A recurring point we make on SolarReviewsis that solar panels last a long, long time;25-30 years to be exact. This makes it importantto buy solar panels with the following qualities:
The concept of an elite list of Tier 1 solar panel manufacturers was first used byBloomberg New Energy in a report on the "bankability" of different solar panel brands.
While Bloombeg''s definition of Tier 1 is somewhat useful, in our view it''s insufficientas a guide for consumers. It only judges the solar panels based on past performance, anddoesn''t attempt to predict the future reliability of each manufacturer.
Given that solar panels last 25-30 years, we think much more weight should be givento the future prospects of the brand, as well as the manufacturer''s future economic viability.
They sign up a few dealers in America over the internet by offering cheap panels, but if there are any warrantyissues they pin the blame on an "installation error" or a "cosmetic defect" that isn''t covered by warranty.As these companies invest little to nothing in their brand in the US, they have nothing to lose. Often theywill simply start selling panels under a different brand.
Among these companies are also those that buy B-grade cells and wafers, and build panels out of them for cheap sale.Many of these smaller overseas companies also outsource large parts of their production to the cheapest contractor inChina, and so it is impossible to get a gauge on real manufacturing quality.
Leading US manufacturers SolarWorld, Suniva and Silicon Energy have all gone broke,while market leader SunPower has moved most of its panel manufacturing to Malaysia,the Philippines and Mexico. Tesla has also closed their planned solar panel manufacturingplant in Buffalo, New York.
Ironically, the only well-known solar company with large-scale manufacturing inthe USA is the Chinese solar giant Jinko Solar, who have a factory in Jacksonville, Florida.
We do know of two smaller brands that still make their panels in America: Mission Solar in Texas,and Washington-based Itek Energy (now owned by Canadian company Silfab). However, they are smallmanufacturers and we are unsure of their current production arrangements or volumes.
Although the Trump administration attempted to boost US manufacturing of solar panels by imposingtariffs on Chinese modules in 2018-2019, American-made panels have unfortunately been unable tocompete with the low cost and high quality of Chinese and other imports.
This group contains LG, Panasonic and SunPower. Their panels are the most expensive on the market.They are all good companies and offer very good products, but they are placed in the premium categoryfor different reasons.
LG and Panasonic make good panels. But they are considered premium because of the strength of theiroverall corporate brand — and not because of the technical specifications of their panels. Their panelsare only marginally, if at all, better than the other Tier 1 brands.
In our view, any technical benefit offered by LG and Panasonic panels is too small to justify the price premium.What justifies the price premium — if it is justifiable — is the overall reliability of these companies.
SunPower is different. They are in the premium category because their panels have long been market leadersin terms of panel efficiency, and they have grown a network of very high-quality installation partners. However,SunPower has recently sold off its panel manufacturing business into another listed entity called Maxeon,which is part-owned by a Chinese wafer manufacturer.
This provides an element of uncertainty around SunPower solar panels. That said, we do believe that theywill continue to deliver a very good premium offering. They will need to continue to innovate to justifytheir price premium, as several of the lower-cost Chinese Tier 1 manufacturers have recently announced newcell technology that is as, or more, efficient than the current market-leading SunPower cells.
SolarReviews takeaway: Great panels by great companies, but better value is available elsewhere. As panel efficiency is alreadytaken into account when panels are rated as a particular wattage, slight efficiency advantages are unlikely totranslate into significant extra power generation.
This is a group of mainly Chinese solar panel manufacturers that are dominating the global solar panel market.They have not had the same success in the residential US solar market, although they are steadily growing their market share.
Their best panels are currently 1-2% less efficient than SunPower, but this looks set to change. Both Trina and LONGi have announced cell technology improvementsfor Fall 2020 that offer equivalent efficiency to the premium manufacturers, but at a lower price point.
While we have concerns about the lack of financial transparency from some of these Chinese companies, their lower price point, improving technology and massivemanufacturing scale may make them as reliable as the premium brands.
SolarReviews takeaway: You are very unlikely to have any problems with the solar panels from either the premium brands or these Tier 1 Chinese manufacturers. The decision isprobably whether you want to support a Chinese company to save money on your solar system. We can see many good moralarguments why one may not wish to do this.
The reason is that the high quality Tier 1 Chinese brands above are already quite low cost, come with some transparency,and place some value in their brand. As such, they offer good value to homeowners.
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