Rating of Solar Panels

Solar panel brands

It is important to use the best solar panel brands because they provide you with quality environmentally friendly power at a low cost.

This is a recurring point we make on solarsystems, that solar panels last a long time; 25-30 years to be exact. Because of this, it is important to buy solar panels with the following qualities:

They are the least likely to have a low quality product

If the product is faulty and it’s out of warranty, the manufacturer will replace defective items with new ones or refund payment

Installers are in a unique position at home and commercial solar companies. They are so confident of the quality of their products, they offer a 300% money back guarantee on faulty products, which is the best in market.

This third point is important in practical terms and shows why it’s not always wise to buy solar from the cheapest company.

Tier 1 manufacturers

Tier 1 manufacturers are solar panels which come from a number of different companies. They have been specially designed and built to work efficiently in any environment.

The concept of an elite list of Tier 1 solar panel manufacturers was first used by Bloomberg New Energy in a report on the “bankability” of different solar panel brands.

They definitely chose companies that had been financed on a non-recourse basis by several banks, over multiple projects greater than 1.5 megawatts in size

While Bloombeg’s definition of Tier 1 is somewhat useful, in our view it’s insufficient as a guide for consumers. It only judges the solar panels based on past performance and doesn’t attempt to predict future reliability.

Given the lifespan of solar panels, we believe that providing take-utils in the future is important and that companies should play up their long-term financial viability.

What is the best way to determine who the top companies are in each market?

Our experts here at Solarsystems believe that Tier 1 solar panel brands are the industry’s best. They’re efficient with their energy production, need only minimal recharging, and most importantly come with a warranty.

When you’re looking for solar panels, you should be assessing the quality and value of a type before purchasing. Here are six criteria:

What is the best way to determine who the top companies are in each market?

Our experts here at Solarsystems believe that Tier 1 solar panel brands are the industry’s best. They’re efficient with their energy production, need only minimal recharging, and most importantly come with a warranty.

When you’re looking for solar panels, you should be assessing the quality and value of a type before purchasing. Here are six criteria:

A company may be interested in the manufacturing quality of their factories, and the degree of integration across their value chains (ingots ; wafers ; cells ; panels) in order to reduce future warranty claims. This is good for you as well because less defects mean less future product returns.

The scale and marginal cost of the company’s panel manufacturing may be small, but it ensures that the company can easily honour warranty claims.

The current profitability and net assets have a lot of influence when it comes to the decision of whether to recommend a company. Why? It’s hard for us to recommend companies that offer warranties over 25 years if their financial position is unclear.

Companies need to stay up-to-date with their technology or they will lose pricing power and liability. With the cell technology the company has or is developing, they’ll be positioned well in the future.

The price of the solar panels has made them a much sought after purchase. In addition, people care about their environmental impact and many see solar as a financial investment as well. As for value for money, you’ll find that out soon enough!

A core strength of a manufacturer’s US dealer network is the point of contact between suppliers and consumers. You want to be sure that this dealer network has a committed focus on local customers.

The monopolization of solar power

In order to avoid the monopolization of solar power, it’s better to promote third-tier brands that not only offer a higher standard of quality than they’re competition but are also more readily available than the top tier.

Most solar panel manufacturers are based in China, so some who fall under this category might not fulfil your warranty. This is unfortunate and untrue to the extent that many of them honour their warranties.

They sign up a few dealers in America over the internet by offering cheap solar panels. However, if there are any issues with your panel or warranty doesn’t cover it, they blame the installer – who did do all of the hard work – or attribute that to a “cosmetic defect” that isn’t covered. As these companies invest little to nothing in their brand in the US, they have nothing to lose. Often, they simply start selling panels under a different brand because this is much cheaper than investing in advertising.

Companies that buy cheap cells and wafers. The reliance on low-cost overseas contractors could be an issue. There’s a lot of risk involved when working with these operations and it could lead to complications. In order not to go wrong, using a sourcing partner to help you identify qualified Chinese manufacturing vendors is advisable.

