Your Solar Warranty Is Three Documents, Not One

The warranty line on a residential solar quote is usually four words long. Twenty-five year warranty.

Behind those four words sit three separate promises, signed by at least two different companies, expiring on three different dates, and excluding three different things. The 25 years is real. It is also the largest number on the page, which is why it is the one that gets repeated. Enphase's microinverter schedule warrants the IQ Microinverters for 25 years from the Activation Date; further down the same table, the IQ Gateway that reports a fault to Enphase in the first place carries 5 years, and the IQ Line Filter carries 2 (Doc # USPRCA-Micro-2025, LGL-00030 v. 1.3, effective on or after 1 September 2025, read 22 August 2026). The part that makes the electricity outlives the part that tells you it stopped, by twenty years.

Document numbers, revisions and read-dates are attached throughout, because a warranty quoted without its version is not a citation of anything; all of it was downloaded and read on 22 August 2026. Where a manufacturer's current text could not be pulled on that date, the passage that needed it says so instead of filling the gap. Brands appear here for the way their clauses differ from one another. That difference is the subject, and none of it is a recommendation.

Layer one: the product warranty, and a clock that may start before the array does

Who signs it. The manufacturer, not the company on your roof. The Qcells document covering the Q.PEAK DUO G5 to G8 series is issued by Hanwha Solutions Corporation in Seoul, "or its successors or assigns," under California law. Silfab's runs under New York law, with disputes going to courts in New York, New York. Your installer is not a party to either one.

What it pays for. Defects in materials and workmanship in the hardware. The remedy is the manufacturer's choice, not yours: repair, replace, or refund. Refunds depreciate. Qcells applies "an annual four percent (4 %) depreciation rate on the original purchase price," and that price has to be "evidenced by the invoice produced by the Customer." Read straight-line against the original price, a module replaced in year 12 refunds a little over half its invoice value. Lose the invoice and the document switches basis: the price becomes "the then-current per watt market price of a comparable PV module in a similar market," dated from the date of manufacture in Qcells' own records (Q CELLS HSC Warranty terms, Q.PEAK DUO G5–G8 series, 2020-01 Rev01 NA, valid from 1 January 2020, read 22 August 2026).

Page one of that document lists exactly which modules it covers — the Q.PEAK DUO G5, G6, G7 and G8 families with their L, BLK and point-release variants — and section 1.c writes in its own expiry: it "takes effect on January 1st, 2020 and shall remain valid until a new version of warranty applying to Q CELLS Modules is released by HSC." A later series such as Q.TRON falls under a later document with its own figures, which us.qcells.com would not serve to an automated request on 22 August 2026. No G5–G8 number here carries across to it. Get the series off the module label before getting attached to a percentage.

What it excludes. Labour, in nearly every case, and shipping in more cases than people expect. Silfab: the limited warranties "are for the Products only and do not cover other systems, labor or components unless otherwise specified," and do not cover "transportation costs for return of modules, or for reshipment of any repaired or replaced module, or cost associated with installation, removal or reinstallation of modules" (DCN# 25-057 SIL-CS-WRTY-010, Revision Q, 12 August 2025, read 22 August 2026). Enphase excludes labour for un-installing, re-installing and troubleshooting, but does bear shipping "if the claim is justified" — and invoices you the then-current list price if the defective unit does not arrive back within 60 days.

Then the clock. Five documents, five start events:

Three of those can be running before an installer ever quotes you, and two start earlier when a piece of paper is missing. Silfab falls back to the date of manufacture where the owner cannot evidence a delivery date. SMA's clock runs from first commissioning or the first claimant's invoice date only where somebody registers the product within twelve months; with no registration it runs from "the day of delivery through SMA" — a date the document tells you to go and ask SMA for.

REC keeps two clocks in one document: the 20-year product warranty counts from the date of purchase, while the performance warranty's first-year 98% is "calculated from the date of production as identified on the Product" (REC Alpha warranty conditions, Rev 8 – 2.26, Ref: PM-WARR-12, Americas section, read 22 August 2026). Same panel, same PDF, two start dates.

