NOTE - Our opinions are our own, based on years of personal experience, testing, reading, and listening to the views of many solar experts. We are, and always will be foremost an independent review site. Our only source of income currently is via advertising on our website, and providing leads to solar installers.
Selecting a quality solar panel and inverter brand from the hundreds of different models and manufacturers can be a very difficult task. Even for experienced people in the solar industry it is hard to cut through the noise, let alone if you are new to solar and are hopefully only going to buy one solar system in your lifetime. That is why we founded Clean Energy Reviews, we were working in the industry for years, but still found it very hard to know which brands were good and which were lemons. We decided to compile industry knowledge about the best solar panel and inverter brands, and disseminate it to everyone. We have narrowed down the long list of solar panel and inverter brands to a select few using feedback from installers and solar professionals based on quality, efficiency, reliability, performance and return on investment.
Inverters
The solar inverter is the most sophisticated part of any on-grid solar system and is also the part most likely to have issues. This is not surprising considering inverters are usually located outside in harsh weather conditions including rain, humidity and extreme heat, all the while generating thousands of watts of power for up to 10 hours a day. This is why the choice of inverter is the second most important decision when going solar, after who to buy your system from.
For the latest information on the most popular inverters, see our review below:
Solar panels
Unlike inverters the biggest problem when comparing solar panels is that they generally look very similar with nothing obvious to distinguish between high and low quality products. Unfortunately many solar installers and customers only have the glossy brochure to go by, which can easily baffle people with clever marketing and slogans.
See our latest review of the best and most efficient solar panels here:
It is worth mentioning the commonly referred to ‘Tier 1’ rating, which is often used by solar companies to tout their panels as the best. However, the ‘Tier 1’ rating is misleading and does not guarantee a panel is free from defects or give any indication of how it will perform over the life of the system. The rating was developed by Bloomberg New Energy Finance to rate solar panel manufacturers in terms of financial stability, it has no link to the performance or quality of a panel.
See below links for further reading on solar panels:
- See our detailed analysis on the top panel brands in our “Best Solar Panels” article.
- We offer insight into the many innovations being used to improve panel efficiency and performance in our detailed solar technology review article.
- You can also checkout a host of other information and reviews on individual panel brands at our “Solar Panels” page.
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