China’s Solar Industry is the biggest in the world with 5 of the biggest Solar Panel Manufacturers being Chinese.The low costs of Chinese Solar Panels have made them capture almost 40% of the world’s market in 2010 up from almost 0% in 2005.The remarkable growth in the Chinese Solar Panel Industry has been due to the supportive government,low labour and capital costs and aggressive competition.This has made the higher cost solar panel manufactures cut their prices in order to retain their marketshare.Trina Solar has shown the best growth amongst the solar panel producers and it now competes with Suntech which is the world’s biggest solar panel producer.China has also got a number of Tier 2 and Tier 3 producers of solar panels.These small solar panel companies sell mostly in the spot market and quote very low prices.The quality of the solar panels of smaller companies is also suspect.Due diligence and Review of Solar Panels is necessary in order to Buy Solar Panels from China.

Chinese Solar Panel Prices and Costs

Note the Chinese Solar Panel Prices at around $1.3/watt are the lowest in the world and are sold at a substantial discount to the European and American Solar Panels.These days Solar Panels are also being outsource to China by bigger companies in the West to take advantage of the low cost Chinese Solar Panels..The Prices of Solar Panels can fluctuate a lot depending on the global supply/demand and is currently at around $1.65/watt in 2011 beginning.However the prices have  come down by around  20-30% .The costs of Chinese Solar Panels differs by different companies with the lowest Panel Producers being able to producer Solar Panels at around $1/watt.

Chinese Solar Panel Manufacturers

There are many Chinese Solar Panel Manufacturers as the costs of setting up a Solar Panel Plant is quite low at around $5 million for a basic solar module line.However there are only a few big Solar Panel Companies which have capacities running into hundreds of Megawatts per year.There are also a number of big State Owned (SOE) Chinese conglomerates that are entering the Solar Panel Industry.Here  is a list of the Best Chinese manufacturers of Solar Panels

1. Suntech – Suntech was  the world’s biggest producer of solar panels in 2010 and was one the first companies to set up operations in China.Its example was followed by a host of other Chinese companies.Suntech has been slow to expand compared to the fast growing small companies in China and has lost marketshare to them.It has started to vertically integrate in order to meet the low cost challenge from Trina and Yingli.Suntech makes one of the best quality Solar Panels in China.
2. Yingli Green Energy - Yingli Green Energy is one of the oldest Chinese companies and is completely integrated from polysilicon.The company has been expanding rapidly and has one of the lowest cost structures in the industry.Yingli Green Energy has been sponsoring Football in Europe and has started a new line of high efficiency “Panda” Solar Panels.Yingli is the second biggest producer of Solar Panels in China
3. Trina Solar – Trina Solar is one of the lowest cost manufacturers of Solar Panels in the World right now and also sells it at a very low price.This is the reason that the company in a span of few short years has managed to acquire a substantial  global marketshare.The prices the solar panels being sold are around $340 per 200 watt module.Trina Solar.Like Yingli and Suntech,Trina Solar Panels are one the best quality in China
4. Hanwha Solar One - The Company which was recently acquired by South Korean Chemicals Giant Hanwha also makes one of the cheapest panels and sells it a very low price.The quality is also quite good and with strong parentage behind it,the solar panels made by the company.Again like Trina Solar,it has very low cost Chinese manufacturing capacity.The company was earlier known as Solarfun.
5. Canadian Solar – The Company sells a wide variety of solar panels unlike other producers.The Solar Panel Selling Price is also quite cheap.The Company is headquartered in Canada with factories in China and Ontario.Canadian Solar is the 5th biggest producer of Solar Panels in China.
6. LDK Solar - This is the biggest producer of solar wafers that are used by crystalline solar panels but is losing its No.1 position to GCL Poly.Is expanding rapidly into other parts of the solar supply chain and could break into top 10 solar panel producer in the next couple of years.LDK Solar is building a huge solar panel and cell production facility.It sells Solar Panels mostly to other Solar Panel Companies.
7. Renesola – Very similar to LDK Solar in operations and structure,this Chinese company is the lowest cost producer of solar wafer producer in the world.It is expanding into other parts of the supply chain.Like LDK Solar,Renesola sells most of its Solar Panels under an OEM Contract
8. Jinko Solar – Jinko Solar has shown the fastest growth rates in the Chinese Solar Panel Industry.The company is expanding again to become one of the Top 5 Solar Panel Producers in China.Jinko Solar like Trina and Yingli is vertically integrated and has one of the lowest cost solar panel production process.
9. Trony Solar - Trony Solar is the largest Solar Thin Film Producer in China and uses a-Si Technology to producer Solar Panels used mostly in Off-Grid Applications.The company uses its own custom made equipment and manages to get decent margins for its products.The company recently listed on the HK Stock Exchange.

Summary

There are other major solar panels manufacturers in China like BYD,Astroenergy,Hanlong,Goldpoly,Eging,Tianwei,Sunzone etc which are setting up large gigawatt scale solar panel capacity.The existing Solar Panel Producers in China will have a tough time as the competition grows domestically as well as from other Asian like the Koreans and the Taiwanese.However currently Chinese Solar Panels are No.1 in the world in terms of volume and fast catching up in quality as well.The Chinese Solar Market is also growing rapidly as the Chinese government awards subsidies for setting up pilot plants in different provinces.However a lack of national feed in tariff like Germany is hindering the growth.

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