All, How many of these Chinese manufacturers will still be in existence in 5 years (probably less than half)? Are you really willing to risk a company and reputation for a few pennies per watt? Certainly several of the big companies are likely to survive, but you are playing a new game of "Chinese roulette" with many of these companies.
These are manufacturing companies, not stable companies with a long past and future. The value proposition is so dramatically different from a major company to one of these Chinese manufacturing companies to make the comparison nearly idiotic. Most of the installers using these products have way more guts than I have. Many will find their guts on the ground as the get disemboweled by bad choices. Don't you love the imagery. Yingli's one of the big companies now, they might survive. I'm sure they are learning every month that they proceed how to better manufacture modules. They have been a player for two years--no major problems--YET. How does a year in the field show that a company is doing everything correctly? Oh, and their fuse size is 10 amps on an 8 amp Isc module. They obviously are not all that sophisticated. Folks, you need to let the dumb contractors screw up and buy the cheap stuff. Now, more than ever, you have to sell on brand. The more the young Chinese stuff gets in the field and craps out, the worse our industry is going to take it on the chin in the public eye. It's just not worth the price difference. As Joel points out, let the multi-MW projects make the stupid mistakes--that will just scare away the capital investment--oh wait a minute--we really need that. Bill. -----Original Message----- From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Marco Mangelsdorf Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 12:30 PM To: 'RE-wrenches' Subject: [RE-wrenches] Chinese solar cells and modules and pricing I'm seeing ~ $2.60/watt from a major Chinese manufacturer for a modest volume purchase. What are you all seeing as far as $/watt? marco Joel, Since late last year we've been stocking the Yingli 175w single-crystal modules. They seem dependable, haven't heard of any problems with them. Earlier in the year they were a low-cost choice for very cost-sensitive projects, but they were a 1st choice for very, very few dealers. Lately, with all PV prices tumbling, they've been even less attractive. I think the immediate future for Chinese modules will be developing country projects, and very large projects where price points matter more than a dependable track record or possible warranty service in a decade or two. Cheers, Doug Pratt DC Power Systems _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