Silfab's extension from 12 to 25 years turns on something nobody can verify after the fact unless it was written down at the time: the longer term applies only "if, at the time the Products were purchased and installed, the original system installer was properly registered and qualified as a Silfab installer."

Layer two: the performance warranty is a curve, and the curve caps what a proposal may assume

Who signs it. The same manufacturer, in a separate numbered section of the same PDF. Qcells says the two are distinct outright: the product warranty "does not warrant a specific power output," which "shall be exclusively covered under the Performance Warranty."

What it pays for. The shortfall between measured power and the warranted floor, measured by the manufacturer under standard test conditions. Not by your inverter, not on your roof, not in kWh. Each document pins those conditions its own way: Silfab spells them out as 1,000 W/m², 25 °C cell temperature and air mass 1.5; Qcells points at the IEC standards EN 61215 and 60904-3 "in effect as of the Warranty Start Date"; REC's Alpha text cites IEC 61215. Silfab and REC each allow a ± 3% measurement tolerance before a shortfall counts at all, which on a 400 W module is 12 W of slack before anybody owes anything.

What it excludes. Everything that actually moves annual production. Shade, soiling, snow cover, a failed optimiser, inverter clipping, a tree that grew. None of that is a performance defect.

The curves are linear and easy to check, and they move by model year more than by brand:

warranted floor in year n:  f(n) = 98% - d x (n - 1)

Qcells Q.PEAK DUO G5-G8     d = 0.54%/yr  ->  f(25) = 85.0%
Silfab Elite BG / Prime QD  d = 0.30%/yr  ->  f(25) = 90.8%   (doc runs to yr 30: 89.3%)
REC Alpha (Americas text)   d = 0.25%/yr  ->  f(25) = 92.0%

same Silfab PDF, section 3(b), everything not named in 3(a):
  mono-crystalline    97.1% in yr 1, d = 0.50%/yr  ->  82.6% at yr 30
  multi-crystalline   97.5% in yr 1, d = 0.70%/yr  ->  79.5% at yr 30

Sources in order: the Qcells G5–G8 document above, section 2.b; Silfab Revision Q, sections 3(a) and 3(b); and the REC Alpha conditions Rev 8, Americas section, which warrant 98% in year one, no more than 0.25% a year for the following 24 years, and at least 92% at the end of year 25 for panels "delivered to REC customers on or after January 1, 2019." Note what the bottom two rows do. They are in the same PDF as the row above them: move from an Elite BG to a Silfab module section 3(a) does not name and the year-30 floor drops by up to ten percentage points.

REC's one-page warranty fact sheet, v.20221216 (read 22 August 2026) prints the same three Alpha numbers in a tidier table. Be clear what that sheet is: a summary that says so, sending readers to the download centre "for details of each product's warranty conditions." The delivery-date scope, the IEC test standard, the transfer restriction and the labour exclusion all live in the per-product certificate instead. A fact sheet is not the contract it summarises.

What the spread is worth, on a hypothetical array making 12,000 kWh a year at full nameplate rating. Sum the warranted fraction across 25 years — the series collapses to 24.50 − 300d — then multiply:

d = 0.54%   sum = 22.880   ->  274,560 kWh
d = 0.30%   sum = 23.600   ->  283,200 kWh
d = 0.25%   sum = 23.750   ->  285,000 kWh

spread, widest pair:   10,440 kWh over 25 years
at $0.2129/kWh                        $2,222.68

Substitute your own marginal rate before that dollar figure means anything; 21.29 cents is a July rate rebuilt tier by tier from one Georgia Power bill in the four numbers post, not a national average. And read the result for what it is: the gap between two contractual floors, not a forecast of lost output. Real modules usually run above their warranted line. The floor is just the only degradation number in the transaction that anyone has underwritten. If a proposal's degradation input beats the curve in your module's own document, that assumption is uninsured — which is why item 8 of the twelve sends you to the datasheet instead of to an industry average.

Layer three: workmanship, the only document with your roof in it

This one is signed by the installer. It covers labour and access — precisely what layers one and two carve out — and unlike the other two it has no standard text at all. There is no federal minimum. It says whatever your contract says, unless a state incentive programme sets a floor as a condition of paying its rebate.

