Quick answer: A product warranty, power-performance warranty, inverter warranty and installer workmanship warranty cover different failures. Start by naming the symptom, identifying the failed component, preserving data and matching that evidence to one written promise. Do not begin with “the system makes less money than expected”—that can mix equipment, design, weather, tariff and consumption issues.
Safety line: do not climb onto a roof, unplug live DC connectors, open the inverter or defeat isolation equipment. Export monitoring data and arrange qualified inspection.
Five promises that are often bundled into one sales pitch
| Document | Typical subject | What it does not automatically cover |
|---|---|---|
| Module product warranty | Manufacturing or material defect in a module | Low output caused by shade, dirt, design or other equipment |
| Module performance warranty | Maximum degradation or minimum output under stated test conditions | Your household bill, annual rupee savings or whole-system uptime |
| Inverter/optimizer warranty | Covered failure of that device | Modules, mounting, wiring workmanship or grid outages |
| Installer workmanship warranty | Installation defects such as specified wiring, mounting or sealing work | A manufacturer’s internal component defect |
| Insurance or service plan | Only the named accidental, weather, theft or maintenance events | Anything excluded, depreciated or outside the policy period |
Duration alone is a poor comparison. A long performance warranty with a narrow remedy can be less useful than a shorter product warranty with clear labour and logistics coverage.
Read the remedy, not just the year count
For every installed model, save the warranty PDF that was in force when it was sold and answer:
- Who is the legal warrantor and where must a claim be filed?
- Does registration or transfer to a new owner matter?
- Which serial number, invoice and commissioning records are required?
- How is a defect or degraded output tested, and by whom?
- Can the warrantor repair, replace, provide a refurbished unit or pay a depreciated amount?
- Who pays diagnosis, scaffolding, removal, packing, freight, customs, labour and reinstallation?
- Do replacement parts inherit the original end date or receive a new term?
- Which events are excluded: corrosion zone, unauthorised work, grid event, surge, flood, fire, pests or improper maintenance?
U.S. Department of Energy project guidance usefully tells asset owners to document underperformance and check whether repair/replacement, labour, removal, shipping and reinstallation are included. That is technical contract-reading guidance, not Indian warranty law; your signed Indian contracts and applicable law control.
A performance warranty is a measurement claim
Household generation below a salesperson’s forecast is not by itself proof that modules breached their performance curve. Annual energy depends on solar resource, orientation, shade, soiling, temperature, mismatch, inverter clipping, grid availability and downtime. The performance document may instead compare a module’s measured output with its warranted nameplate percentage under defined conditions.
Build a safe evidence ladder:
- Export daily/monthly generation and alarm history before an app reset or account transfer.
- Photograph serial labels and visible damage from a safe location; do not walk the roof.
- Compare inverter production with the utility/generation meter, accounting for different measurement points.
- Note changes: new shade, construction, long outages, cleaning, component replacement or loss of one string.
- Ask a qualified technician for a written fault isolation: module, connector/cable, inverter, meter, grid, design or maintenance.
- If claiming module performance, obtain the test method and result required by the manufacturer instead of inventing a home test.
ALMM and subsidy records are evidence—not a warranty substitute
MNRE’s live ALMM page identifies models/manufacturers eligible in the project categories covered by the ALMM order and is updated regularly. It does not promise that a particular consumer claim will be paid. For a government-assisted rooftop project, retain the portal application, vendor selection, installed model/serial records, invoices and commissioning documents alongside the current scheme requirements.
If the invoice model differs from the module installed or from the model recorded on the portal, freeze the evidence and ask the vendor to reconcile it in writing before anyone swaps labels or equipment.
Route the claim to the party that owns the failure
- Installer: ask for site inspection and fault isolation under the workmanship/service contract.
- Manufacturer: open the product or performance claim with the required serials and test evidence.
- Inverter service network: use the device error code, logs and model-specific procedure.
- Insurer: use the policy notice route for a covered external event; preserve damaged parts if instructed.
Send one chronology with installation date, first symptom, data gap, inspections and requested remedy. Ask each party to state whether it accepts responsibility, which clause it relies on, what additional evidence it needs, who bears each incidental cost and the next response date. A vague “system is underperforming” ticket invites vague answers.
Handover records that prevent the next dispute
- itemised invoice and exact equipment schedule;
- serial-number photos mapped to strings/components;
- manufacturer and installer warranty PDFs;
- design, single-line diagram and commissioning/test report;
- monitoring owner credentials and historical export;
- meter/DISCOM/portal approvals where applicable;
- shutdown, cleaning and maintenance instructions;
- service contacts and written allocation of access, freight and labour costs.
Official sources used
- U.S. DOE — Performance Verification and Warranty Follow-up — Supports documenting underperformance and checking labour, removal, shipping and reinstallation terms as technical context.
- MNRE — Approved List of Models and Manufacturers — Supports the limited role and current status of ALMM listing.