What is Tier 1 Solar Panel?

Tier 1 solar panel is a set of financial-based criteria defined by BloombergNEF to find the most bankable solar brands suitable for utility-scale applications.

Tier 1 module manufacturers must have supplied their own brand products manufactured in their own facilities to at least six different projects larger than 1.5 MW, which were financed by six different banks in the past two years.

A smart solar investor might recognise that BloombergNEF’s tiering system values solar module brands that specialise in large, utility projects.

What are Tier 2 solar panels?

‘Tier 2 solar panels’ is a term that’s used to describe all solar panels that are not Tier 1.

BloombergNEF only created criteria used to identify Tier 1 solar companies. As such, there are no official lists of Tier 2 or Tier 3 solar companies.

However, people in the solar industry needed an easy term to describe all the non-Tier 1 manufacturers, and Tier 2 is the unofficial catch-all term that’s used.

Main differences between Tier 1 and Tier 2

pros and cons of tier 1 vs tier 2 solar panelsThe top 10 solar manufacturers – all Tier 1 companies – accounted for 70.3% of solar panel market share in 2020. Data source: Solar Edition

Tier 1 solar manufacturers are believed to make up no more than 2% of all solar manufacturers in the business.

Here are the three differences you’re likely to find between Tier 1 and Tier 2 solar panels i.e. the remaining 98% of companies:

Warranty

The main difference between Tier 1 solar panels and Tier 2 solar panels is the reliability of the warranties. With Tier 1 solar panels, you can trust that their 25-year performance warranty will be honored.

You may receive good warranty support from a Tier 2 company, but the chances of this happening are typically much lower.

Quality

Both Tier 1 and Tier 2 use solar cell production lines and solar module assembly lines that are designed and built by the same engineering firms.

However, with Tier 1 solar panels, the chances of the solar panels having defects are lower.

Cost

Tier 1 solar panels are typically 10% more expensive than Tier 2 solar panels.

How to choose a solar panel?

If your project needs a bank loan or can accept a higher price, you can choose the Tier One brand.

If you need solar panels at a reasonable price, you can consider ocean solar. Ocean solar can provide you with Tier 1 quality and competitive price solar panels.