With over 15,000 employees worldwide across 26 locations and an annual estimated output of over 9GW Trina is one of the largest solar panel manufacturers in the world.
Founded in 1997 by Gao Jifan, Trina has been around for a long time. Trina has thus become one of the most “bankable” solar manufacturers in the world.
Trina offers a suite of products, with many different options on the market to suit many different types of buyers. Each option is slightly different in either how it looks, the technology it’s used or the cell type.Â
The options are as follows:
Duomax Series
Vertex SeriesÂ
Trina Honey
Vertex SeriesÂ
Trina Honey Black
The Duomax series use what’s called glass technology meaning both the back and the front sheet are made from glass. Glass technology is used to create a more durable solar panel and one with less degradation over time.
The downside of using glass technology is the weight of the panel, up to 7kgs per panel heavier than their other ranges – which may increase logistically and labour costs.Â
The Trina Honey solar panels series is extremely popular in Australia, in-fact as we understand it’s the most popular of Trina’s solar panels. This panel is the combination of decent technology and a good price point.
The Trina Honey Black is the Trina Honey series but all black for a more attractive solar panel. The downside of black solar panels is their efficiencies tend to be lower comparatively.
The Vertex series is for commercial installations, it’s a much larger panel.
All of Trina’s solar panels listed here are Monocrystalline solar panels. Trina is known to manufacture solar panels with fairly good technology at a lower price point, making them a cost effective option.
On all the Trina solar panels the product warranty is 15 years, which is low when you compare it to other solar panels on the market. SunPower, Q-Cell and LG all have 25 year product warranty offerings and a close competitor to Trina, Jinko, has a 20 year product warranty with their Jinko TIGER.Â
The performance warranty of the Trina Honey and Vertex is over 25 years while the Duomax is over 30 years.
What’s different in each manufacturer is how much degradation they warranty. In the case of Trina it depends on the module.
Trina Honey has a nominal output of at least 98% with a reduction of 0.55% each year. The output of this series at 25 years is 84.8%
Somehow the Vertex series is exactly the same as the Trina Honey series.Â
The Duomax series has a nominal output of at least 97.5% in the first year with a reduction of 0.5% each year. The output of the Duomax at 25 years is 83%.
Trina are very much a chinese company with the majority of their manufacturing locations spanned across China. They do also have 2 manufacturing plants outside of China in Thailand and Vietnam.Â
Yes, Trina does have an office in Australia supporting their distribution network and customers.Â
The Aesthetics of the Trina solar panel is very much the same as most solar panels, though the Trina Honey solar panel looks very “busy” with a lot going on aesthetically. The Trina Honey black is very attractive. It will depend on what panel you end up deciding on.Â
Trina’s product warranty is 15 years while their performance warranty will depend from panel to panel.Â
Nearly all Trina products are made in China however they do have 2 locations outside of China in Thailand and Vietnam.
Yes, Trina are currently Tier 1 as per the Bloomberg rankings.
