First Solar was not performing to warranty within the first 2 years.
They supplied more modules, but not the additional land, racking, labor,
wiring, etc to make up for the low performance.
I've watched thin film companies come and go for 2 decades. As I said
before, I think they have they're place for specialty situations, ie,
shading, but overall I've had nothing but disappointments with anything
but monocrystalline, and even then I've seen trouble (BP as you noted)
I've seen quite a bit of under performance from polycrystalline too.
R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
On 6/2/2013 4:27 PM, Carl Emerson wrote:
Jay,
The short answer is no...
These are not real world tests of energy yield under 'normal' outdoor
conditions.
Photon are setting up field tests for 2013 in Germany and the middle East.
Then they will have some useful data.
Carl E.
Hi Carl
Would like to see real data.
Photon publishes their module data, and thin film are no where near
the top of the list.
Nexpower. #14
First solar. #131
Total of 151 modules in the test.
Jay
Peltz power
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 1, 2013, at 6:20 PM, "Carl Emerson" <c...@solarking.net.nz
<mailto:c...@solarking.net.nz>> wrote:
Hi there,
Thin film is still getting bad press after early production suffered
degradation issues way back in the 90's.
There is plenty of evidence that thin film produces at least 10% more
energy because it performs better at temperature and responds better
to global irradiance.
Some brands may be problematic today but this is equally true of
crystalline modules.
Sure the efficiency is down and more area is needed for the same
rated power but some brands are delivering 20% more energy in some
climates.
As for degradation, I have seen crystalline BP's with every panel
turning brown and clapping out after just 12 years in the pacific
Islands.
So let's be Brand specific and not lump all thin film together and
tar it with the same brush, based on early failures 30 years ago.
Current issues backed up with hard data would be very useful...
Regards
Carl Emerson
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