Each broken solar panel could be costing you over £100 a year in lost power and Feed In Tariff revenues.
The solar PV industry has changed rapidly over the last 10 years, so when a module needs replacing it is often the case the manufacturer no longer makes that particular model.
GB-Sol can cost-effectively create replacement panels with similar look and output to your originals, with mono or poly crystalline cells, 35mm or 40mm silver or black frame, white or black background to any specified dimensions. We have already made replacement solar panels to match those produced by companies such as Canadian, Kyocera, Sharp, Q-Cells, Yingli and others.
Feed In Tariff & Renewables Obligation schemes
Feed In Tariff & RO rules mean that you are at risk of having your FIT or Renewables Obligation accreditation revoked if you do not replace broken panels on a like for like basis. This can lead to difficulties when sourcing a replacement, as the high volume manufacturers only tend to produce high volumes of the latest panels and do not do short runs of older models.
Worth replacing?
The typical ex-works price of a replacement 60-cell solar panel will be £150 to £200. A 240W panel on one of the early Feed In Tariffs might be generating 200kWh a year and earning £80-100 a year, so the cost of the panel is relatively small compared to the earnings being lost if a broken panel is not replaced.
However, there are many more costs to consider. In the case of a single broken solar panel two stories up on the roof of a house, there will be £600 of scaffolding, maybe £200 of labour, delivery charges, design, administration and other costs, bringing the total cost of replacing one panel to over £1000. In such cases, it is probably better to leave the panel as it is, as long as it is not a danger to anyone and is not pulling down the output of the rest of the system. All panels include a "bypass diode", a sort of electronic valve that lets the electricity in the chain of solar panels go around a broken panel.
In other circumstances, a group of panels can be easily accessed and cost-effectively replaced as a group - in which case replacement is definitely worth considering.
Minimum order quantity
While we can cost-effectively manufacture any size or form of solar panel in small batches, there is still a design and administration overhead so we ask for minimum order size of 10 panels. If you’re looking for replacement solar panels for a solar farm, commercial building or a domestic property, we can help. Just get in touch with details of the panel you’re looking to replicate. Details we need are:
- Manufacturer
- Model number
- Nominal or rated output in Wp
- Cell type - monocrystalline or polycrystalline
- Exact panel dimensions in mm - height and width
- Panel frame depth - usually 35mm or 40mm
- Frame colour - silver or black
- Panel backsheet colour - white or black