Image: Midjourney “bearded man drowning in a sea of warranty documents”

Trina Solar:  A Company That Acts Better Than Its Warranties Require

Trina Solar is a giant Chinese company and, in 2022 was the world’s second-largest producer of solar panels.  Their products are among the most common electricity-producing rectangles on Australian roofs. [Read more…]

I don’t know about homo erectus but homo sapiens is being asked to lift a panel that’s 2.4 metres tall. These images aren’t much out of scale!

After what seems like days of research and consultation with hundreds of members of the Australian solar industry (more than I can sensibly count on my fingers anyway), I’ve come up with a wish-list of what installers want when it comes to the solar panels they are bolting to roofs: [Read more…]

For the third year in a row, Trina Solar has won “Best Value Panels” in the SolarQuotes Installer Choice Awards. Added to that, they’ve also rocketed up the list in the “Best Panels” category from 9th place last year to taking out the bronze in 2023. [Read more…]

And the winner of SolarQuotes Installers’ Choice Awards 2023 for “Best Solar Panels” is… drum roll… REC (Renewable Energy Corporation). Not only did they steal the number one position this year, but they were also the winner in the “Best Support” category. [Read more…]

Image: Midjourney, Prompt “a bearded man diving into a warranty document”

REC produces premium solar panels. That means they’re not cheap, but they are high quality.  The company was Norwegian, but its headquarters are now in Singapore, along with its sole factory.  This article will be a deep dive into REC solar panel warranties.  [Read more…]

For three years now, we’ve asked our network of 500+ solar installers what brands of solar panels they’d choose to install on their own homes. [Read more…]

Solar panel temperature is typically at least 20ºC above ambient temperature.

Solar panel output is hurt by heat. The hotter they are, the lower their efficiency. This seems like a major drawback for something deliberately exposed to the Australian sun. In practice, it’s not something anyone with a solar power system needs to worry about. This is because our hottest days … usually have the most sunshine. [Read more…]

Breaking the infamous ‘133% / 75% Solar Oversize Rule’ won’t get you in trouble if you add a battery. Or will it?

It depends on who you ask… [Read more…]

Shade is bad for solar panels. They work by changing light energy into electrical energy, so any shade reduces output.  This makes it a bad idea to locate panels anywhere they’ll be out of direct sunlight for a significant part of the day. [Read more…]

PVEL 2022 PV Module Reliability Scorecard — More Panels Pass All 5 Main Tests Than Ever Before.

PVEL stands for PV Evolution Labs.  Their speciality is torturing solar panels to determine how tough they are.  Every year they publish a report that separates Top Performing panels from those they don’t call Top Performing.  This year was no different — except in the ways it wasn’t the same. [Read more…]