Today I spoke with Michael Rush, the head of Sales and Marketing for Canadian Solar in Australia. Well, I say I spoke to him today, but you’re actually reading this during my tomorrow — so my today is now your yesterday. I guess time really is a wibbly wobbly thing.
He told me some interesting things. They included:
- All Canadian Solar panels sold in Australia are now half cut or shingle.1
- They have a large Australian workforce of 50+ people. I was told this shows they have a strong long-term commitment to the country.
- The company will soon be providing Canadian Solar double glass panels here.
- They now have an office in Toowoomba, one of the greatest bastions of civilization humanity has ever created. However, the White Pages doesn’t give a phone number for the Toowoomba office — they had phones in Toowoomba when I left, I swear!2 — so you’ll have to go through the Melbourne office to contact them.
But the most important question I had for Michael Rush of Canadian Solar was whether or not he knew my Canadian girlfriend. He didn’t, but I shouldn’t have been surprised as she does avoid the limelight more than the average billionaire, bikini supermodel, astrophysicist.
The second most important question I had was whether or not Canadian Solar would increase the product warranty on their solar panels. The answer was..
“YES.”
They had just extended it from 10 to 12 years and this applies to Canadian Solar panels being installed today.
Their product warranty is now superior to those of other competitively priced tier one panels. This add some weight to Michael Rush’s assertion that Canadian Solar panels are,
“…the best value for money available.”
While most of their production is done overseas, Canadian Solar still has 500 MW of manufacturing capacity in Canada. (Image: It was from Google Maps, but they probably don’t want it now.)
Solar Panel Product Warranty Vs Performance Warranty
Solar panels come with two warranties:
- The Product Warranty: That covers defects in materials and workpersonship and is 10 years or more, &…
- The Performance Warranty: This covers the output of the panels over time. It is normally 25 years but can be 30 years for double glass panels.
I have argued that under Australian Consumer Law product warranties and performance warranties are effectively the same for homeowners. Despite this, it is still a good thing when a manufacturer raises their product warranty because it indicates they have confidence in their panels. All else was equal I would definitely recommend a panel with a longer product warranty.
Full Disclosure: Canadian Solar gave me a pen. It doesn’t look as expensive as the one Sonnen gave me, but it may be better value for money.
Footnotes
- Shingle solar panels are made of multiple, thin, overlapping solar cells. An example of these are SunPower’s P Series. ↩
- They even had some you don’t have to pedal. ↩
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……”Well, I say I spoke to him today, but you’re actually reading this during my tomorrow — so my today is now your yesterday. I guess time really is a wibbly wobbly thing. ”
Ever considered selling Sydney Harbour Bridges?…… Or insurance against an invasion of killer penguins?
ps —> “This add some weight to Michael Rush’s assertion that Canadian Solar panels are,
“…the best value for money available.”
….But I don’t WANT ‘value’. I just want some reliable solar panels!
I have 6.48 kW of Canadian Solar Panels installed just over 2 years ago. No problems with them and no noticeable deterioration in performance. They will soon pay for themselves along with the Inverter and make me $$$
As a former Cdn. now living in Toowoomba, I didn’t know anything original came out of Canada except the dreadful environmental scourge coming out of Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Hello Ronald
you recently posted on the average cost by state of the average everything solar panel stuff.
Warning this is going to be a bit long.
We want to upgrade our system along the average lines you were writing about.
At your average price of $6500 for a 6.6kw or close too system.
Our ideal roof section where the current system, original 2008 BP big blue chip board looking panels sit, 12 off, is a bit small for 20 – 22 panels so some creative aluminium framing may be needed adding cost I know.
Your more recent post, this one talks about corrosion resistant tier one panels, Canadian Solar. We live on Camden Head 2443 NSW facing North 250mtrs from the sea so cop a lot of salt and it corrodes aluminium joints very well.
Definitely need Stainless pop rivets or screws to last 20+ years, more cost!
Can your mob give us some help please.
Hello Michael
If you get rid of your old solar system you could put as many panels as will easily fit on the best section of your roof and then put the rest on the next best section of roof. This should allow you to fit around 6.5 kilowatts of panels. While north facing panels will generate the most energy east or west facing ones will only produce around 15% less.
If you keep your old solar system and have single phase power you may be limited to having a total of 5 kilowatts of inverter capacity. This will depend on where you are. So if your current inverter is 2 kilowatts then you could get a new 3 kilowatt inverter and install up to 4 kilowatts of solar panels with it.
BP panels are good quality and so if they are working well now they should work well for many years to come. If you leave the old system in place it will save you the cost of removing it which can be considerable. But many people still remove good quality older solar panels when installing a new system. This can be to make best use of the roof space but it can also be so they only have to worry about one set of warranties.
It is usually more cost effective to lay panels flat on the roof than to mount them in tilt frames.
All the panels we recommend in our Solar 101 Guide should be resistant to corrosion at 250m from the sea:
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar101.html
Of course you should check with your installer the system will be corrosion resistant. If you are concerned you can get frameless panels. Canadian Solar told me their frameless double glass panels can be installed within 20m of the sea.
Is there an official press media release from.canadian on this?
Not on their website at the moment. But it wasn’t April the 1st, so I trust they weren’t kidding. However, until they put it in writing it would make sense to confirm with your installer your Canadian panels will get a 12 year product warranty.