Where a programme does set one, it gets specific. Section 3.13 of New York's NY-Sun Program Manual — headed System Warranty for Purchase Agreements, so it governs systems you buy rather than lease — requires the contractor to provide "at least a full five-year transferable warranty" covering all components of the generating system against "breakdown or degradation in electrical output of more than 10% from the original rated electrical output," covering "the full costs, including labor, repair, and replacement of defective components or systems," with warranty requests responded to within 72 hours and repairs completed within 30 days (NY-Sun Program Manual, April 2026, Version 22, read 22 August 2026). Leases and PPAs are governed by the next section, 3.14, which asks for a production guarantee instead and caps allowable cumulative degradation at 1% a year. Storage is different again: section 3.15.1.2 requires at least a 10-year manufacturer warranty covering "the entire energy storage system including ancillary equipment and power electronics," a separate box to tick before sizing a battery.

One sentence in 3.13 is the whole reason this layer exists: "The contractor is responsible for providing warranty coverage in a timely manner regardless of the level of support from the equipment manufacturer."

Outside a programme like that, read what is actually written. The company now trading as SunPower publishes a ten-year workmanship warranty on installation quality "including waterproof roof penetrations and design-related issues," alongside two years of service coverage — and draws the boundary between the two in one line: on manufacturer-related issues "after two years, we'll still assist you in the process, though you'll be responsible for any manufacturer's claim fees" (SunPower warranty information, read 22 August 2026). Manufacturer claim fees are a real line item. Year three is when they arrive.

One hybrid sits in layer three but is signed by a manufacturer. REC's fact sheet puts 25 years in the labour column for ProTrust systems under 25 kW, 10 years at 25–500 kW, and zero in the standard column that covers everyone else. The asterisk under that table is the whole condition: ProTrust is "exclusively offered by REC Certified Solar Professional installers," and "installations must be registered via REC SunSnap app or REC ProPortal (subject to warranty conditions)." Which conditions, the sheet does not say — the Alpha certificate footnotes them to "the prevailing conditions of the REC Certified Solar Professional Program" and links out. Read those before treating the labour column as coverage.

Follow each layer through an installer that no longer exists

On 5 August 2024 the former SunPower Corporation filed for bankruptcy. Complete Solaria bought certain assets in a transaction that closed on 30 September 2024, and the surviving company's own page draws the line in plain words: "Our purchase of select SunPower Corporation assets did not include taking any interest in customer PPAs, leases, or in any solar systems, batteries, or other equipment that was installed prior to the acquisition date – September 30, 2024." Homeowners on the wrong side of that date are directed to their lender or their financier. Trace the three layers through it.

Layers one and two survive, with strings attached to the procedure. They follow the equipment at its original location and do not care who installed it. But Silfab's claim process says the owner "should have the original system installer submit" the RMA, and treats that installer as the owner's Authorized Representative. With that installer gone you need a different licensed contractor to file for you, and that contractor is running a business, not a favour. Enphase adds gates of its own: an RMA, a claim filed within 90 days of discovering the defect, the product registered, firmware current, and permission to operate from the local authority on record. One of those gates is not absolute: the same document suspends the registration requirement for residents of California, Connecticut and any other state that forbids making a registration card a condition of coverage.

The labour becomes yours, and access is priced separately from labour. SMA Solar Technology AG's factory warranty — document COM-RES-GB-en-88, the German company's text, applying to purchases made after 2026-05-20, and not SMA America's separate US warranty — is blunt about that distinction. On-site repair covers materials, labour, and removal and replacement of the part, "provided however that the device is installed at ground level or a safely accessible level roof top." Then: "No other costs - including, but not limited to, costs to safely access devices installed on slanted rooftops, or for lift equipment, travel or accommodation costs ... are covered" (COM-RES-GB-en-88, read 22 August 2026). A pitched roof is not a covered condition in that text. It is the condition nearly every residential array is in.

Do not assume in either direction which SMA text governs a given US system. That AG document does list –US model numbers, so it is not simply a European one; SMA also publishes region-specific texts, and the US one could not be retrieved on 22 August 2026, so nothing here is quoted from it. Country and purchase date decide it — which is why the document number belongs in your file and the word "SMA" does not.

