By introducing a new extended performance guarantee, SCHOTT Solar AG is offering new buying and investment incentives on photovoltaics. The company has now switched over its warranty on solar power modules from being a graduated to a linear digressive model that guarantees customers higher performance than before for each year covered by the guarantee period. Already in September 2009, SCHOTT Solar extended its warranty on its glass-foil modules to 25 years and to 30 years for its double glass modules and also introduced continuous “Plus Tolerance”. Together with the new linear performance guarantee, system operators will now be able to benefit from even higher, fixed calculable yields and thus improve their return on equity.
The previous warranty on photovoltaic modules that SCHOTT Solar had issued guaranteed that output would remain at a constant level of 90 percent for the first 10 years and 80 percent beyond that period. In the future, the company will be guaranteeing output of at least 97 percent for the first year. Then this declines only slightly by 0.7 percent per year on glass-foil modules and 0.5 percent on double glass modules for the remaining period. In other words, SCHOTT Solar customers can count on receiving higher guaranteed output each year during the term of the guarantee in comparison to the previous policy. With glass-foil modules, this will be up to 10 percentage points higher than in the past and even as much as 12 percentage points higher for double glass modules.
A 6 KWp installation on top of a roof, for example, helps to illustrate how the efficiency of photovoltaic systems improves rather considerably as a result of the extended performance guarantee from SCHOTT Solar. If one were to take the solar radiation in the Rhine-Main region for a period of 20 years, starting on December 31, 2010, for example, the guaranteed yield that the new policy would cover would increase by 6.5 percent from 37,128 euros to 39,530 euros. The return on equity would increase from 4.52 to 5.39 percent.
Ökotest and Fraunhofer ISE confirm quality
The new output guarantee from SCHOTT Solar is made possible by the exceptionally high quality standards in the areas of development and manufacturing that were repeatedly confirmed only recently by independent parties. For instance, for its April 2008 edition, the consumer magazine “Ökotest” tested a total of 15 solar modules from German and foreign manufacturers for their ability to perform and possible defects. The SCHOTT Poly 220 module was given the top score of "Very Good". And in the long-term test performed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg, the modules from SCHOTT Solar also proved to deliver exceptionally stable performance. Even after 25 years of permanent use, the degradation was only 9 percent.
"The name SCHOTT Solar stands for reliable premium quality in photovoltaics all over the world. This applies to our warranty in particular – and will do so even more in the future," emphasizes Dr. Martin Heming, Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO of SCHOTT Solar AG, and adds: "With our new performance guarantee that has been improved from the customer’s point of view, we are setting clear accents in competing at a time when buying decisions are highly dependent on being able to achieve returns without having to take any risks. We view this measure to be an important step in further strengthening consumer confidence in us as a manufacturer," he concludes.
Source: Renewable Energy sources
No comments:
Post a Comment