Solar Panels by BuildingResults

Solar Panels are rapidly becoming a widespread commodity like shoes and clothes and will even become more of a consumer product in days to come when solar panels in offices and homes becomes a common sight.Just like other consumer products there are a wide type of solar panels on sale.Note in Germany solar panels are already frequently seen on the roofs of most houses.Prices of solar panels have fallen tremendously in the past couple of years  due to declining costs amongst Chinese producers of solar panels.Just like Chinese made clothes,toys  and electronics have captured most of the market globally,so to Chinese wholesale solar panel sellers have captured most of the global market.While Sharp,Sunpower and a few other Western,Japanese companies have managed to survive,the majority of the global supply of solar panels is  now done by Chinese solar panel wholesale providers.

Wholesale Solar Panel Buying Prices

Solar Panels bought from wholesale distributors is much cheaper than buying in retail from websites like amazon or ebay.The reason is the same just like for other products.Solar Panels sold in volumes are cheaper by almsot 30-50% than solar panels sold at the retail level.Major solar panel producers also don’t like to sell solar panels in small quantities as the distribution and marketing cost is too high for them.

WholeSale Solar Panel Online Sites are not worth it

Online Wholesale Websites are not worht it to put it lightly.Most of the solar panels being sold in these websites are almost double the prices of solar panels that can be bought from the factory.Even in high volumes these solar panel prices are much higher than what you would pay if you bought it directly from the company.These sites masquerade as wholesalers but are no different from retail solar panel sellers as their prices are same.

The Solar Panel Prices at these wholesale websites are $2/watt for Chinese made brand manufacturers and $3/watt for Japanese and European solar panels.This means that their prices are almost double the prices that these wholesalers are buying it.If you are buying for a large solar project

Prices of Solar Panels will come down with Increasing Volumes

The reason for the high prices of solar panels as compared to their cost of buying is that there is not enough volumes and competition.With solar panels becoming more and more of a household appliance like a washing machine,the prices of solar panels will plummet.This will make electricity cheaper to generate at homes and also help in making the planet greener

What do I do to Buy Solar Panels from Wholesale

Its very difficult if you are an individual homeowner to buy cheap solar panels as companies are not interested in selling solar panels directly unless its in quantities of around 1000-2000 solar panels .So you can join some community solar buying project or look to 1BoG type of organizations which organize home owners to help them installing solar installations cheaply.You can also look at Alibaba.com website which shows solar panels from a number of solar panel companies from Asia.This is probably the best option for buying solar panels at wholesale rates online though you have to be careful of some of the companies that are listed there.Also you have to take care about how you would get these solar panels shipped and the warranties.

Read about Reviews on Most Efficient Solar Panels and Lowest Cost Solar Panels

Some of the Better Solar Panel Manufacturers

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

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.

Sharp – Sharp,the Japanese Zaibatsu known more for its Electronics Products is also the world’s No 1 Company in terms Solar Module Revenues.Despite its leadership in c-Si Technology,it has shifted focus to a-Si thin film due to higher costs.Sharp has started shipping a-Si modules from its 1 GW capacity plant in Sakai.With its established distribution strengths and technological abilities in LCD Technology,Sharp is one company that can survive the c-Si onslaught.With most of the a-Si thin film competitors bankrupt or in a moribund state,Sharp can capitalize to completely capture this space.However the cost structure of Sharp is not clearly known right now to make a clear call on how this will turn out.Also a 10% efficiency while decent for a-Si technology fall far short of the 13% claims by CIGS start-ups like Miasole.

Sunpower – Sunpower produces the highest efficiency crystalline solar panels in the world.This is a US company like First Solar and has a strong system installation business as well.A offspring of Cypress Semiconductor,it faced tough times due to its higher costs.However seems to be on a recovery path.Failed to expand as rapidly as the Asians in 2010.

Renewable Energy Corporation – It is Norwegian manufacturer of mainly polysilicon and wafers.It suffered like other Europeans from the declines in solar panel prices.Has moved manufacturing to Singapore to lower its cost.Fell down the rankings due to tough competition.However is completely integrated.

Panasonic/Sanyo – Sanyo is the producer of high efficiency solar panels and like Sharp sells mostly in Japan and USA.With buyout by Panasonic is looking to sell integrated energy  efficiency/energy storage/solar energy home solution.