{"id":3348,"date":"2014-01-16T12:49:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T03:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=3348"},"modified":"2017-12-04T14:23:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T03:53:52","slug":"chinese-solar-panels-list-careful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/chinese-solar-panels-list-careful\/","title":{"rendered":"If your Chinese solar panels are not on one of these lists, be careful!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some Chinese panels are top quality. But which ones?<\/p><\/div>\n

A lot of people are wary of Chinese solar panels. China doesn’t exactly cover itself in glory with some of the low quality junk it manufactures. But, as I have said many times before, China also produces some fantastic quality stuff.<\/p>\n

Need examples? I bet the device you are reading this blog on was made in the People’s Republic. The Macbook Pro I am writing it on certainly was and it is impeccably put together (the laptop – not the blog!).<\/p>\n

And it is the same with solar panels. There is some absolute junk coming out of China, that will be lucky to last a few years in the Aussie sun. I’ve heard first hand stories of Aussies visiting suppliers who have converted clothes factories to solar panel factories. The bottom end panels in these factories are made from B or C grade solar cells which the other factories have rejected, and their environmental standards are horrendous.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the scale, you have some first class solar panels coming out of gleaming factories in China with world class quality control in operation, and environmental standards as good as any western plant. I’ve heard Renesola and Yingli, among others, have very impressive Chinese factories. Their panels are certainly excellent.<\/p>\n

Of course, a lot of wary consumers are making sure they get quality by simply demanding panels made elsewhere, like Germany, Australia or Malaysia etc. The downside of this strategy, of course is that you will be paying extra dollars for non-chinese panels. Extra dollars that a lot of householders would prefer not to spend!<\/p>\n

How do you know if a Chinese panel is any good?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So if you don’t want to pay a premium for non-Chinese panels, you are in a bit of a bind. How on earth are you meant to know if the panels you have been quoted are junk \u00a0– cobbled together in an ex-trouser factory with toxic effluent pouring straight into the local waterway – or top quality panels with expert engineering and QA behind them?<\/p>\n

Well, the safest way has always been to go for a genuine ‘Tier 1″ panel. The problem here is that some sales people out there will swear on their mother’s life that the Tier 3 junk they are selling is really Tier 1 (usually because they have given it a German sounding name like “Mettwurst Solar”). How do you know the truth?<\/p>\n

Well the first thing to understand is that there is no definitive list of “Tier 1” solar panels in Australia. But here are the ones that I think deserve to be Tier 1. If you think I’ve missed any worthy manufacturers off feel free to abuse me in the comment section for my ignorance:<\/p>\n

Chinese Manufacturers classed as ‘Tier 1 in Australia’ (in my humble opinion)<\/strong><\/p>\n