Imagine paying for a dozen eggs and only getting 10.8 eggs !

Or imagine buying a 205 watt solar panel and only getting 184.5 watts !

We won't mention names but several solar panel manufacturers have a warranted minimum power max rating of negative 10% or worse (A lower percentage is better). In plain English what that means for example is that, when purchasing let's say a 205 Watt panel from some other manufacturer, its minimum power max rating can be off by as much as (negative) -10% or 20.5 watts !! So you could be paying for 205 Watt panel and only getting a 184.5 Watt panel right out of the box .....ouch !

Mitsubishi Electric solar panels are rated at an incredible -5% which is why they are in such high demand in Europe. In Germany and several other European countries, the negative 10% or more tolerance panels that are generally available in the U.S. would probably never make it into most European solar electric systems. As much as we hate to admit it, the Europeans are about 10 years ahead of the U.S. when it come to solar electricity and they demand only the lowest negative tolerance panels on the market, it's got to be -5% or less or most Europeans don't want anything to do with it. When shopping for solar panels, always look for the lowest negative tolerance ratings or in other words the highest warranted minimum power !

Here's a couple of negative tolerance rating for three competing solar panels.

Brand S. (A popular 200 and 205 watt panel sold by many of the other dealers in their pre-configured systems)  According to their own specification sheet, only 180 and 184.5 watts respectively warranted minimum power. Negative 10%.
 

Brand B. (A popular competitor's 170 watt panel included in the home improvement store's systems) According to their own specification sheet, only 151 watts warranted minimum power. About negative 11%.

A negative 10% tolerance rating is like buying a dozen eggs and finding a sticker on the egg carton that says "we only guarantee that this 1 dozen carton of eggs will contain 10.8 eggs !

Don't take our word for it, ask our competitors to email you a copy of their solar panel's spec sheet and look for the "Peak tolerance rating", "Warranted minimum power max" or "Peak power tolerance ratings" and see for yourself !

To be fair, because of the complex manufacturing process, no solar panel is perfect. But in our opinion 8% to 11% is just too much when there are solar panels available that have only a 5% negative tolerance.