Layer three becomes a claim against a company with nothing in it. The practical backstop is the state licence bond, and it is smaller than most people assume. California requires every licensee to carry a contractor's bond "in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000)" (Business and Professions Code section 7071.6, read 22 August 2026). Homeowners are priority beneficiaries under section 7071.5(a) and may recover "the full measure of the bond"; everyone else shares an aggregate cap of $7,500. One bond for the entire failed company, not one per customer. Nor does the bond answer to a broken promise as such: section 7071.5(a) covers a homeowner "damaged as a result of a violation of this chapter by the licensee," meaning a violation of the Contractors State License Law, which an unperformed workmanship warranty may or may not amount to. And the regulator's window is shorter than the warranty it might be asked about: CSLB "addresses violations of California Contractors License Law ... for up to four years from the date of the act," and says plainly that its investigations do not guarantee restitution (Filing a Construction Complaint, read 22 August 2026). A ten-year workmanship promise and a four-year enforcement window are different lengths of rope. Bond amounts and complaint windows are set state by state, so check yours.

Selling the house is where the last thread can snap. Enphase requires the transferee to file a Change of Ownership Form and pay a transfer fee within 30 days of the transfer, and states that submitting it "is required in order for the Transferee to receive continued Limited Warranty coverage." Silfab extends coverage to any subsequent title holder automatically, provided the modules stay where they are. Qcells permits assignment to a new owner of the entire system "provided that such system remains intact in its original place of installation," and voids any other attempt to transfer. REC's Alpha certificate transfers to "a subsequent owner of the solar power facility at which the Product was originally installed and remains installed," provided the facility has not been altered or moved. The SolarEdge revision quoted above allows transfer "from the buyer to any assignee" so long as the products are not moved outside their original country of installation. Four of those five survive a sale unaided. In the fifth, the new owner only becomes a Covered Owner at all once the form is filed and the fee paid inside the 30 days — and nobody at the closing table will raise it.

Two files, named so a stranger can use them in 2036

The failure mode is not that these documents are unfair. It is that in ten years nobody can find the version that applied.

SolarEdge is the worked example, and not by choice. Its Limited Product Warranty has changed filename at least twice: solaredge-warranty-july-2018.pdf, then se-limited-product-warranty-april-2022.pdf, the second footer-marked Revised: March 2022 while its own filename says April. The 12-year inverter and 25-year optimiser terms above come from that second file, read in the Internet Archive's capture of 12 April 2022. The July 2018 file carries the same two headline numbers at its own separate address. Two versions, two URLs, nothing on either telling a homeowner which was in force the week their inverter shipped.

The current text could not be checked at all. solaredge.com and knowledge-center.solaredge.com returned HTTP 403 to every automated request tried on 22 August 2026 — plain request, browser user agent, search-engine referer, and a headless browser that got as far as a Cloudflare interstitial. So no current SolarEdge term is stated here as fact; the two figures above are labelled with the revision they came from and nothing more is claimed for them. If SolarEdge hardware is on your roof, open solaredge.com/us/warranty in an ordinary browser and save the file yourself. A bookmark is not an archive.

File one, the equipment schedule. Model numbers with quantities, serial numbers, the activation or permission-to-operate date, the invoice showing the delivery date (without it Silfab falls back to the date of manufacture, which is earlier), the registration confirmation from each manufacturer portal, and a note of whether your installer held the certification that upgrades a term. Silfab's 12-to-25-year extension and REC's ProTrust labour cover both hang on that status at the moment of installation, and both become unprovable once the company dissolves.

File two, the paper that names a human. The workmanship warranty pages from the signed contract, cited by page number rather than by adjective, plus the contractor's licence number, the surety and bond number, and the interconnection approval letter. If the company disappears, the licence number is how you find the bond, and the bond is the only fund with your name anywhere near it.

Do the mechanical part today. Download the actual PDF behind every serial number in your system and rename each file with its document number and effective date. USPRCA-Micro-2025_2025-09-01.pdf still reads correctly a decade from now in a way warranty.pdf never will. Keep the set in two places, one of them not a cloud account tied to an email address you might stop using.