© Wayne National Forest If you’re thinking of integrating solar panels into your property, you have to consider a range of factors in order to make the most suitable choice. Choosing between the numerous UK solar panel suppliers and manufacturers … Read More…

Chaori Solar Energy Science and Technology is a Chinese company based in Shanghai. It produces single crystal silicon batteries as well as mono and polycrystalline solar panels, solar cells and lights. It also sells solar raw materials. The company plans to expand into Europe according to China Business News and the company’s Hong Kong subsidiary already has a presence in Luxembourg and also in Delaware, USA. The company plans to invest in a joint venture with China Solar Gmbh, CS Solar Project International, in which Chaori will hold a 51% stake. China Solar Gmbh is a German registered company which specializes in the construction of power stations and currently owns some 40 MW of power generation facilities, mostly located in Germany and other EU countries, with another 50 MW under construction. Read More…

LG is a South Korean electronics and chemicals company. With the help of the South Korean government it recently entered the solar PV market as well as the country increasingly tries to market itself as a ‘green superpower’. Read More…

AusEnergy’s website describes Hyundai’s solar panels as ‘superbly manufactured’. The company’s products are certified to IEC, ISO (9001 and 14001) and UL standards with a class C fire rating. They are also certified for sea salt and ammonia corrosion. Both multi and mono-crystalline panels are available. They have hail and load resistance and are subjected to advanced mechanical tests. As with many other leading solar manufacturers the company offers a 5 year product warranty, a ten year guarantee for 90% and a twenty-five year guarantee for 80% power output. Read More…

Solyndra made the headlines twice this year first by unveiling its revolutionary tubular CIGS solar panels, which actually looked amazing and were described as such by many different sector companies and organisations, and then by going bankrupt sparking a clamour, alongside fellow US solar PV company Evergreen, about the sluggishness of the US economy and the threat from Chinese solar PV companies. Solyndra is also under investigation with regards to the $535 million loan guarantee it received directly from the US government. So the question is, what is happening with it now? Read More…

Samsung began R&D on photovoltaics back in 1987 and a full scale R&D line up was established in September 2009. Certifications were obtained in 2010 including UL, CEC and IEC and in April last year the company supplied its first power plant in Korea. In May 2010 the company announced $5.5 billion worth of planned investment in solar PV by 2020. Much of its solar PV business is concentrated on crystalline panels although there is the potential for the company to go into thin-film production as well. Recently the company announced that it is to set up a 10,000 ton plant to produce polysilicon in a joint venture with US company MEMC. This will be onstream by 2013. The company aims to capture 8% of the market by 2015. This should be interesting given that at present its distribution channels are not that impressive, although its products are available in the UK and Australia. Read More…

Moser Baer is one of India’s leading technology companies, formed in Delhi in 1983. The company’s solar PV side was established between 2005 and 2007 and manufactures crystalline solar PV in a 170MW fully automated production facility. It exports its products to 83 countries worldwide. The panels are rigorously tested to international standards with certifications including IEC 61215 (Edition II), IEC 61730 (Safety Class II), CE, UL 1703, IEC 61701, JET and MCS. The modules are CEC listed and subjected to Ammonia resistance tests. The company also produces thin-film PV certified to IEC 61646, IEC 61730, IEC 61701 and CE. Read More…

Jinko is a vertically integrated Chinese solar panel manufacturer whose products include high quality crystalline wafers, ingots, cells and mono and multi-crystalline PV panels. They employ more than 10,000 people in plants at Shangrao and, until recently, Haining while their global marketing centre is in Shanghai. They also have European representative offices in Munich and Bologna, a US office in San Francisco and a logistics warehouse in Rotterdam. Their panels are produced using advanced equipment such as NPC technology from Japan and their production process is certified by a number of standards systems including IEC, TUV, UL, VDE, CE, ISO14001 and 9001. They also operate a global R&D centre in conjunction with a number of Chinese universities. Read More…

According to their website, Canadian Solar are one of the world’s biggest solar PV module producers. They are a vertically integrated provider of silicon ingots, wafers, solar cells, solar modules, solar power systems and associated products. They operate in 9 countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain,Australia,and the United States) and their products are supported by IEC, TUV, UL, certifications. This is impressive on its own, but they also state that they were the first solar PV company to register with ISO TS16949, which they say is even stricter than ISO 9001. They also operate their own ISO 17025 accredited testing lab. Read More…

Bosch Solar Energy AG took over from Ersol Solar Energy AG and is therefore a relative newcomer to the market by all accounts. In 2009 the company presented three prototypes of crystalline and thin-film modules to the European Photovoltaic Solar … Read More…