Almost nobody reads the solar warranty. Yet it decides whether a system is a good investment fifteen years from now. Two systems can look identical on a quote. They can carry completely different protection once the panels are on the roof. The difference shows up years later. Something needs fixing. The question becomes who pays, and for how long.
The confusion makes sense. A solar system always comes with several warranties, not just one. Each one covers a different thing. Each is provided by a different party. Each runs for a different length of time. This guide explains what each warranty covers. It shows where the fine print hides. It shows what separates a warranty that pays out from one that quietly does not.
The Three Warranties on Every Solar System
Every solar installation carries three distinct warranties. Knowing which is which is the key to reading any quote properly.
| Warranty | What it covers | Provided by |
|---|---|---|
| Product (manufacturer) | Faults in the panel’s materials and build | The panel manufacturer |
| Performance (output) | A guaranteed minimum output over time | The panel manufacturer |
| Workmanship (installation) | The quality of the installation itself | Your installer |
A strong system needs all three warranties to be solid. A market-leading panel installed poorly is only as good as its workmanship warranty. A flawless installation cannot rescue a panel whose manufacturer has left the market.
Product Warranty: The One That Matters Most
Of the two manufacturer warranties, the product warranty carries the most weight in practice. The next section explains why. It covers the physical panel. A physical fault is something a homeowner can point to and prove.
The product warranty is sometimes called the manufacturer warranty or the materials warranty. It covers the panel itself against defects in its materials and construction. These faults include delamination, cell failure, corrosion and faulty junction boxes. If the panel fails because of how it was made, this warranty replaces it.
Product warranty terms have grown a lot as panel quality has improved. Older or lower-cost panels often carried around ten to twelve years of product cover. Quality panels today commonly carry twenty-five years. Premium panels can go further. Construction matters here too. Glass-glass panels sandwich the cells between two layers of tempered glass. They use no polymer backsheet. This design removes a common long-term failure pathway. Glass-glass panels tend to carry the longest product warranties.
Performance Warranty: Useful, but Harder to Claim
Every solar panel slowly produces less power as it ages. This is called degradation. It is normal and unavoidable. The performance warranty is the manufacturer’s guarantee of how little the panel will fade. It promises a minimum percentage of the original rated output. This applies at set points in the panel’s life. This usually runs out to twenty-five or thirty years.
Two numbers tell the story. One is the maximum annual degradation rate. The other is the guaranteed minimum output at year twenty-five. The lower the degradation, the more energy the panel keeps producing late in its life. The higher the year-twenty-five floor, the same is true. The table below compares a typical panel with the premium SunPower P-Series. Positive Energy Solutions installs this panel.
| Performance measure | Typical panel | SunPower P-Series |
|---|---|---|
| First-year output guarantee | Around 97 to 98% | 99% |
| Maximum annual degradation | Around 0.55% per year | 0.40% per year |
| Minimum output at year 25 | Around 80 to 85% | 89.4% |
| Minimum output at year 30 | Often not covered | 87.4% |
The gap looks small on paper. It compounds over time. Take a 6.6 kilowatt system in Perth. The difference between a 0.40% and a 0.55% degradation rate is small. It works out to roughly half a kilowatt of effective capacity. That capacity difference appears by year twenty-five. It is well over a thousand kilowatt hours of extra generation every year. That extra output comes late in the system’s life. Over decades of high Perth sun, that adds up. It is a meaningful amount of energy the performance warranty is protecting.
There is an important catch. A performance warranty is very difficult to claim. A homeowner must prove sustained underperformance that is genuinely the panel’s fault. This means separating it out from soiling, shading, weather, inverter issues and normal seasonal variation. It also means measuring over years rather than days. That high bar is why the product warranty does more of the real work in practice. A clear physical fault is far easier to demonstrate than a slow shortfall in output. Both warranties matter. The product warranty is the one more likely to be called upon and paid.
Workmanship Warranty: The One People Forget
The two manufacturer warranties cover the panel. Neither covers the installation. That is the job of the workmanship warranty. It comes from the company that installed the system, rather than from the manufacturer. It covers the quality of the work. This includes the mounting, the wiring, the roof penetrations, the sealing and the overall build of the system on the roof.
This warranty matters more than most people realise. A large share of real-world solar problems trace back to installation rather than a faulty panel. It is also the warranty most exposed to a company going out of business. It depends on that specific company still being around to honour it. Every Positive Energy Solutions installation carries a 10-year workmanship warranty. A local Perth team stands behind it.
The Labour Trap: Who Pays to Get on the Roof?
Here is the detail that catches most homeowners out. A product or performance warranty usually replaces the faulty panel itself. It says nothing about the cost of getting someone onto the roof. That job means removing the panel, fitting the replacement and re-commissioning the system. That labour is frequently excluded. It can run to several hundred dollars per panel. This turns a replacement at no charge into a real bill.
This is where warranty terms genuinely differ. This is where SunPower stands apart. The SunPower P-Series carries a 30-year warranty. It covers product, performance and the service labour needed to carry out a claim. Everything is included, with no grey area. It is set out in writing. If a panel needs replacing in year eighteen, the warranty already settles who pays. The person on the roof is covered. That labour cover is fully backed when an authorised partner installs the system. This is one reason the choice of company matters as much as the choice of panel.
A Warranty Is Only as Strong as the Company Behind It
A thirty-year warranty is a thirty-year promise. A promise is only as good as the party who has to keep it. The solar industry has seen real brand exits and insolvencies over the years. A warranty from a manufacturer that has left the market is worth very little. This is true however impressive the number looked at the time.