US solar panel manufacturers

As the US solar sector is becoming more competitive, there are very few US solar panel manufacturing companies.

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 manufacturing.

Jinko Solar is the only well known and widely commercialized solar company with large scale manufacturing in the USA. They have a factory in Jacksonville, Florida, which is ironic because they are Chinese.

We do know of two US-based solar panel manufacturing companies: Mission Solar in Texas, and Itek Energy in Washington, who are now owned by Silfab. However a lot has changed in solar panel manufacturing over the past few years and it’s likely smaller companies like these will soon struggle to remain viable.

Although the Trump administration attempted to boost US manufacturing of solar panels by imposing tariffs on Chinese modules in 2018-2019, American-made panels have unfortunately been unable to compete with the low cost and high quality of Chinese manufacturers.

3 types of solar panel manufacturing companies

By sorting by common traits, you can make it easier when choosing which manufacturing company to work with.

This group includes LG, Panasonic, and SunPower. Their panels are the most expensive on the market. The companies offer good quality products but they get different treatment because of their high price tag.

LG and Panasonic make some pretty good panels. But they actually have a lot to do with their ability to maintain their position in the market because of the brand strength they provide across all products, not just what you’re looking at on screen. They’re only marginally better than regular panels, if at all.

We feel the LG and Panasonic panel brands provide a technical benefit that lets them justify the price premium they pay over other brands. However, in our opinion this is not something worth paying for yet.

SunPower is a premium brand because the panels used by the company for their solar installations have long been market leaders in terms of efficiency, and they’ve worked hard to build up an impressive network of installation partners. However, SunPower recently sold off its panel manufacturing business into another listed entity called Maxeon, which is part-owned by a Chinese wafer manufacturer.

We believe that solar panels from SunPower are a good investment and expect their premium offerings to continue. With factors like economic uncertainty, there’s an element of risk involved with this company. All of this innovation could lead to an increased price for solar cells, but the advancements make them worth it. This has prompted several lower-cost Chinese Tier 1 manufacturers to announce new cell technology that is as or more efficient than the current market-leading SunPower cells.

Solarsystems have been reviewing solar panels for quite a while now, and we’ve found that you can get better bang for your buck elsewhere. While panel efficiency is already taken into account when panels are rated, slight efficiency advantages probably won’t translate in the overall quality of your system.

High quality Tier 1 solar panel manufacturers:

This is a group of mainly Chinese solar panel manufacturers that are running away with the global solar panel market. They have not had such success in the residential US market, but they are steadily growing their share.

Longi Solar, Canadian Solar, Jinko Solar, and Veneta are some of the leading companies in this industry. They manufacture panels for solar farms and can save homeowners cash on their energy bills. Furthermore, they’re great for giving off positive company image!

Trina Solar and Longi Power Group have announced new technologies for 2020 that are set to offer equivalent efficiencies to premium manufacturers. This is a positive step in the right direction.

Many fear that the opaque practices of companies from China may be holding them back from being as reliable. But they have lower prices, better technology, and mass manufacturing – which could make them worth it at some point in time.

Here are some potential problems you may have with solar panels. The premium brands tend to be more durable, take into account how rough the panels will live outside and can provide a warranty. Whether you decide to have your solar panels installed by a Chinese company or not, there are many reasons why it’s not the best idea. Sometimes, it may be okay for Chinese companies to pay and work with the system installer because of the low cost. But there are also instances where this practice is not ethical at all.

Second and third Tier solar panel manufacturers:

Chinese panels have many different brands. Some are good, some aren’t. Our favorite tier 1 brand are already low-cost, contrast with most non-tier 1 brands which cost a lot more and lack transparency.

There is little to no transparency in the Chinese market, where many of these smaller brands appear to simply disappear when faced with warranty claims.

SolarReviews unveils why buying panels from these manufacturers will get you lower quality than expected and may be a reason for their warranty claims not being honored. Spending less upfront to buy panels doesn’t make it worth it anymore with this information revealed.