The rise of solar module OEM and what it means ...

13 Jan.,2025

 

The rise of solar module OEM and what it means ...

Over the past several years, multiple solar module manufacturers have shifted toward using original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to make their modules (commonly called solar panels). The trend follows suit with manufacturers in many other industries from consumer electronics to apparel, who leverage the expertise of specialty manufacturers to maintain quality while the brand often focuses on service.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Senergy.

What is OEM?

An OEM is essentially a manufacturer that specializes in making specific products on behalf of brands. In the case of solar module companies, primary manufacturers are outsourcing the production of their solar panels to OEMs. 

The manufacturer still brands the product as its own, and ideally, monitors the manufacturing process to ensure the OEM maintains the level of quality that customers expect from the brand.

Are OEM solar modules right for your home?

For homeowners deciding to invest in a solar panel system, the use of OEMs raises some important questions. Does outsourcing the manufacturing impact the quality of the product or the service you can expect? And what factors should you consider as you evaluate different brands?

&#;As a homeowner, you want to know not only that the product you&#;re getting is the best, but that the brand and warranty that stands behind it is just as good,&#; says David Lopez, Group Sales Manager for Panasonic&#;s Western Territory.

That&#;s because solar panels are a long-term investment. Ideally, they last for decades with minimal maintenance and performance degradation. A little research into the warranty that your manufacturer provides, as well as the technology and quality control, can give you a lot of reassurance as you embark on your solar journey.

What does OEM mean for solar module companies?

The use of OEMs has been common across manufacturing by large, well-known for years. For instance, your iPhone is made by an OEM. Most likely, so are your TV, laptop, car stereo, air conditioner, and many other appliances .

Keeps costs low

Solar panel companies, including Panasonic, see several benefits from this strategy, and many positive effects for customers. Most notably, it can enable manufacturers to reduce their own costs as the OEM solar module manufacturers benefit from economies of scale in operating its factories, purchasing materials and hiring labor.

That allows the solar panel companies to keep costs to homeowners affordable, while still maintaining a high quality.

Speeds up the evolution of solar technology 

Lopez notes that outsourcing manufacturing offers other advantages that benefit manufacturers and homeowners alike. For example, by utilizing multiple OEMs, manufacturers can ensure that their products stay on the cutting edge of innovation. They don&#;t need to worry about a single factory becoming outdated&#;instead, they can leverage updates and innovations offered by their OEM partners.

OEM partnerships can also help manufacturers bring new products to market more quickly. &#;Without waiting, we can select the OEM that complies with our high quality standards, while also producing the latest and greatest technology,&#; Lopez says. Consumers end up with better solar panels that reflect the most recent developments in the industry as a result.

What&#;s more, by using OEMs, manufacturers can refocus on customer service and installer programs, providing an even higher level of care and guidance throughout the purchase, installation, and maintenance of the product.

What does OEM mean for homeowners?

Given that many solar panel manufacturers use OEMs, homeowners should do their homework on the solar panel brand. For leading brands like Panasonic, adopting this strategy allows them to focus on provide not only the best customer experience possible, but also a solar panel product that can keep up with the rapidly growing renewable energy sector. 

Evaluate these four factors to determine the quality of the product and service you&#;re purchasing:

Quality control

Evaluate what the manufacturer does to control the quality of its solar modules, whether they&#;re made by an OEM or not. Mukesh Sethi, Director of Panasonic&#;s Solar and Energy Storage Division, notes that Panasonic has its own extensive quality control program. &#;Before we choose an OEM partner, we&#;ve done extensive testing in-house,&#; he says.

That includes testing panel performance at ultra-high and low-temperatures to ensure they work, no matter the weather. Once you know that your solar module manufacturer requires its panels to meet stringent quality control standards, you know they&#;re prioritizing product quality&#;and they demand their OEMs to do the same.

Technology

Consider the history of the brand and whether the company has a legacy of innovative technology. Panasonic&#;s new EverVolt&#; solar panels, for instance, offer a low-temperature coefficient and higher module efficiency than many other products on the market. As a result, they produce more electricity to the home. &#;We know the OEM partners we&#;ve selected have the same commitment to quality, technology and great performance for our residential customers,&#; Sethi says.

