REC extends product warranty
REC, a global provider of solar energy solutions, has announced that it has extended its product warranty to 12 years instead of ten, to be now available for solar panels on all rooftop installations up to 500 kilowatts (kW), registered by certified installers, REC Solar Professionals. Within this program, solar installers are trained and certified by REC and already benefited from the extended product warranty for registered rooftop installations to 100kW. The expansion to installations up to 500kW reflects the increasingly competitive position of solar energy as a power source within the commercial and industrial segment, the growing appetite among commercial enterprises for investment in solar projects, and the need for reliable ROI based on predictable solar power generation for 20 years and more.
Explaining the warranty decision, Luc Graré, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at REC, says, "More and more commercial organisations are investigating solar energy as a way to reduce their energy bills. The steady drop in photovoltaic system costs in countries all over the world means that these larger commercial and industrial installations make sound business sense for the enterprises concerned. But the power output from solar installation projects has to be reasonably predictable in order to ensure reliable investment projections for enterprises. By extending its product warranty from ten to 12 years for all registered installations up to 500kW, REC is providing planners for commercial and industrial installations with greater ROI predictability. It also reflects the confidence we have in the reliably high quality of REC solar panels, even after many years of service."
Lower levelized costs raise appeal of solar for commercial & industrial segment
With the levelized costs of solar installations now around 50 percent lower than they were just six years ago, solar power offers great opportunities for commercial and industrial enterprises to make hefty cuts to their energy bills. A supermarket in Germany, for instance, can reduce its electricity costs by around € 15,000 per year by using its rooftop "“ otherwise empty space "“ for a 95kWp solar plant. The system pays for itself within eight or nine years, delivering an annual Internal Rate of Return in excess of 9% over its 20-year lifetime. In view of these earning opportunities, it is no surprise that industry experts are predicting significant growth for commercial-scale installations over the next few years. Measured by the number of new solar energy installations per year, a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent is estimated for the 20-1,000kW segment to 2017.
