The Clean Energy Council has announced that Zhejiang BLD solar panels have been removed from its Approved Products List.
“The de-listing was required as the CEC has been advised that the company has ceased trading,” states the CEC. “According to the CEC terms and conditions, the manufacturer should be available for warranty claims.”
At the time of publishing, the BLD Solar website was still live and there was no mention on it of the company having ceased trading.
Even if the company does have a change of heart and recommences operations, it would have a task ahead of it in getting its panels re-listed. The CEC says major non-conformances in its testing program that weren’t addressed by the manufacturer means a range of corrective actions would be required before this could occur.
For installers and customers with BLD solar panels who are chasing warranty claims, the CEC advises local company Alliance Solar was listed as the importer of Zhejiang BLD panels. At the time of publishing, BLD was still noted as one of the CEC-approved module brands it deals with.
Note: BLD modules shouldn’t be confused with BYD solar panels, – it’s a different company and many BYD panels are included on the Approved Products List.
Solar panels must be included on the list at the time of installation in order to be eligible for Australia’s major solar subsidy, as must inverters. For potential solar buyers, it’s a good idea to check the list against any quotes they receive and then again just prior to installation.
Other de-listings by the CEC in the past couple of months include TN Solar panels, Samil Power inverters and OneSolar inverters.
Panel Parallel Import Warning
In other news from the CEC, the Council has warned solar companies of a panel oversupply situation in China that may lead to more modules, including well-known brands, being introduced into the Australian market via parallel imports. This is where products are purchased from a party who doesn’t have permission from the manufacturer to sell its products here.
“..if it is sold to you as a parallel import, the local manufacturer is not required to help you if the product develops a fault. The manufacturer’s warranty may not apply to products sold as parallel imports,” states the CEC.
The CEC advises installers to check with the manufacturer to ensure a seller is authorised.
The Council requires solar panel manufacturers to nominate authorised module importers who are responsible for meeting manufacturer warranty obligations in Australia.
Related: What Solar Panel And Inverter Brands Can You Trust?
About Michael Bloch
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Hi there. I am just about ready to install my new solar + battery system. Very appreciative of the wealth of information here – many thanks. It seems that the proposed system will need to be at least 15kw for both panels and battery back-up. Three phase definitely required, as is the intention for power to be available during grid blackouts.
My query is in regard to adding a wind turbine for additional battery charging during the night & no-solar periods. My reasoning is that I have an acquaintance who has a fairly new 13kw solar/battery system who has found that his batteries are virtually fully expended overnight, due to high draw-down of evening cooking, heating, aircon etc.
We live in an area with reasonably constant wind supply, so the turbine addition would seem to make sense. Any problems to consider with this?
Thanks – Wayne
I am afraid I haven’t seen a micro wind turbine that is cost effective compared to installing more solar. They tend to be expensive to buy and install and because they have moving parts repairs can be expensive and warranties short. It’s also difficult to get permission to install them outside of rural areas because of noise. If you want more generation I’d suggest installing more solar panels. You could also install more batteries, but since they don’t pay for themselves at the moment you may want to hold off until they come down in price and use grid electricity as required. For getting through blackouts a generator can be a cheaper option than installing a battery bank large enough to meet all your needs or installing batteries at all.
Wayne if you are in a position to be considering 15 kW of Solar PV plus a battery bank then I recommend you have a closer look at your system design options, and you do have options.
You can efficiently and cost effectively use the grid as your “backup supply service” (insurance policy) if you like, and install a Solar PV Stand Alone + battery solution as your principal power generation source for your premises.
Depending on your load profile, it is easy to determine which load sub-circuits can be transferred to the (totally independent of the grid) Stand Alone + battery system, and which circuits should remain on the grid service.
Importantly, fine tuning of the Grid sub-circuits MSB and Stand Alone sub-circuits MSB is always available and a very simple process.
This strategy is particularly useful in commercial as well as rural/domestic premises.
Based on your initial information though, 15 kW of Solar PV, + 250 AHr VRLA @ 480 VDC in a DC coupled configuration with a 20 kW (single phase) fully featured Stand Alone Inverter would satisfy your needs reliably, and provide long battery bank performance and lifespan with a quality battery control functions system in place.
Talk to your local energy systems engineer about you Dual Generation Systems options Wayne.
Forget the wind idea though, its not a practical or efficient system design concept at all.
Lawrence Coomber
I appreciate your thoughtful and detailed response to my query, Lawrence. I have accepted this advice and will focus on more cost effective methodologies in regard to system design options.
Many thanks.
We had a 3 kw solar system put on 8.5 years ago and have just had our solar panels replaced under warranty So Iv just found out they were replaced with BLD solar panels Does this mean they will be faulty as well and why are company’s still using these panels if they have been delisted Will We continue with the old warranty or does the warranty on the new panels start again
I would appreciate any advice
Many thanks
Unless the panels have been found to not meet safety requirements they can still be used if delisted. They just can’t receive the STCs that lower the cost of new solar installations. Unfortunately, you will still have your old warranty and it won’t start again now the panels have been replaced. The good news is they have had eight and a half years to improve their panels so hopefully the ones on your roof now are better than the ones that were originally installed. But it’s still a good idea to check their performance now to see if it is okay and then check it again in one to one and a half years, just in case.