This is why the backing behind a brand is a fair part of the decision. SunPower, for instance, is now backed by a strategic partnership with TCL. TCL is one of the world’s largest technology manufacturers. This partnership puts significant manufacturing scale and financial depth behind SunPower’s long-term warranty commitments. When comparing panels, it is worth looking past the headline number. Ask who stands behind it in year fifteen and year twenty-five.
How Monitoring Turns a Warranty Into a Real Claim
A performance warranty guarantees a minimum output. Someone else must actively enforce it. Someone has to notice the panel is underperforming. Someone has to prove it, work out which component is responsible, and lodge the claim. This often happens years after the install. Without monitoring, most underperformance slips past unnoticed. The warranty quietly goes unused.
This is where after-sales support closes the loop. Every Positive Energy Solutions system includes Positive Energy Protection, powered by Omnidian. It monitors the system against its expected output from day one. If a panel starts falling short of what the performance warranty guarantees, the data shows it. The shortfall is documented. Positive Energy Solutions manages the claim as the single point of contact. A warranty is only useful if someone is watching whether the system is meeting it.
Why Positive Energy Solutions Installs SunPower
Positive Energy Solutions has made a deliberate choice to install SunPower panels, and SunPower alone. The warranty is the reason. The SunPower P-Series carries a 30-year warranty covering product, performance and labour, with no grey area. If something goes wrong, the cover is clear and in writing. There is no debate about what is included or who pays to put it right. The market is full of long numbers and fine print. That certainty is what Positive Energy Solutions wanted to stand behind.
The company has installed other panel brands in the past. These include Jinko Solar, Trina Solar and Canadian Solar. These are all capable products backed by solid manufacturer warranties. The team has worked across that full range. It narrowed its offering to SunPower for one reason above all. When a claim ever needs to be made, the SunPower warranty removes the doubt. It removes the fine print and the argument over labour. That decision comes from experience of what a warranty looks like when it is tested, not from a brochure.
The panel earns that confidence. It offers a maximum 0.40% annual degradation and glass-glass construction. It also carries IEC 61701 maximum-severity salt-mist certification for coastal Perth homes. As a SunPower Elite Partner, Positive Energy Solutions carries the full manufacturer backing on every system it builds. Labour cover is included. Every installation is completed by our accredited installers and signed off to Positive Energy’s completion standards. It is backed by a 10-year installation workmanship warranty and Positive Energy Protection monitoring from day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a product and a performance warranty?
The product warranty covers the panel against manufacturing faults, such as delamination or cell failure. The performance warranty guarantees a minimum level of output over time as the panel naturally degrades. A good panel has both. In practice, the product warranty tends to be the more useful of the two. A clear physical fault is far easier to prove than a gradual shortfall in output.
Does a solar panel warranty cover labour?
Often it does not. Many warranties replace the faulty panel but exclude the labour to remove and refit it. That labour can cost several hundred dollars per panel. The SunPower P-Series is a clear exception. It includes that labour for the full 30-year term, with no grey area. This is one of the reasons Positive Energy Solutions installs it. With other panels, it is always worth checking the fine print.
How long should a solar panel warranty last?
Quality panels today commonly carry a 25-year product and performance warranty. Premium panels can extend to 30 years. A workmanship warranty from the company that installed the system is separate. Positive Energy Solutions provides a 10-year workmanship warranty on every system.
What can void a solar panel warranty?
Common causes include installation by an unauthorised or unaccredited installer. Later modifications by a third party are another cause. So is physical damage or neglect outside normal use. An accredited team should install and maintain the system. That is the simplest way to keep every warranty intact.
Who do I contact for a warranty claim?
Contact the company that installed your system. For Positive Energy Solutions customers, Positive Energy Solutions is the single point of contact. It manages the manufacturer claim on the homeowner’s behalf. The household never has to deal with the panel maker directly.
Buy the Warranty, Not Just the Panel
The panel on the roof matters. But the warranty behind it matters more. So does the team standing behind that warranty. Together, they protect a solar investment across its whole life. Positive Energy Solutions designs and installs solar and battery systems. Its warranties are backed, monitored and managed for the long term.
About the Author
Jason Wiktorowicz
Sales Manager, Positive Energy Solutions | Perth, WA
Jason has been at the centre of Western Australia’s energy transition for over a decade. He was Orchestration Lead on Project Symphony, WA’s largest virtual power plant pilot. He was also Stream Lead on Project Encore. In these roles, he worked directly with AEMO, Western Power and Energy Policy WA. Together they shaped how distributed energy resources connect and operate on the SWIS. That work included developing and rolling out CSIP-AUS, now mandatory for all new WA grid connections. He also led Emergency Solar Management, the first program of its kind in WA. He led VPP for Schools, which provided direct market benefits through Supplementary Reserve Capacity. He also led REBAR, the WA Residential Battery Rebate scheme.
His earlier career spanned Synergy, Infinite Energy and Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Institute. There, he co-authored peer-reviewed research on net-zero urban precincts, solar integration and peer-to-peer energy trading. This research was published in the journal Urban Planning in 2018.
At Positive Energy Solutions, Jason leads sales. His focus is system design accuracy and long-term performance. Positive Energy Solutions installs solar and battery systems, EV chargers and heat pumps. It holds partner accreditations with Fronius, SigEnergy, iStore and SunPower.
10-year installation workmanship warranty. Positive Energy Protection, powered by Omnidian,
performance monitoring included on all systems.
