We’ll miss you Bosch Solar
Yesterday was a really sad day for fans of top-of-the-range solar panels. German giant Bosch announced that it could no longer bear to haemorrhage any more cash from its solar division. So it is going to shut the whole shebang down ASAP.
Nigel at Solar Business has a full report on it here. And the official announcement is here.
Pretty amazing that they spent well over $2 billion dollars building a solar business and have now decided to value it at zero.
As far as I can tell this leaves only 2 genuine German-made brands that are now imported into Australia: Conergy (who only make their premium panels in Germany – the cheaper ones are made in China), and Solarworld. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed anyone out!
Solarworld are losing money hand over fist, and Conergy teetered on the edge a couple of years back. Last year Q-Cells filed for insolvency but were saved by the Korean Hanhwa Solar One. It is certainly getting harder and harder to find genuine German panels on the Aussie market.
If you have been told by a sales person that you are getting German solar panels, then it really is worth checking out my list of genuine German companies and German-sounding companies that make all their panels in China.
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I am just about to sign a contract using Bosch panels? What would you do???
I also had a choice of CSUN panels.. What is you advise?
Billy
Bosch Solar are not going broke – they are just being shut down by their parent. So I’m fairly sure Bosch will still have to honour all warranties. The other point is that they are so well made you are highly unlikely to ever have a problem with their panels.
CSun are pretty good these days – but Bosch are a step above in terms of quality – so they should give a few % more power and last longer.
Finn,
How about Schueco, aren’t they selling thin-film and crystalline panels here in Australia?
Check http://www.schueco.com
Good call Marc, I forgot about Shueco! They no longer make thin film solar:
http://www.photon.info/photon_news_detail_en.photon?id=68269
But yes, they still make crystalline PV in Germany and they are available in Australia. And by all accounts they are very good panels.
http://www.schueco.com/web/au
Oh yes, no more thin film from Shueco! They were still offering TF during the All Energy Exhibition late last year. Only last week there was an auction of their TF production line: http://www.hilcoind.com/uploads/auctions/sales/brochures/IND-1892-3Brochure.pdf
I’m looking at either Bosch Solar panels or musterlandsolar panels -5kw or 6kw solar unit installation at a 15% angle due to high winds from North and occasional high 100kms East winds on a flat roof which way should the panels face and which brand in your professional opinion? Cheers George.
Probably North – but West if you are in this situation:
http://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-panel-orientation-is-west-the-new-north/
Bosch are the better panel in my opinion (although they are stopping making them as the blog post above points out!)
There’s REW Solar based in Dortmund. Not sure if you get them in Oz
Hi Finn, I am chasing a price for install of a 5 KW Bosch invertor and panels. Can you assist. QLD
I don’t know many reputable solar installers that are offering Bosch inverters since Bosch announced they were getting out of the Solar Inverter business a few weeks ago.
You’ll see a lot of cheap deals with Bosch as they run their stocks down.
What solar system is best L G monoxide monocrystalline 285 watts x23 panels or solar world Bosch 260 watt panels x20 both fronius inverters 5.0 watt been told black panels work better than blue is that correct too
Linda, the LG panels total 6.555 kilowatts while the Solarworld ones total 5.2 kilowatts, so the LG system is 26% larger and will produce around 25% more electricity in total. LG panels have a 12 year product warranty while Solarworld panel’s only have 10. All else equal I’d be inclined to take the LG panels over Solarworld.
Darker solar cells can be more efficient than bluer ones, but for people who have plenty of roof space, high efficiency is not so important and so they may not necessarily be better overall.
Normal solar panels have white gaps between solar cells, but some are made all back for style reasons. Some people prefer this look, but it doesn’t improve the way the panel works. It actually makes it very slightly worse as they get a little bit hotter in the sun. But the difference is so small most people don’t worry about it.
hi I have just had a system installed in feb today being 23 7 2017 just found out they are not working 5.2 kw sunpower 327 w with a goodwee Gw5048D-ES
big electric bill turns out the inverter shuts down because the panels produce to much energy ? the system is not on ?
I want to know what hybrid inverter will match ? I will tell them that I want it in place of the goodwee . ps it also charges at 5 kw rate if it worked
Hi Frances,
It sounds like your inverter is tripping on over voltage. I recently spent half a day writing a step by step solution to this problem.
Here it is:
https://support.solarquotes.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/115001759153-My-Inverter-Keeps-Tripping-On-Over-voltage-What-can-I-do-