Amerisolar Panels To Be De-listed By CEC (Again)

Australia’s Clean Energy Council announced last night all Amerisolar solar panels will be removed from the CEC approved modules list this week.

The CEC says all models of Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing (Nantong) Co Ltd’s (Amerisolar) PV modules will be de-listed on September 6 (Friday) as a result of non-conformances identified in the latest round of CEC testing.

“The non-conformances identified include the power rating being significantly below the minimum power rating in the specification and the use of components that are outside the scope of the certificate,” states the CEC. “The connectors used also differ from those advised on the datasheet, leading to potential safety issues with mismatched connectors at the time of installation.”

At the time of publishing, the Clean Energy Council’s approved modules list noted 35 Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing (Nantong) Co Ltd manufactured panels, all with a listing expiry date of September 6.

De-listing means Amerisolar panels will no longer be approved for installation under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) and therefore ineligible for small-scale technology certificates (STCs); which form the basis of Australia’s major solar subsidy.

In order to get back onto the CEC’s approved modules list, assessment and certification of the components in question and other corrective actions will need to be taken by Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing.

CEC Product Testing

As part of its Product Assurance Program the CEC runs regular product testing, purchasing components from the Australian market on the basis of risk-based profiling or random selection. After a de-listing is announced to the industry an appeal can be lodged with the Clean Energy Council’s Product Listing Review Panel, but this must occur within five business days.

De-listing can occur for all sorts of reasons – it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. For example, a manufacturer may decide to no longer supply a particular model and just let the listing expire.

We’ve Been Here Before With Amerisolar Panels

This isn’t the first time all Amerisolar solar panels have been de-listed – they were also struck from the approved modules list back in June 2017 (for different reasons) and re-listed a couple of months later. At that time, the company noted was Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA Co Ltd. – but “USA” and “Nantong” appear to be one and the same.

How the company describes itself:

“Amerisolar, Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA Co., Ltd, is a professional solar module manufacturer with a 25-year experience in production and quality control since 1993.”

Amerisolar panels are not listed on SolarQuotes’ trusted solar panel brands chart.