REC solar panels reviews

REC is short for Renewable Energy Corporation. The company was founded in Norway but now carries out all production in Singapore.

REC is owned by the giant Chinese chemical corporation Bluestar; also known as ChemChina - but as at early 2022 is in the process of being acquired by an Indian company. 

They produce tier one panels with 20 year product warranty (or 25 years if they're installed by a REC certified installer) and a 25 year performance warranty. They are certified as corrosion resistant.  

REC has an Australian office in Melbourne. Having a physical local presence is pretty important for building confidence in the brand and properly supporting its customers in Australia.

A US Company Has A Similar Name

There is a company in the United States called REC Solar that installs commercial scale solar power systems for businesses. They do not make their own solar panels. It is easy to confuse the two when looking for information on REC.

REC Solar Manufacturing Capacity

REC is medium sized producer of solar panels. They shipped 1.34 gigawatts of panels in 2017, which was more than what was installed in all of Australia that year. Shipments since then aren't clear, but in terms of cumulative total, in 2021 the company noted it had shipped 11 gigawatts of REC solar panels - 40 million modules.

As for total manufacturing capacity, the last we heard it was around 1.8GW annually.

Company History

REC was founded in Norway in 1996 under the name Fornybar Energi AS and produced its first silicon wafer in 1997. It became REC after merging with another company in 2000. By taking advantage of Norway’s comparatively cheap hydroelectric power, for a period at the start of the century they become the world’s largest producer of multicrystaline silicon wafers used to make solar cells.

In 2008 and 2009 REC opened two new multicrystalline wafer factories in Norway. Then the company ran into financial difficulties and shut them down permanently a few years later in 2011 and 2012. In retrospect, it doesn't appear to be a very bright move, but these are the sort of mistakes companies make when they decide for some reason not to predict the future with 100% accuracy.

In 2010 REC started production of solar panels in Singapore and subsequently expanded capacity at this facility.  This currently remains the company's only manufacturing site. 

In 2015 REC Solar was bought by the Norwegian company Elkem, which is owned by the Chinese corporation Bluestar.  Then in October 2021, REC announced it had been acquired by Reliance New Energy Solar Limited; an Indian multinational headquartered in Mumbai.

This will make REC Solar an Indian-owned company that manufactures in Singapore, but for some reason it is still often referred to as a European company. I guess old habits die hard. 

They Were (Are?) Big In Germany

REC started as a European company and they were able to hold onto market share there. The company states that in 2016 they were the number one panel supplier in Germany and in in 2017 they also did well with 15% market share.  Punitive tariffs on Chinese panels in Europe that don't affect REC were part of this success.

How it has fared more recently in Germany isn't clear.

REC Solar Panels

REC produces four series of panels that are of standard size and likely to be used on residential roofs in Australia.

REC N-Peak Energy Panels

REC N-Peak solar panels were available in 305 - 330 watts. The efficiency these panels ranged from 18.3% to 19.8%. They were certified as corrosion resistant, making them suitable for installation in coastal areas.

In July 2021, the original N-Peak series were superseded by the N-Peak 2, offering better efficiency and more power. Available in 360W, 365W, 370W and 375W models, the N-Peak 2 have an efficiency ranging from 19.7% - 20.5%.

REC TwinPeak 4 Panels

REC also produces TwinPeak 4 series panels; the fourth generation in this series.  These are an interesting design as they are divided into top and bottom halves - if one half is shaded it won’t affect the output of the other. This makes them more tolerant to partial shade and soiling than many other panels. But if installed where there is no shade, this feature is of little benefit. And like all solar panels they perform terribly when fully shaded.

TwinPeak 4 panels have an efficiency of 19.7% - 20.5%, and are available in 360W, 365W, 370W and 375W models.

REC Alpha Solar Panels

In 2019, the company unveiled its Alpha Series solar panels. REC said it was the highest power 60-cell module in the world at that point in time.

The Alpha originally offered a panel efficiency of up to 21.7%, but the Alpha Pure that followed offers up to 22.2% and is available in the following wattages: 385W, 390W, 395W, 400W, 405W and 410W.

REC picked up an Intersolar Award in May 2022 for the Alpha Pure Series, with the judges commenting on its "outstanding" power output, small carbon footprint and lack of lead use in manufacturing.

Also in May 2022, REC unveiled its Alpha Pure-R solar panels, which will be available in capacities ranging from 410W – 430W and with module conversion efficiencies from 21.2% to 22.3%. REC said the company is to commence production of Alpha Pure-R panels in August 2022.

REC Solar Panel Failure Rate

On the REC site the company states:

“...out of 4 million panels manufactured each year, just 400 might come back as product claims.”

In other words their failure rate is around 1 in 10,000.  While those seem like good odds, they don’t say this is the predicted failure rate over the panel’s lifespan. It instead appears to be their failure rate when they are new, which isn’t quite as impressive as if it was over 25 years, but it is still pretty good.

REC Is Ranked As A Financially Secure Solar Panel Manufacturer

Solar panel manufacturing is a very competitive business and many companies have gone bust, leaving customers without warranty support.

But the clouds over REC are extremely tenuous. They’re more of a light mist, really. Because of the company’s financial stability, REC was ranked as the panel producer least likely to go belly up  back in 2016.

Warranty Claim Procedure For Orphaned REC Customers

If your original installer is no longer operating and you need to make a warranty claim, you should contact REC on 03 9020 2056. The company has a network of REC certified installers they can dispatch to diagnose any issues and handle replacement under warranty. If your original installer was REC certified, labor costs involved with warranty replacement are covered. If they were not - labor costs are not covered.

My Recommendation

REC produce quality tier one solar panels and I would have no problem installing them on my roof. And it seems many other Australians share this view based on the number, nature and consistency of REC solar panel reviews and ratings below - feel free to add your own review if you're an Australian owner and have these modules installed.