{"id":22102,"date":"2018-06-20T14:19:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T03:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=22102"},"modified":"2018-06-20T14:21:57","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T03:51:57","slug":"rec-solar-panels-norwegian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/rec-solar-panels-norwegian\/","title":{"rendered":"How Norwegian are REC Solar Panels? And Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"REC

Some people are getting their knickers in a twist over whether REC solar panels are European or Asian.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve had a request to clear up the question of whether REC is a European or Asian company. The confusion arises because\u00a0although the company was founded in Norway and has its headquarters there, it manufactures REC solar panels in Singapore and is owned by a Chinese corporation.<\/p>\n

I have looked into this topic exhaustively and I can state the answer to the question of whether REC is European or Asian is — Yes.<\/p>\n

Yes — it is European or Asian.<\/p>\n

Just which particular continent gets emphasized depends upon who you talk to and, probably more importantly, where they are.<\/p>\n

In Europe they seem sure it’s a European company.\u00a0 They will tell you “REC is the largest European brand of solar panels” even though not a single one is made in that continent.\u00a0 You only have to go to the REC web site<\/a> to see plenty of pictures of solar panels in alpine locations and Scandinavian looking people.\u00a0 But if you go to Singapore, where REC solar panels are made, the consensus there is pretty damn strong that Singapore is located in Asia and not Europe.\u00a0 In China there is no doubt in people’s minds at all that their country is not in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"REC

This picture from the REC website could have been taken in China. This might be where they test the Norwegian flags before exporting them.<\/p><\/div>\n

Among Australian installers who use REC solar panels, there have been those who describe them as “European”.\u00a0 Because most people will assume this means they were manufactured in Europe, I would say calling REC panels European without qualifying that statement is wrong. \u00a0While the company was founded in Norway and uses Norwegian expertise, it is owned by a Chinese corporation and the solar panels are made in Singapore.\u00a0 This, in my opinion, makes them Asian panels.<\/p>\n

Also in my opinion, where panels are made and if they are European or Asian is of no bloody significance whatsoever.\u00a0 What matters is the quality of the panels.\u00a0 REC makes high quality, reliable solar panels and has continued to improve them over the eight years they’ve been producing in Singapore and over the past three years they have been Chinese owned.<\/p>\n

REC Background<\/h2>\n

REC was founded in Norway in 1996 and produced their first solar cell the following year.\u00a0 Norway’s hydroelectricity made it a low cost location to produce silicon and REC apparently still uses Norwegian silicon in its solar panels.\u00a0 To reduce costs they began producing solar panels in Singapore in 2010 and eventually shut down all Norwegian solar cell and panel production.<\/p>\n

In 2015 REC was bought by the Norwegian company Elkem<\/a> for $778 million1<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 Elkem was owned by the Chinese corporation Bluestar<\/a> — also known as ChemChina —\u00a0 and had been since 2011.\u00a0 Fortunately, this change in ownership did not result in a reduction in quality.\u00a0 They didn’t tell workers in the Singapore factory to stop using solder when producing panels and substitute bubblegum instead.\u00a0 REC solar panels have continued to improve since the takeover and it is obvious Bluestar bought REC for its skills and talent and not just its production equipment.<\/p>\n

What The Hell Is Bluestar?<\/h2>\n

Bluestar is giant Chinese chemical corporation often called ChemChina.\u00a0 It is state owned and — just to clear up any possible confusion — I’ll point out the state that owns it is China.\u00a0 It is focused on producing chemical compounds and animal feed.\u00a0 A combination that probably doesn’t sound that great to most of us, but the animal feed side is mostly focused on synthesizing vitamins and food additives.<\/p>\n

The company began in 1984 when Bluestar took over the management of 100 state owned chemical companies.\u00a0 Wikipedia says to avoid sackings, excess workers where employed in Bluestar’s Malan noodle restaurant chain.\u00a0 But as anyone with the slightest knowledge of the history of Chinese noodle restaurants can tell you, Bluestar’s Malan Noodle chain wasn’t established until 1995<\/a> and didn’t open it’s ninth store until 1997.\u00a0 Now that I know Wikipedia isn’t 100% accurate I feel cast adrift upon a sea of uncertainty, so if anyone wants me to join a cult or become a future ex-wife I’m probably very vulnerable at the moment.<\/p>\n

The Bluestar company continued to rapidly expand.\u00a0 They now have around 110,000 employees and $72 billion in assets.\u00a0 In the last few years they’ve made overseas purchases such as buying the Italian tire producer Pirelli<\/a> for $10 billion and the German plastics molding company, Krauss-Maffei<\/a>, for $1.3 billion.<\/p>\n

Although they have their fingers in many pies and even more in bowls of noodles, I am confident they had absolutely nothing to do with the Blue Star music video:<\/p>\n