Winaico extends product warranty to 15 years, touts high-temperature performance

Taiwanese PV module manufacturer Winaico has extended its module product warranty to 15 years – extending it by five years. The company says that the decision to do so was based on its latest mechanical load tests, which indicate that the modules can withstand high winds.

Taiwan is well-established as a manufacturer of PV cells, with major players such as Gintech, Motech, and NSP having many gigawatts of production capacity. By contrast, compatriot Winaico is a specialist module manufacturer focused in particular on the high-efficiency end of the market.

Winaico is now looking to add to this reputation as being a high-quality producer and has extended its module product warranty to 15 years. The extended product warranty will be retrospective to January 1 and is additional to its 25-year linear performance guarantee, which was introduced in 2012.

The extended warranty and guarantee both exceed industry standards by five years – for glass-backsheet modules.

“With the extension of our warranty terms, we emphasise the trust in the performance of our solar modules and more protection to our customers’ solar investments,” said Winaico Chairman Davis Chen in a statement announcing the move.

Winaico Australia reports that it hopes to supply around 20MW of modules in 2017. It says that it is currently shipping 315W PERC modules, with 325W heterojunction modules being added to the range as of Q3.

Winaico Australia’s Blair Pester says that the company’s testing, specifically the 5,000 Pa Dynamic Mechanical Loading test (DML), demonstrates that its modules can withstand extreme winds – not uncommon to typhoon-prone Taiwan.

“Our modules can survive the strongest winds the Australian weather can produce,” says Pester. “Additionally, building on the history of being the top performing brand in Desert Knowledge Solar Centre in Australia, we have proven technologies that perform well in the toughest desert conditions in Australia.”