Firstgreen solar product review-Renesola solar panels

Renesola is a Chinese producer of tier one solar panels with 10 year product and 25 year performance warranties. Their panels are corrosion resistant which makes them suitable for installation by the sea. Renesola has offices in both Sydney and Melbourne.

In addition to solar panels, Renesola also produces string inverters, microinverters, and LED lighting. They are also heavily involved in the development and construction of solar farms and large scale rooftop solar projects.

History

Renesola was founded in 2005. The company rapidly expanded and claims that in 2013 and 2014 more Renesola panels were installed in Australia than any other brand. Unfortunately, like many companies that expand rapidly, they ran into severe financial difficulty which has limited their expansion over the past several years.

They currently employ around 5,600 people, mostly in China. I don’t know how many are employed producing solar panels and how many in other parts of the business such as LED light manufacture.

Global Market

Renesola has been supplied more than 20 GW globally, whereas India is and always been a key market for Renesola and supplied more than 2.5 GW solar PV modules. China, Brazil, Europe and Australia are the other key markets where Renesola is focusing on. Recently, Renesola has signed 150MW distribution modules supply agreement with Prosun for Australian market.

ReneSola Ltd recently participated in a France-based consortium along with a leading power consulting company and a recognized leader in project crowdfunding. The consortium will develop an estimated 30 megawatt (MW) large-scale ground-mounted solar power plant in the town of Aups, situated in south of France.

The plant is expected to produce electricity of 46 gigawatt per hour (GWh) and supply it to approximately 10,000 households per year.

Innovation

Renasola produces a variety of different series of solar panels, including a number of standard sized, 60 cell panels, which are the type most commonly installed on Australian roofs. They range from 250 to 285 watts and have efficiencies from 15.4% to 17.5%.

Renesola’s Double Glass Panel: Renesola produces a standard sized, 60 cell, double glass module with a 10 year product warranty and a 30 year performance warranty. But as it is a 1,500 volt panel it is not suitable for normal household installation and is made for large commercial rooftop solar installations.

Renesola has been supplying both the technologies Poly and Mono in Indian market. Poly has reached an average wattage of 340Wp modules while Mono Perc has reached 395Wp within the same Cell size of 156.

Recently, they have launched higher wattage of modules in 166 size cells achieving the average rating of 450Wp and the same will be available in Indian market by the end of July. As India is always price sensitive market, Poly modules are much more in demand due to price gap of around 2 cents in between poly and Mono PERC.