A Review of CSUN Solar Panels

Solarkobo Score: 3.0/5

Manufacturer's Profile

CSUN solar panels are made by a Chinese company, China Sunergy Co Ltd (CSUN), founded in 2004 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. CSUN has manufacturing facilities spread across China, USA, Turkey, South Korea and Vietnam and producing 2.5GW of solar panels annually.

CSUN initially manufactured only solar cells for European manufacturers, but is now one of the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells. Alongside solar panels, CSUN also produces solar batteries and hybrid inverters through a parent company, CEEG (Nanjing) New Energy Co Ltd who acquired CSUN in 2010.

CSUN uses the traditional PERC cell technology. This technology is quickly being superseded by more sophisticated cell technologies. This puts CSUN far behind industry trends.

Types of CSUN Solar Panels

CSUN makes full-cell polycrystalline and half-cell monocrystalline solar panels.

Galaxy Series

The panels in this series are full cell polycrystalline solar panels. Many brands have stopped issuing poly panels as they are an older and less efficient technology and as of January 2023, CSUN no longer has panels in this series listed on its site.

Mars Series

The panels in this series are made from half-cut monocrystalline PERC cells that are capable of performing in low light conditions. They come with a power output of 96.5% during the initial year and drops to 90% after 10 years. They have a low annual degradation of 0.7%, which makes the panels’ efficiency to be high throughout their lifetime. The cells exhibit an efficiency of 80.18% by the end of the 25th year.

Warranty

CSUN covers its panels with a 12-year product warranty and a 25-year power output performance warranty. Though matching warranties offered by Trina Solar, Canadian Solar and other mid-range brands, and exceeding the industry standard of 10 years, it still falls short of the warranty of 25 year product and performance warranties offered by the premium brands, LG and Panasonic.

CSUN belongs with Yingli, Sharp, Seraphim, AmeriSolar, Kyocera, Suntech, Mission Solar and Canadian Solar as a 'Best Value' brand. Offered at a comparatively lower price and driven towards the mass rather than premium market, buyers can expect a full return on the investment made on them. Solarkobo considers them a safe investment and are always glad to recommend them to our clients.