PVinsights.com Price Sourcing Methodology

Since 2005, PVinsights.com has developed a network of reliable price information contributors who believe accurate transparency is in the best interest of all parties -- both buyers and sellers. We poll prices from multiple contributors by telephone until the final price range is clear to us.

Gathering prices for privately traded solar PV components is an art. PVinsights.com must evaluate the reliability of price information contributors and make a judgment about the final high, low, and average price range to publish. "Privately traded solar PV components" are defined here as solar PV component purchased and sold privately between companies for physical delivery. These solar PV components are not traded on public exchanges.

In our opinion, applying judgment to the price discovery process remains today the best method to determine privately traded solar PV component prices. Our experience in making informed, accurate judgments is one of the most important values we offer to PVinsights.com subscribers.

Recent attempts have been made to eliminate judgment by creating a neutral data collection process for contributors to submit actual purchase and sales contracts. These have had limited success because: 1) Most solar PV companies prefer to keep their business contracts private and out of the hands of a third party; and 2) Any company could submit false documents.

PVinsights insists on the neutral position to provide the leading indicator and actual market dynamics, although major Chinese or Taiwanese solar players have been paying money to some price information provider to follow their orders to report the information by creating a unneutral data to benefit those players.