Panasonic has also improved power output over time. EverVolt's low 8% degradation rate guarantees power output of at least 92% after 25 years&#;higher than the industry average and better than the 90.76% rate of their previous panels.

Customer service

A high-quality brand is going to stand behind its product. And the way companies do that is through their warranties. As you shop for solar panels, consider the warranties that companies provide &#; as well as their track record. For instance, Panasonic provides a 25-year warranty on performance, product and components, and labor when installed by an authorized installer.

&#;A solid warranty that you can trust shows a commitment to maintaining relationships with installers and homeowners, and to stand behind product quality over the long term,&#; Sethi says.

Not only is the Panasonic warranty one of the strongest warranties available, but the company has been in business for more than 100 years. That&#;s important because you want to be sure that if you do have an issue down the line, the company is around to address it. A Panasonic OEM model assures continued service and support of these warranties for the life of your solar panel system.

Choose a solar module company you can trust 

Shifting toward a solar-powered home is an exciting move and one that requires an investment of money and time. Of course, you want the products and the company behind them to be as high of quality as possible. Take the time to research who makes your solar panels, how they work with their OEMs, and the technology, warranties, quality, and service they&#;re able to provide. You&#;ll end up with better solar products and an easier transition to solar power as a result.  

What You Need to Know about Commercial Solar Battery ...

Are you planning to go solar to lower your electricity costs and use sustainable energy to help the environment? If yes, you may consider what will happen to the excess energy since you might not use all the generated energy.

After all, you may not require consuming electricity right away. The causes could range from geography and climate to culture and way of life. For instance, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that peak power demand in the country frequently happens in the summertime, when solar energy production is at its lowest.

On the other hand, more energy use is likely to occur in the evenings rather than the afternoons in households where people work during the day. The disparities between energy demand and production need the development of storage technology. This is where solar batteries enter the picture.

A solar battery may significantly improve the efficiency and adaptability of your solar setup, regardless of whether you are new to solar power and looking for the finest system for your building or have had solar panels on your commercial property for years.

Continue reading this piece to learn more about solar batteries and their benefits for your commercial solar system.

What Are Solar Batteries and How Do They Work?

The solar sectors have been entirely transformed by solar batteries, which have completely changed how people utilize energy. Here is all the information you require regarding solar batteries.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of OEM commercial solar battery storage systems factory. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Solar would be inefficient if you didn&#;t have a place to transport the electricity your solar panels produce; otherwise, your appliances would only run when the sun is out, and your panels produce energy. The energy would be squandered if you did not utilize it, and you wouldn&#;t be able to use it at night.

Solar batteries store the energy your panels produce so you can utilize it when needed. Solar batteries can let you partially protect your facility from power outages or even wholly pull it off the grid as an alternative (or addition) to feeding energy back to the grid.

Whether the electricity is generated by your PV panels or the utility grid, on-site solar batteries are a backup reserve that can store it. The electricity from this reserve can then be discharged into your company or the more excellent energy grid.

  • The first phase entails commissioning a new solar commissioning project or installing on-site batteries in an existing PV plant.
  • You run your company on the solar energy your panels generate during the day. Instead of going into the power grid, any extra solar electricity is stored in batteries.
  • To power your activities at night or on overcast days, you use the solar energy stored in your batteries instead of obtaining power from the utility grid.

Commercial Solar Battery Storage

When neither your PV panels nor your solar batteries produce any power under the scenario mentioned above, you merely need to purchase grid electricity. Even then, you can choose to power your business or recharge your batteries with the utility electricity you purchase, depending on which choice makes the most sense at the time.

Most battery storage options are fixed installations close to the breaker box. However, it is possible to achieve the advantages mentioned above (EVs) by utilizing electric vehicles.

Each car has built-in batteries that can recharge solar electricity and release stored energy when needed. With this strategy, the number of EVs in your fleet will ultimately determine your available storage space. Some companies use entire fleets of electric vehicles to handle their energy and storage requirements.

However, it is more expensive up front to add batteries to an existing or new solar PV installation. Additionally, the system has more components, necessitating extra maintenance and upkeep duties, further increasing the cost.

Furthermore, there are currently easier and less expensive ways to &#;store&#; unneeded solar energy. For instance, most states provide a net metering program that enables you to feed extra solar electricity into the grid. Even better, utilities are typically compelled to pay you for this electricity; often, the payment takes the form of credits that can be applied to future bills.

