Several high-quality manufacturers have been around for decades (SunPower, Sharp, Kyocera and SolarWorld, to name a few). And you have to admit that the technologies have become both more efficient and more reliable — witness the vast improvements in inverter quality/reliability over the past 15 years or so.

Finally, there are prominent instances in which manufacturers have honored their warranties. Case in point: REC’s recall of over 420,000 panels:

http://www.totalrecallinfo.com/freerecalls.php?id=12200

The move cost them millions of euros but, in the end, the company decided it was the right thing to do.

I guess the takeaway is that, yes, there are still concerns about reliability. But that’s true of almost every product — and is especially true of new technologies. At the end of the day, it’s not in a manufacturer’s interest to bail on their customers, as this, presumably, would ruin their prospects of becoming a profitable enterprise.

By the way, you can still sue Shell to recover some of the “investments,” but how will you be able to sue the numerous solar and inverter companies that won’t survive the next three years? Anybody remember the former US PV leader, AstroPower?

It turns out solar PV is a much more risky proposition than what the manufacturers and installers are trying to convince us.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by terrasolar: Shell Accused of Ditching Panel Warranties in Developing World – GetSolar.com (blog) http://bit.ly/7XCcTc...