Why are lower quality solar power systems likely to be more expensive in the long-term?

Investing in solar power is a long-term decision, and it's essential to consider the quality of the system when making a purchase. While cheaper systems may seem like the best option, they tend to fail within five to eight years, which means additional expenses to repair or upgrade the system. On the other hand, high-quality systems may come with a higher price tag, but they offer a 25-year warranty, and the manufacturer stands behind their product, giving you peace of mind and confidence in your investment.

It's crucial to choose a manufacturer that offers a 25-year warranty, which is rare in the industry, and it speaks volumes about their confidence in their product. Cheaper systems may offer a 10-year warranty, but getting a replacement for a faulty panel can be challenging, and they tend to argue even over minor faults. Investing in a high-quality solar power system is a smart decision that will save you money in the long run and help you contribute to a cleaner environment.

Strangely, most people don't even keep their cars for as long. Solar's a 25-year investment, that's how it should be looked at. So while a cheaper system may give you one year, maybe two years better payback, really it won't last any more than five years, maybe seven or eight years at best. And certainly some of the cheaper systems, really cheap systems, we've seen panels fail within something about two to three year time frame, and the manufacturer's go on burst, and there's no warranty support. So while there may be a perception that you save a little bit of money up front, certainly over the longer term, you're a long way behind and you end up finding you need to buy again, or upgrade that system, or get an electrician out too, which is very expensive to sort of fix and remedy those issues. If buying quality means that you're going to have a system that lasts that 25 years, so there's only two or three manufacturers that actually have a 25-year warranty and most of the rest have a 10-year warranty.

So a 25 year warranty is certainly rare in the industry. And it says something about the confidence of a manufacturer to give a warranty that's that long, they stand behind their product and that gives us a lot of confidence that they're going to be there to support us all the way through that 25-year period. And same can't be said for other manufacturers out there. A lot of the cheaper end of town, look there might even be a 10 years but even with that they end up arguing the toss over even very small faults in their panel so it can be even difficult in that 10 years to get a replacement if there is a fault.