This strategy uses the entire grid as &#;virtual&#; storage for your solar electricity generated during the day. Only at night do you need to purchase grid power (when rates tend to be lower). Additionally, you can utilize your total utility credits to pay off those payments and increase your savings.

And yet, despite the simplicity and accessibility of net energy metering, more and more companies are adopting solar batteries.

Applications of Solar Battery Storage for Commercial Solar Systems

Battery storage acts as a wall between you and the power grid in the above situations. You can utilize it as an additional source of stored solar energy before switching to grid electricity. You may automatically save money with this configuration without having to handle anything actively.

However, you can increase these savings by strategically planning when and how you use the stored power in your business solar batteries. The two most popular strategies are peak shaving and load shifting.

Peak Shaving

Most utilities base their power tariffs for commercial and industrial clients on the maximum peak load for each user during that billing period. This must be done to guarantee that these big energy consumers can access electricity whenever needed. However, it also mandates that utilities maintain machinery and assets on standby even when nobody is using the additional electricity.

Utilities impose &#;demand charges,&#; the energy equivalent of Internet bandwidth, to offset these standby expenses. Your introductory rate for that billing period will be higher the more power you might require at any given time.

You can check your energy invoices to find previous periods of high consumption. Those peaks corresponded to your peak electricity usage. Utilities also use them to determine the demand charges for your company.

Businesses have typically had to curtail production to maintain constant demand levels to lower these costs. However, you can store solar energy in batteries when you need energy the most. Your maximum peak load decreases and your demand charges follow suit.

Peak shaving is an excellent method for lowering electricity expenses, especially if your energy demands are predictable. Consider a fleet of school buses owned by a municipality that all complete their routes, return to the depot, and charge each day simultaneously. Lower citywide utility costs would result from using on-site batteries to level off this daily spike in demand.

Load Shifting

Through load shifting, businesses transfer their most energy-intensive operations to the least expensive hours (solar power is most abundant). Additionally, they use batteries when grid prices are at their maximum. Keep in mind that these companies are still using the same energy; they are only &#;shifting&#; when they do so.

Businesses like peak shaving with known energy needs can benefit from this tactic. For instance, as the sun sets, most office buildings with solar technology switch to grid power. Not only does this cause a rapid increase in consumption (resulting in demand charges), but sunset also falls on peak times for utility rates in many areas.

However, you can use batteries and stored solar energy to run your operations at night. This enables you to do the same amount of &#;work&#; while reducing usage spikes.

Other Ways Your Business Can Benefit from Commercial Battery Storage

For most business owners, the potential for financial savings justifies combining solar energy with battery storage. However, the benefits of this combination go far beyond reduced electricity costs. Here are just a few of the factors that are causing this combo to become so popular.

Reduced Carbon Footprint

Going solar enables you to generate electricity from clean sunlight rather than from dirty utility power produced from oil, natural gas, or coal, which results in immediate environmental savings.

Since batteries postpone the time you must use the grid for electricity, adding batteries increases those carbon savings. Additionally, on-site storage lowers your overall utility power use.

Reliable Power Backup

Putting on-site batteries can make your company more resilient if you operate in a region with frequent grid interruptions. In essence, backup energy enables you to keep running your activities even if the grid as a whole fails.

This strategy is essential in states like California and Texas, which have recently experienced substantial grid outages. However, more companies globally are likely to include batteries in their continuity and resiliency plans as long as climate change disrupts weather patterns.

Emergency Power Backup

Often, power backups may go beyond the continuity of your company. Your business can have 24/7 access to electricity, meaning commercial solar battery storage is also about survival. The most common businesses that fall into this category include military installations, data centers, medical services, and emergency response facilities. After all, even the most temporary power loss can have significant negative consequences. Therefore, solar battery installation can offer essential services.

Contact Coldwell Solar for Your Commercial Battery Storage

Without a doubt, solar batteries make for a significant upfront investment. However, they can help lower energy costs in emergencies and after sunset. They are critical components of your energy system if your business is off-grid.

Solar batteries are an excellent clean, renewable, and green energy source. Many areas may even offer rebates or incentives to mitigate commercial solar system installation costs. The solar tax credit allows businesses to receive up to thirty percent off their battery installation costs.

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