Chinese Solar Panels Fiasco a la Chinese Dry Wall

Jun 4, 2013 – 1. The drastic drop in solar panel prices has forced Chinese manufacturers to cut costs.  Often, quality control is the first to suffer.   2.  Large solar panel manufacturers in China many times subcontract out work to small, unsophisticated shops that have very little quality control.  3. SolarBuyer in Massachusetts has found 5.5 to 22% defects in solar panels in the last 18 months.  4.  A critical component, the film that protects photovoltaic cells from moisture has been switched to a cheaper substitute.  Enfinity in Europe has stopped buying Chinese modules because of quality defects.  Rene Moerman in The Netherlands found an inspection in Britain revealed 12% of newly installed Chinese-made modules had failed.

However, Trina Solar, Yingli and others claim that they would never cut corners or sacrifice quality.

Caveat emptor!