One of the main reasons that the solar supplier market is divided into tiers is to help companies conduct an array of preliminary internal comparisons, most commonly manufacturing forecasts and competitive analysis efforts. For this reason among many others, a central characteristic of a Tier 1 manufacturer is transparency and good data availability for evaluation.
In addition, this classification serves as popular measure of industry acceptance.
ReneSola is proud to announce its Tier 1 status as a solar module manufacturer. Of course, being Tier 1 doesn’t just indicate being a veteran in the industry.
By definition, Tier 1 manufacturers are those which have provided products to at least three different projects in the past 2 years which have all been financed non-recourse by three different banks, essentially requiring that the manufacturer be bankable. Bankability refers to whether the projects using the solar products are likely to be offered non-recourse debt financing by banks – in fact, this is the key criterion for determining a supplier’s tier within the field.
As specified by the given image above, Tier 1 includes the top 2 percent of solar PV manufacturers, all of which invest heavily in research and development and have been manufacturing panels for at least 5 years. In addition, these suppliers control each stage of the manufacturing process. Tier 1 manufacturers produce some of the highest efficiency solar panels. This is due to their use of the best grade of silicon in production, which ensures the longevity of the panels themselves.
Source: http://info.renesola.com/blog/what-makes-a-pv-module-supplier-tier-1/
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