{"id":3836,"date":"2014-07-23T14:21:29","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T04:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=3836"},"modified":"2018-05-09T11:12:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T00:42:24","slug":"tier-1-solar-panels-sold-pup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tier-1-solar-panels-sold-pup\/","title":{"rendered":"Are They Really Tier 1 Solar Panels? Six Questions You Must Ask."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3840\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tier-1-solar-panels.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3840\" class=\"wp-image-3840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tier-1-solar-panels.jpg\" alt=\"tier 1 solar panel\" width=\"650\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3840\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some solar companies are claiming that their Tier 3 panels are really Tier 1. How can you identify real Tier 1 Solar panels?<\/p><\/div>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ce9t49WgPTk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">For many years now I&#8217;ve been banging on about &#8220;Tier 1 Solar Panels&#8221;. My recommendation has always been that you should spend a few hundred dollars more for Tier 1 panels, so that you can\u00a0massively reduce the risk of having crappy solar panels installed on your roof.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I make\u00a0this simple recommendation because understanding the quality and reliability of a solar panel or the company behind it is not easy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">For many years, the solar industry has used the\u00a0&#8220;Tier ranking&#8221; system to help guide buyers and financiers in understanding what makes a good solar panel and a good company. Tier 1 solar panels are the best and Tier 3 the worst, although alarmingly, some industry analysts now go lower than Tier 3!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">For obvious reasons, the ranking of a PV manufacturer is a matter of great pride and highly valued. However, it is a very complex task to rank the many hundreds of manufacturers and a lot is at stake. Meaningful rankings are published by a very small number of independent PV industry analysts and due to the effort and importance of the information; rankings are generally not openly published but rather are sold as industry intelligence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Australian industry research company <a href=\"http:\/\/www.solarbusiness.com.au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SolarBusinessServices<\/a> publishes an annual report called the Australian PV Technology and Brand report, which includes a Tier listing and analysis of all the PV brands available in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">But just what defines a Tier 1 Solar Panel?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Broadly speaking, PV manufacturers can be ranked into Tiers according to measurement and weighting on the following metrics:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">1. Experience<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">2. Financial position<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">3. Strategic and tactical position<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">4. Manufacturing scale<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">5. Deployment scale<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">6. Durability &amp; quality<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">7. Technical Performance<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">8. Brand bankability<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">9. Geographic coverage<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">10. Vertical integration<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">11. Insurance and backing<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">12. Sustainability<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">13. Service and support<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">14. Price competitiveness<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">15. Innovation and R&amp;D<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Classically, a hybrid combination of the first 5-10 metrics are most often considered and quoted although they are of course, somewhat subjective and subject to frequent change. Additionally, a company\u2019s relative attractiveness should (reasonably) be biased heavily towards its presence, commitment and competitiveness in any given market to be meaningful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">SolarBusinessServices report includes a ranking of PV brands specifically designed for the Australian market which has a bias towards the support, experience and history of PV brands available to help local PV buyers determine which brands are most suited to the local market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>Talk is cheap\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Talk is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/this-high-cost-of-cheap-solar-systems\/\">cheap<\/a> when it comes to making claims about Tier rankings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">One very\u00a0large solar retailer was recently asked about their Tier ranking claims and said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\"><i>\u201cThe solar panels are from XXX brand solar company. They have a 25 year warranty (see attached information). There is no actual official (independent) definition of the \u2018Tiers\u2019 of panels however large volumes of panels and being around 5 years or more seem to be a couple of accepted criteria for an informal classification as Tier 1.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\">What a load of crap.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">This is a solar retailer (or at least an employee of a retailer) who is talking through his arse\u00a0and making an absolutely un-informed and indefensible claim. The panels he was claiming were Tier 1 are not, by any measure, Tier 1 and his defence of the claim is ignorant at best, deceptive and misleading at worst. Arguably, the claim could be in breach of Australian Consumer Law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I\u00a0regularly hear similar unfounded claims about Tier rankings. So how do you tell if the claims are legitimate or not, if the list is not publicly available and what really counts?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Tier rankings are a really good guide to the products and the company behind them. However, for Australian buyers some really important, practical factors are around their ability to support you and their experience in Australia. A good company will be able to demonstrate strong commitment to the local market through sales support, technical support and local support for warranty claims. Preferably they will have supplied a number of company\u2019s significant volume over at least a few years proving they aren&#8217;t a fly by night supplier. I also look for local industry association membership or other examples of investment in the development of the industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>Here are the 6 questions you need to ask when\u00a0someone claims their solar panels are Tier 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><strong>1.<\/strong> Ask for a source of their claim and evidence to back it up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><strong>2.<\/strong> As what criteria they are basing their claim on, if it\u2019s not a source.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><strong>3.<\/strong> Does the panel manufacturer have a local office and representative staff in Australia?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><strong>4.<\/strong>\u00a0Is the\u00a0panel manufacturer\u00a0a member of any associations and what have they done to help develop the industry?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><strong>5.<\/strong> Are these panels installed in any medium or large commercial projects or demonstration and test facilities in Australia?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><strong>6.<\/strong> Which companies supply their panels\u00a0in Australia?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Ultimately, you need to look for a combination of size, technical expertise but also a demonstration that they are committed to serving the Australian market; not just dumping low cost product. Your quest is to find a supplier who is honest about their claims and will be around (in Australia) to support you in the long term.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I\u00a0have also invested in reports that assess the Tier rankings of suppliers and works closely with independent industry analysts. Although I\u00a0don\u2019t publish a list of Tier rankings, I\u00a0can help if you want to check the veracity of claims by suppliers. Simply <a title=\"Contact me\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">email me<\/a> with the panel brand and I&#8217;ll reply within a day or two advising what Tier I consider that panel to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many years now I&#8217;ve been banging on about &#8220;Tier 1 Solar Panels&#8221;. My recommendation has always been that you should spend a few hundred dollars more for Tier 1 panels, so that you can\u00a0massively reduce the risk of having crappy solar panels installed on your roof.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[112,129,58],"class_list":["post-3836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar-panels-2","tag-buyers-guide","tag-cheap-solar","tag-solar-cowboys","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tier 1 Solar Panels? Don&#039;t believe everything you hear!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you have been quoted &quot;Tier 1 Solar Panels&quot; for your home or business, make sure that they really are Tier 1, by asking these 6 simple questions...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tier-1-solar-panels-sold-pup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are They Really Tier 1 Solar Panels? Six Questions You Must Ask.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you have been quoted &quot;Tier 1 Solar Panels&quot; for your home or business, make sure that they really are Tier 1, by asking these 6 simple questions...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tier-1-solar-panels-sold-pup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-23T04:51:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-09T00:42:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tier-1-solar-panels.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Finn Peacock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FinnPeacock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/tier-1-solar-panels-sold-pup\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/tier-1-solar-panels-sold-pup\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Finn Peacock\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178\"},\"headline\":\"Are They Really Tier 1 Solar Panels? 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