SunPower - Solar Panel Reviews

About SunPower

TCL SunPower Global is a manufacturer of high-quality silicon wafers, solar cells, and solar panels. Until March 2025, SunPower operated under Maxeon Solar Technologies, headquartered in Singapore.

With over 40 years of industry leadership, SunPower is one of the longest-serving solar panel manufacturers globally. It has been present in the Australian market since 2009.

Australian Office

TCL SunPower Australia operates from its Melbourne office and maintains warehouses in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.

For all customer service, product and warranty enquiries you can call 1800 985 638.

SunPower Corporation Australia Pty Ltd

Suite 207/28 Riddell Parade,

Elsternwick VIC 3185

SunPower panels have been used in Australia for decades and have proven to be very reliable. They're also well-supported here. Because of this, Solarquotes has no problem recommending them.

Company History

SunPower was founded in 1985 in the United States by Richard Swanson. In 2011 a large portion of it was purchased by TotalEnergy, a French oil company that totally wanted to diversify out of oil. In August 2020 the solar panel manufacturing side of the business was separated from the US installation side and became a separate company -- Maxeon Solar Technologies. While no longer called SunPower, they still produce SunPower brand panels. This company is responsible for the warranties of any existing SunPower panels you may have.

There is still a company called SunPower in the United States, but they don't manufacture panels and have no presence in Australia. So long as you don't confuse them with Maxeon Solar Technologies and their SunPower brand panels, they can be safely ignored.

In March 2025, SunPower became a wholly owned subsidiary of its major shareholder, TCL. TCL is a global leader in consumer electronics and high-quality silicon wafer manufacturing, with annual group revenue of USD 42 billion. 

Manufacturing Locations

According to their 2022 annual report, Maxeon Solar Technologies has factories in three countries:

• Malaysia: 1 solar manufacturing facility
• Philippines: 1 solar cell manufacturing facility and 1 cell manufacturing support and storage facility.
• Mexico: 2 solar panel assembly factories

The Malaysian factory produces solar cells and was upgraded in the first half of 2023 to produce 1.8 GW per year. It's in the city of Malacca where -- provided you avoid the hot stuff -- you can get great food even though in Dutch Malacca means "bad delicious". (Now I think about it, that's actually a pretty good description of the place...)

The Philippines manufacturing plant is in the city of Binan, south of Manilla. Binan isn't famous for any specific food, but you'll have no problem getting stuff with bananas in it there.

The Mexican facilities produce both Performance and Maxeon panels. Expansions at their Baja Mexico plant were completed in June 2023 and allow it to produce up to 1.8GW of Performance panels annually. We generally think of California as being part of the United States, but this part of Mexico is also called California. If a salesperson tells you Maxeon panels are made in California without mentioning it's the Mexican part or just says "North America" that's evidence they're not a trustworthy person.

Maxeon Solar Technologies has also announced they'll spend over USD$1 billion on a factory in New Mexico outside of Albuquerque. If it goes ahead, it will be completed in 2025 and produce solar cells and SunPower Performance panels. It will have 3GW of production capacity -- or maybe 4.5GW if they decide demand will be high enough.

Huansheng JV, the Chinese company that produces most SunPower Performance panels, appears to have its headquarters in Yixing and may have manufacturing facilities in Tianjin. Yixing is a "small" city of one million, while Tianjin has 13 million -- half of Australia's population.

Performance Panels

SunPower Performance panels are different from most, as they are shingle panels. These days it's common to cut solar cells in half to make half-cut panels. But shingle panels go further and cells are cut into four or five strips that are placed on panels so they slightly overlap each other. This hides the electrical contacts under the overlap so they don't block sunlight from hitting the cells.

SunPower's latest P7 panels have a 21.7% efficiency. While that's not bad, it's not exceptional these days.

Maxeon Panels

The solar cells in Maxeon panels are unique in having a copper backing that contributes to their durability. They also want you to know they have no grid lines on the surface of the cells, which is a helpful but not exceptional feature.

Maxeon panels are good at resisting the effects of partial shade. When a panel is partially shaded it generally doesn't just lose output from the shaded cells but unshaded ones can have their output reduced as well. This effect is minimized in SunPower Maxeon panels, so they can be a good choice in locations where they'll suffer partial shading for a significant part of the day.

Their Maxeon 3 panels have a 22.6% efficiency. While they used to lead the world in efficiency, other manufacturers are now catching up.

Heat Resistance

High temperatures lower solar panel efficiency. For SunPower Performance panels it declines by 0.29% for each degree over 25°C. 

Maxeon panels can have excellent heat resistance. While it varies by panel, for their Maxeon 6 panels it's 0.27% per degree over 25°C. 

2 Warranties

Solar panels come with two warranties:

• Product warranties that cover faults and defects in manufacturing and materials.
• Performance warranties that specify how much they are permitted to decline in capacity each year.

Product and performance warranties are the same length for SunPower panels, which helps keep things simple.

Product Warranties

SunPower Performance panels come with a 30-year product warranty. While not exceptional these days, it's still a long time. SunPower Maxeon panels do even better and have a 40-year product warranty -- the longest of any solar panel.

Performance Warranties

The performance warranty of SunPower Performance panels promises they'll lose no more than 2% of capacity in their first year and no more than 0.4% each subsequent year. So at the end of their 25-year performance warranty, they'll still have a minimum of 89.4% of their original capacity. This is better than most panels on the market.

SunPower Maxeon panels have, by far, the best performance warranty I know of. It lasts for 40 years, rather than the 25 years most panels have, and allows a maximum of 2% capacity loss in the first year and no more than 0.25% in subsequent years. This means after 25 years a Maxeon panel will still have a minimum of 92% of its original capacity and after 40 years it will still have at least 88.25%.

According to Maxeon Solar Technologies, only 1 in 20,000 Maxeon panels have been returned under warranty. This suggests they are highly reliable. But note it is possible for companies to massage these numbers to make them appear better than they are.

SunPower Reserve Home Battery

Maxeon Solar Technologies markets a battery under the SunPower brand called the SunPower Reserve. Its details are on our Battery Comparison Table.