{"id":64328,"date":"2022-08-12T05:57:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T19:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=64328"},"modified":"2022-08-12T06:04:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T19:34:29","slug":"leapton-solar-australia-mb2591","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/leapton-solar-australia-mb2591\/","title":{"rendered":"The Australian Leapton Solar Panel Saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Leapton<\/p>\n

Australians visiting a local Leapton Solar branded web site might come away from the experience believing the company is no longer operating here. That’s not the case.<\/p>\n

But first …<\/p>\n

Who Is Leapton Solar?<\/h2>\n

Leapton Energy is a Japanese firm manufacturing panels through its Chinese subsidiary, Leapton Solar. The company’s panels have been available in Australia for a few years – SQ\u2019s Ronald wrote about the company<\/a> back in 2020.<\/p>\n

Since that time, Leapton solar panel reviews<\/a> and ratings here on SQ from Australian owners have (generally) been pretty good. But SolarQuotes has only collected a couple of dozen customer ratings so far and the company isn’t currently listed as one of SQ’s recommended solar panel brands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Australian S**t Show<\/h2>\n

A month or so ago, an odd message started appearing on an Australian Leapton website, which had been an authorised online presence for the brand. It indicated some panels being sold in Australia hadn’t arrived here via Leapton Australia or its authorised importers.<\/p>\n

In the absence of further information, this seemed to suggest these solar panels were “grey” (aka parallel) imports<\/a> – and according to the message not eligible for local support or warranty coverage from that company.<\/p>\n

But there was more to it. Leapton Energy in Japan contacted me, stating the company operating that website had Leapton’s logo and trademark authorisation terminated on July 11, 2022 – and provided copies of documents backing that claim.<\/p>\n

Much more recently, the message on that (now unofficial) website has changed, stating:<\/p>\n

“Leapton Australia Permanently Closed!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

… and some other details that Leapton in Japan isn’t particularly thrilled about.<\/p>\n

What Australian Leapton Solar Panel Owners Need To Know<\/h2>\n

While the law-talkin’ folks duke things out and regardless of who was right or wrong in whatever happened behind the scenes in the lead-up to all this, here’s what Australian owners of Leapton Solar panels need to know. The following is based on information the parent company in Japan recently provided me:<\/p>\n