100% U.S. MADE CONTENT ?
Is this dealer trying to fool you into thinking that their solar panels are made in the U.S.A. ?
Read the following and you be the judge :
1. "XYZ solar is a U.S. based solar manufacturer" (A U.S. based manufacturer of what ?)
2. "Our crystalline solar cells are engineered in the U.S.A. which ensures a high level of quality and durability" (Engineered in the U.S.A. does not necessarily mean manufactured in the U.S.A.)
3. "Our solar modules are engineered in the U.S.A. with 100% U.S. content. (Again, engineered in the U.S.A. does not mean manufactured in the U.S.A. when you're shipping your materials to a foreign country for assembly, no matter how much U.S. content is used in the solar panel.)
If you bought a grid tie solar system from this East Coast solar dealer and you thought you were buying U.S. made solar panels, well... you would probably be mistaken.
Fact: The company that is involved in the manufacturing process of your solar panels is just as important if not more important than where the solar panel's contents are made.
We're beginning to see a trend where a few U.S. based companies are supposedly shipping U.S. made components overseas so that they can be assembled into solar panels and then shipped back to the U.S.
First of all if you believe that the solar panels are made with 100% U.S. made content, then you would almost have to question why a company would do this, considering the high cost of shipping the materials overseas and then shipping the completed products back again.
The obvious answer would be cheap labor. If that's your conclusion then wouldn't you almost have to assume that the labor force would also be unskilled and or the factory is using outdated technology ?
Don't get us wrong we obviously don't have an issue with solar panels are manufactured overseas. Some of the largest most reputable manufacturers of brand name solar panels are located overseas. On the other hand there are hundreds of tiny overseas manufacturers that were manufacturing everything from lawn furniture to toys a year ago that have now jumped on the solar manufacturing bandwagon.
If a solar dealer boasts about offering solar panels that contain 100% U.S. made content but fails to provide you with a verifiable name, address and history of the manufacturer that is building the solar panels that he is offering, then chances are you're probably taking an unacceptable risk.
Fact: The equipment used to manufacture a modern solar panel as well as the expertise of the manufacturing staff can make all the difference in the world when it comes to a solar panel's performance and reliability.
For a 10 to 15% savings would you let an inexperienced surgeon perform heart surgery on you, in a foreign country while using antiquated surgical instruments as long as he was using heart valves that we're made in the U.S.A. ?
Of course you wouldn't.
So why would you spend tens of thousands of dollars on solar panels for the same amount of savings, simply because they contained U.S. made parts.
You may think that our comparison is a bit extreme, but if you were to take a tour of a name brand solar panel manufacturer's facility you would soon realize how closely related a surgical room and solar panel facility really is. Even the tiniest bit of contamination and can ruin a solar panel over it's 30 to 40 year life expectancy.
Would the manufacturer of these 100% U.S. content solar panels be able to survive a catastrophic manufacturing defect that resulted in a major recall ?
Unless the manufacturer is publically traded or is very well funded, the bottom line is that you would probably be left without a warranty. Many small manufacturers simply do not have the financial resources to survive even a moderate sized recall. When small, foreign, poorly funded manufacturers become overwhelmed by warranty claims or a safety recall they simply close their doors and start up under a new name leaving the consumer with an unenforceable warranty.
Our Opinion On Shipping U.S. Content Overseas For Assembly:
If you're an overseas company that ships your materials to the U.S. so that it can be assembled by American workers which generates U.S. jobs, thank you ! Or your an overseas company that manufactures completed products in your own country and then ships those products to the U.S. and markets them in such a way so that Americans know what their buying and where it's made, again, thank you ! Most Americans like to make their own decisions about what their buying without being confused about where it's made.
But if you're going to pay to ship 100% U.S. made content overseas so it can be assembled by 100% non-American workers and then pay to ship your 100% non U.S. assembled products back to the U.S. for sale, while you boast on the Internet about being an American based company and post images of the American flag all over your website, well.........In our opinion, especially in these economic times, that's not we consider to be very American.
IT'S EITHER MADE IN THE U.S.A. OR IT'S NOT.
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