and wind and still work perfectly. I have noticed no decrease in output from when they were new, but honestly, I am not the best at keeping notes. They also look brand new still. According to my Outback MX-60 I pull 150-170 AH of energy from them a day when I am up there using a fair amount of electricity.

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Author Topic: solar evergreen (Read 6202 times)