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WHY GRAPE SOLAR?

The Grape Solar Advantage

 

When the European economy was thriving and incentives were abundant, traditional solar panel manufacturers experienced steady growth and developed into vertically integrated giants.  They controlled every aspect of production from ore processing to final assembly.  When the European economy took a turn for the worse and the incentives dried up, the steadily growing demand began to drop off.  This hiccup in the market caused the vertical integration model to fall apart.  Since that time, these large manufacturers have been forced to regroup with large factories running at only running at a fraction of their original capacity. 

 

As the vertical integrators began to crumble, Grape Solar came in to pick up the pieces.  With Grape Solar’s knowledge of the market and connections within the solar industry, we are able to harness the most efficient players within the individual stages of the manufacturing processes and produce the lowest cost solar panels on the market.  In a sense, we can name the prices and let the manufacturers weigh the costs of lower margins in exchange for steady production.

 
The advantages of dealing with Grape Solar instead of one of the vertically integrated companies are:

 
Advantage #1:  Our unique market niche and ability draw from various manufacturing resources ensures that we will ALWAYS have a lower price by about $0.05/W assuming a comparable product and lead time.

 

Advantage #2:  We are an American company staffed by native English speaking US Citizens who are dedicated to a high level of customer service.  To Grape Solar, our customers are valued partners with whom we wish to do continued business.  To a vertically integrated mega corporation, a customer may be nothing more than a number who lives in another country.


Advantage #3: Grape Solar sells directly to thousands of installers and consumers across North America in the USA and Canada.  Grape Solar also sells through various well known, online channels and large warehouse retailers.  Being able to manage these complex distribution channels points to our product quality, reputation and ability to skillfully control inventory in our 53,000 square foot warehouse located in Eugene, Oregon, USA.


Advantage #4: Grape Solar has a horizontally integrated business model with clusters of manufacturers for all components that go into a solar panel. Our competitors are operating under the vertical integration model. This means that Grape Solar can be more flexible and scalable, able to support residential, commercial and solar farm customers, no matter what size the project, particularly when supply is tight.  Grape Solar has the widest selection of inventory from 100W to 410W panels and has more than 150 CEC approved modules – the largest collection in the market. 


Advantage #5: Grape Solar brings end customers to our installers nationwide. Unlike our competition which competes against their customers (Installers), Grape Solar will never install.  Instead, we utilize a network of installers across the continent.  Because of the market share we have gained through our various retail outlets we are actually able to
connect end users to installers on weekly basis, thus reducing the marketing expenses of our installer partners.


Advantage #6:  We offer high quality products.  Because we don’t process the ore, slice the wafers, etc., we don’t have worry about what should be done with the product that falls into the bottom end of the performance bell curve.  We only buy the product that meets our rigid specifications.  When Grape Solar offers a "positive tolerance" module, we guarantee that all panels of that part number have a positive tolerance or else we will reimburse the difference.  We were one of the first manufacturers who lead the trend of providing positive tolerance panels. We give a "Baker's Dozen" to our customers.  Additionally, our panels' PTC ratings, wind load, and snow load capacity are among the highest in the industry.

 

Advantage #7: Grape Solar's has an industry leading materials and workmanship warranty of 10 years as opposed to most of our competitors' 2 year or 5 year warranties.  This confidence level comes from our strict quality control practice in our ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified factories. In addition, we select the highest quality components around the world to ensure the most reliable materials are used in our modules. Our output warranty is 25 years. Our quality is second to none.


A common misconception about Grape Solar is that we are a young company therefore our stability is uncertain which means our warrantees may be worthless.  In actuality, all of our panels are covered by a blanket Grape Solar warranty AND the original manufacturer warranty.  Each panel is individually serialized and traceable with a bar code.  The blanket Grape Solar warranty is in place for simplicity, allowing you to deal with an American
company should any problems arise. 

 
If Grape Solar disappeared tomorrow the panels would still be covered by a strong warranty.  It would be as if you purchased the panel directly from the original equipment manufacturer.  Our stability has nothing to do with the warranty.

 

Advantage #8: Grape Solar can connect customers with financing options for residential, commercial and solar farm projects. When needed, Grape Solar engages with our customers for project financing taking advantage of our strong relationships with international investors in the renewable energy sector.  Grape Solar can also connect you with commercial banks in Ontario, Canada, to satisfy the growing needs of Ontario Power Authority's Feed-in Tariff incentive programs such as MicroFIT and FIT.

 

To learn more, please give us a call in Eugene, Oregon, USA at (877) 349-9000 or email us at info@grapesolar.com.