CSUN solar panels reviews

CSUN is Chinese solar panel manufacturer that is also known as China Sunergy. It produces tier one panels. Installers that we trust rate the quality of their panels highly. Their main line of panels has a 10 year product warranty and a 25 year performance warranty. They are corrosion resistant which makes them suitable for installation anywhere in Australia.

CSUN has suffered from financial troubles and was ranked by one analyst as second from last in terms of financial strength of the major Chinese solar panel manufacturers he looked at. 

(Update March 2019 - CSUN have improved slightly to 4th last on the above analyst's ranking)

CSUN have contacted us and would like to add this:

"CSUN is experiencing a short of liquidity currently resulted from higher material costs, overbooked orders and investment in module plants in overseas markets, i.e. the U.S in order to proactively get access to global end-customers."

The CSUN website states they have an office in Australia.  However, I have rung them multiple times on both numbers and get a message that they have been disconnected.  

Update: That was in 2017. I tried again in March 2018. The number on the CSUN website for Australia was still disconnected!

Update: I tried again in August 2018 - still displaying the same number and still disconnected.

CSUN's comment:

"CSUN established a branch office in Australia in 2011. And the warehouse was closed in 2016 due to the changing of its strategy, Nevertheless, CSUN continues to expand its market share and improve its brand recognition across the Country through cooperating with local distributors, logistics companies, and end-customers."

There is an Australian company that imports CSUN panels and rebrands them as Matrix Australian Solar Panels. They provide a 12 year product and 30 year performance warranty. The Matrix 255-260P panel appears to be a CSUN Waratah panel. 

If extra coverage is wanted, because CSUN produce tier one panels, it is possible to get third-party insurance for them from PowerGuard. This will cover them for 25 years no matter what happens to CSUN. 

CSUN Manufacturing Capacity

CSUN is a medium sized producer of solar panels and in 2016 claimed to have a production capacity of 1.3 gigawatts of solar panels per year and to have sold a total of over 3 gigawatts of panels. They also said they had sold over 4 gigawatts in total of solar products. By solar products, I assume they mean solar panels plus silicon wafers or solar cells sold to other companies.

In comparison, Jinko Solar, the world’s largest current producer of panels in 2016, produced an estimated 6.5 to 6.6 gigawatts of solar panels that year.

Company History

CSUN was founded in 2004 and started its first solar cell production line in 2005. They expanded rapidly and In 2007 they were listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. By 2012 their module production capacity hit 1.2 gigawatts. This figure does not appear to have increased significantly since then, as the company has experienced major financial problems. As a result, they were delisted from the NASDAQ stock market in 2016 for having a total share value of less than $15 million US.

CSUN's official comment:

"The Company is striving to get relisted on the NASDAQ by taking a series of measures, including strengthening its financial numbers, cooperating with strategic investors, and completing its global supply chain. Also, the Company is evaluating the possibility of listing on high PE market, such as mainland China where manufacturing companies are normally able to get higher PE ratio than their peers being listed on the U.S capital market."

Despite their financial difficulties, they were recognized by Bloomberg as being a tier one manufacturer in 2014.

Manufacturing Locations

CSUN produces most of its solar panels in Nanjing and Shanghai in China, but is unusual in having a much larger portion of its production in other countries than most Chinese panel manufacturers.

In 2013 they opened a panel assembly plant that uses imported solar cells in the Tuzla free trade zone in Istanbul, Turkey. Its capacity is apparently 300 megawatts, but so far has mostly operated at well below that. This factory’s location allows it to avoid Europe’s punitive import tariffs on Chinese made panels.

In 2014 they opened a 200 megawatt solar cell manufacturing plant in South Korea.

In 2015 they opened a panel manufacturing plant in Vietnam which sells panels under the sub-brand SolarieViet. These panels apparently have a 12 year product warranty and 25 year performance warranty. As this is their newest and presumably most up to date production facility, it may explain why feel confident enough to offer a 12 year product warranty rather than their standard 10 year product warranty, despite the fact the Vietnam facility is not heavily automated.

CSUN’S Future

CSUN’s financial position was likely to have been the second worst of all major panel manufacturers in 2016. This put the company at considerable risk of going under as a result of falling solar panel prices.

This article on its first quarter financial report in 2015, and this one written a month later correctly advising investors to get out, give an indication of the problems the company experienced and is still suffering from.

CSUN's share price fell below 10 US cents in July 2016 and in September 2018 its share price was 2 US cents. 

But while the Chinese government is happy for smaller solar panel producers to disappear or be absorbed by more successful companies, they appear happy to allow larger companies that make it to tier one status to continue on life support for a long time. This is far from a guarantee that CSUN will survive, but does probably mean it has a chance of still being around in 10 years time.

My Recommendation

CSUN's panels are tier one, which means large financial institutions trust them for large scale solar farms.  CSUN has demonstrated they make durable panels. Unfortunately the lack of a proper Australian office means I would not personally choose to put them on my roof. I'd look for a budget brand that has an Australian presence for added peace of mind.