Quality solar products
The solar industry has developed several key areas of quality assurance. These include Government regulations, industry certifications, and product Tier level systems. All of which gives peace of mind and shows our industry is committed to providing quality products and services. All equipment sold in New Zealand should also carry a NZ certification that can be provided upon inquiry. Those who don’t have NZ certification wont promote this requirement. If something isn’t certified for NZ it should NOT be used.
Safety-
Scaffolding, edge protection, rope and harnesses, ladder mounts, cranes, and proper footwear and tool management are all safety related methods that can make installing or working on your roof safe. In fact, if you are not comfortable cleaning your gutters or working on your roof then we advise using a contractor to install your solar. You can still purchase here at a great discount over package installer companies. Buying your equipment here will save you heaps and allow you to isolate your labour costs for install separate from your equipment.
Electrical-
Always use a certified electrician to connect wiring to your distribution board. An electrician can provide you with a certificate of compliance for his work which you will need for insurance purposes. Again, NEVER, EVER, connect wiring on your own. Your insurance will be void if something should happen and their is wiring done outside a certificate of compliance.
Industry and business certification:
This ensures the solar business, is supplying products that comply and meet international and New Zealand standards. There are many industry certification organisations. There is no one authority. Energy association, Solar professionals, chamber of commerce, electric retailers association, electric workers registration board, master builders, Institute of directors, sustainable energy association, electric vehicles association, master plumbers, etc. All associations have different criteria for joining and no one organisation is superior to others, and in fact many solar installation companies will belong to several.
Tier level rating system:
Tier rating system is the power industries way of grading solar panel manufacturers.
Tier 1-Top 2% of solar manufacturers
-Vertically integrated
-Invest heavily in R&D
-Advanced robotics process
-Manufacturing solar panels for longer than 5 years
Tier 2- small to medium scale manufacturers
-No investment in R&D
-Use only partial robotics, reliant on manual production lines
-Producing panels 3-5 years
Tier 3–Assemblers only – 90% of solar PV
-No investment in R&D
-Assemble panels only- doesn’t manufacture silicon cells
-Uses human production lines for manual soldering of solar cells instead of advanced robotics
-Assembling panels for 1-2 years.