LONGi Solar – Company History
In Australian, LONGi Solar Panels first came on the scene in 2017 and have since captured a significant portion of the market share. They have established a local Australian office in Sydney to support local customers and installers.
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How much do LONGi Solar Panels cost?
- Full turnkey Solar System with LONGi Solar Panels
- Installation from a pre-vetted reputable installer from Solar Choice’s network
- The STC rebate and GST
LONGi Solar Panels – Points of Difference
The largest solar panel manufacturer in the world
Vertically Integrated Solar PV Value Chain
LONGi owns most steps in the vertical supply chain to produce a solar panel including producing ingots, silicon wafers and solar cells. This strategy enables them to keep greater control over the supply and quality of each step of the process.
Many other solar panel brands acquire silicon wafers or solar cells from LONGi and pick up the process from there
LONGi only produces monocrystalline PERC solar panels as they have been focused on producing single crystal (mono) silicon wafers since the early 2000s. Generally their panels have higher efficiency due to leading cell technology than their competition at a similar price range.
LONGi Solar Panel Technologies
LONGi Solar currently has 149 solar panels approved by the Clean Energy Council in Australia under the name “LONGi Green Energy Technology Co Ltd”. This is a requirement to be eligible for the federal STC solar rebate.
LONGi has two main series of solar panels: Hi-MO 4, and Hi-MO 5, which have a variety of different options to suit residential, commercial and utility-scale projects.
Hi-MO 4 Series
The Hi-MO 4 series uses gallium-doped silicon cells which improves the solar panels resistance to LID. In simple terms the amount of power the panel will produce will remain higher over time than most other panels with an annual degradation rate of 0.55% per year (typically 0.7%). These solar panels also offer a 12-year product warranty which is in line with most of the options on the market.
Hi-MO 5 Series
LONGi have also increased the working current within the panels to ~13amps (from 11amps in the Hi-MO 4m series) which is better suited to the mainstream string inverters that are available.
This range includes the traditional colours and an ‘all-black’ option like the Hi-MO4 series
The series also offers an ‘all black’ option where the solar cells and aluminium frame are black to offer customers a more aesthetically pleasing solution for their roof.
Hi-MO 6 Series
The Hi-MO 6 series comes in 4 different variants which have been named by LONGi as the Artist, Guardian, Explorer and the Scientist.
The Artist features coloured panels for a specific aesthetic appeal. The Guardian has a built in power optimiser on each panel which makes installation simple for projects seeking this technology.
The Explorer and Scientist models are Longi’s more cost-effective solar panels and the ones you are mostly likely to see quoted in Australia, with the Scientist being the slightly superior model. These solar panels feature a maximum efficiency of up to 23.0% which is a market leading figure.
They are also guaranteed to degrade slower than many of their competitors with the annual degradation rate after year 1 guaranteed to be no more than 0.4% p.a.
As per previous series, the Hi-MO 6 solar panels come in an all black version to suit customers preference for the appearance of the solar array.
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LONGi’s Warranty Offer for Australian Customers
Solar panels in the Australian market come with a performance warranty and a product warranty.
The product warranty is probably the more important one as it covers manufacturing defects and most problems experienced with solar panels. LONGi typically offers 15 years for their product warranty, however some of the Hi-MO 6 panels have a 25 year product warranty – it is important to check the datasheet of what you’ve been quoted. A product warranty of 25-years is quickly becoming the norm in the Australian market.
Looking through LONGi’s warranty documentation, there is a clearly documented process to claim a warranty and adequate remedies available after an assessment has been made. Given LONGi have an Australian office to assist with this process, this is one of the better options available in the market.
The performance warranty for solar panels guarantees a maximum rate at which the solar panel will degrade over time. LONGi’s latest Hi-MO 6 (Scientist) series guarantees that their solar panels will degrade no more than 1% in the first year and then no more than 0.4% for the following 24 years. This gives them a slight edge of many of their competitors who typically offer (2.5% in year 1 and 0.7% thereafter).
Over time we would expect LONGi solar panels to slightly outperform other cost-effective brands, however making a claim against the performance warranty for a residential customer is difficult without high quality monitoring equipment.
Click here to read LONGi’s full Australian warranty document.
Pros and Cons of LONGi Solar Panels
LONGi Solar Panel Specifications (common modules)
So, are LONGi Solar Panels a good option for me?
Example of a LONGi Commercial Solar Project – Numurkah Solar Farm (Victoria, Aus)
- Date: Q3, 2019
- Type of Application: Utility-scale solar farm
- System Size: 128 MWp
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Reviews from Australians who have installed Longi Panels
Supper happy! Amazing!
The solar panels are performing as per specifications
Panels look great and perform as they should. Had to upgrade panels with inverters as there is a shade issue (a very large gumtree impacts on the amount of sun on the panels)
It is a 13kw system but the App says 10Kw.
They look good, but I cannot possibly assess them at this early stage.
Excellent output and looks smart
Super performing brand
We have done the research and happy with Longi
too early to tell
System output has been great. As well as reliable. No issues at all.
Great panels. All black. Excellent performance.
Longi 370W Hi-MO4 model (Mono-PERC, Split-Cell - Black Frame. Everything is working flawlessly so far.
They seem to be performing well thus far.
Have been reliable, no complaints.
Longi is really good
Look good and seem to be performing great!
Works well.
Panels working well so far.
Performing better than expected.
Looks great installed
We actually ended up with Leapton 440w solar panels
Best budgeted
N/A
The solar panels have performed satisfactorily, meeting our expectations.
Good price and warranty
Difficult to assess savings at this point due to slow install of interconnect by powerCore
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Happy so far