Best time of year to buy higher quality small project solar panels?
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What's the best time of year to buy higher quality small project solar panels? I've tracked this off-and-on in a non-rigorous way for a few years now, and I think it's the Fall. Demand (and prices) goes up over the summer, because it's sunny and so people are thinking about solar. In the fall the demand drops and it seems like companies want to unload their inventory so they don't have to carry it during the winter.
Anyone else agree, or have a different opinion?
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@berkseo said in Best time of year to buy higher quality small project solar panels?:
@NeverDie
When to buy? Now.https://mobile.twitter.com/UnbelievableEv1/status/1402321586246623232
Base materials of solar panels produced in Xinjiang using coal as energy source, not looking so great for the final carbon footprint
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Thanks for the news flash. I'm guessing they'll rebuild pretty quickly though, since time is money.
Another factor to consider, which I haven't got a handle on: there's a wide gulf between hobbyist solar panels and commercial-grade high end solar panels. For instance, in terms of longevity and performance, frameless "double glass" solar panels are thought to the best quality money can buy,
in part because they're warrantied to last 30+ years: 1. the double glass means they don't rely on an EVA encapsulant that will turn brown and fail over time, and 2. frameless means they're more apt to clean themselves from just regular rain and wind. I've never seen a hobby, small version of that available though. The trouble is: in a lot of cases, solar only makes sense if it has longevity. If, like garden lights, you have to replace them every year (or every couple of months when the quality is especially egregious), then the cheap stuff is just false economy. I'm not sure whether there are even any generally recognized applicable standards. Like an ANSI of some kind? Otherwise, what you get is just whatever falls out of Pandora's box.
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It probably has to do with fewer people buying them once summer ends, so companies might lower prices to clear out stock before winter.
