I put this tool together to help you answer the question: "Is this solar panel brand I've been quoted actually any good?" and "How can I compare the different brands?"

What it does:

This is a searchable list of hundreds of Solar Panels approved by the Clean Energy Council for use in Australia along with performance and Californian accreditation data that will help you assess which panels are good quality and which ones will actually give you the most power when they are on your roof.

How to use it:

This list contains a performance ratio which I have calculated for each model of solar panel.

The performance ratio shows how much power you can expect to get out of a panel compared to the size rating of the panel. (For the solar geeks amongst you - this is simply a ratio of the STC to PTC)

So a performance ratio of 100% would mean a 165W panel would actually produce 165W in the real world. As you can see this never happens!

Please note:

If the panel has been approved by the Californians (see last column) then the performance ratio is based on independent laboratory tests, because the Californian Government tests each model of panel before they are allowed for use over there. This means you can really trust those numbers!

If the panel has not been approved in California, then I calculate the performance ratio based on various numbers buried in the panel's spec sheet - which means that they are based on the manufacturers data only and may be exaggerated! These numbers have an orange background.

Please also note:

Just because a panel is not approved by the Californians, that does not mean that it is crap. It may well be because those panels are not sold into the US - or that it uses a slightly different model number in the US.

If there are panels that you would like to see on this list that are not here, please contact me.