LG solar panels review

LG Solar produces high quality, tier 1 solar panels and are part of the giant South Korean company LG. In 2017 they produced around 2 gigawatts of panels. While this is only 23% of what the world leader Jinko produced, LG Solar is still a large player in the premium panel market.

All the panels LG Solar currently sell in Australia have a 25 year full replacement product warranty, which is one of the best available in the world.  Unlike most manufacturers, their product warranty includes the cost of labour required to install replacement panels.  LG Solar now sells twwo models of panels in Australia, the NeON 2 and the higher efficiency NeON R.  Both of them have product and performance warranties of 25 years.

LG has offices in every mainland state capital. While Tasmania misses out, this is much better coverage than most tier one manufacturers who usually only have a single office in Australia, or in some cases, none at all.

LG Are Reliable Panels

LG claim that by the time they had installed 360,000 in Australia, only 9 had been returned - mostly due to poor installation.

LG Is A Huge Company

LG Solar is part of LG Electronics which is part of the South Korean corporation LG which used to go by the surprisingly chipper name, Lucky Goldstar. LG is enormous and has a market capitalisation of over $14 billion.

The net wealth of the entire population of the nation of Tonga comes to less than $14 billion. This means the LG Corporation has more money than some countries.  (Note I’m not saying the value of Tonga itself is less than $14 billion, as the whole can be worth more than the sum of its parts. For example, I’m sure we could get Lex Luthor to pay more than $14 billion for Tonga as a whole.)

LG is involved in a wide range range of areas covering chemicals, electronics, and communications. The company has so many fingers in so many pies I'm surprised they haven't grafted extra arms to their CEO.

While LG headquarters is in the South Korean capital of Seoul, solar panel manufacture takes place in the industrial city of Gumi, which, through some dark sorcery, actually manages to have a worse climate than Seoul.

While LG had been tooling around with solar cells in some form or another for over 20 years, they only entered panel manufacturing in 2009.

NeON 2 Panels

LG NeON panels come in two different types, the LG NeON 2, and the LG NeON 2 Black.  LG NeOn 2 panels can have an efficiency of up to 19.3% which can make them very useful for making good use of a limited amount of roof space.  The LG NeON 2 Black has slightly lower efficiency, but some people like its dark colour, so I highly recommend it for people who think black is the new black.

All the panels are salt mist and ammonia corrosion resistant and so are suitable for installation anywhere in Australia.

NeON R Panels

LG Solar's NeON R panels are of even higher efficiency than their NeON 2 panel and can be 20.8% efficient. 

Mono X Plus Panels

The Mono X Plus Panel is an older panel that has been phased out by LG Solar in Australia and so is unlikely to be available.  It's not covered by their 25 year full replacement product warranty.

LG Chem Produces Battery Storage

LG produces a home battery storage system but that is made by LG Chem and not LG Solar and these two parts of the company probably have nothing to do with each other.

Warranty claim procedure for orphaned LG customers

If you have purchased LG panels from a company that has since gone out of business, you should contact LG on 1800 042 568. They have advised that they have a dedicated dealer network that can arrange replacement of panels under warranty. Labor costs involved with panel warranty replacement are covered.

A Reliable Panel At A Premium Price

LG panels have an impressive 25 year full replacement warranty.  This is among the best in the industry.  At the time of writing in May 2018 they are also the lowest cost panels with this level of warranty coverage, but you will still have to pay a substantial premium to get this peace of mind.  If you are looking for high quality, reliable panels, then LG solar is a very good choice.