The 9 best solar panels in 2024

If you’re looking to spend thousands of pounds on a home improvement like solar panels, you want to buy the best product possible – one that’ll produce loads of electricity far into the future.

Fortunately, our rankings reflect the results of industry expert Kiwa PVEL’s rigorous testing on hundreds of solar panels over multiple months at its facility in Napa, California.

These tests forensically analysed every panel’s durability, reliability, performance, and longevity to find out which panels you can trust.

If you’re interested in how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll generate an estimate.

What are the best solar panels?

The best solar panels are made by Trina Solar, Boviet Solar, HT-SAAE, Risen Energy, VSUN, SEG Solar, Emmvee, Meyer Burger, and NE Solar.

These are the only brands that attained a ‘Top Performer’ rating for one or more of their solar panels in all of Kiwa PVEL’s seven stringent tests.

The solar specialist analysed hundreds of solar panels from across the world, measuring their reactions to extreme temperature and light fluctuations, high humidity, heavy snow, fierce winds, and hail.

Below, you can see the nine companies who made it onto the list. Scattered across six countries and three continents, these brands’ products passed a punishing series of trials designed to prove their reliability and durability.

1. Trina

Trina is one of only two manufacturers – along with Jinko – which has been an ever-present on Kiwa PVEL’s Top Performers list across its entire 10-year history.

And its NEG21C.20 solar panel, which is available in peak power watt ratings from 680 to 725, was one of just four to pass all seven of Kiwa PVEL’s tests.

The Chinese company was founded in 1997 by brothers Jiqing and Jifan Gao – the latter of whom now has a £1.4 billion fortune and co-chairs the Global Solar Council – and has become one of the largest solar panel manufacturers in the world.

As well as China, the behemoth now has branches in the US, Singapore, the UAE, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, and Australia, as well as manufacturing bases in Vietnam, Indonesia, the UAE, Thailand, and the US – and around 50,000 employees.

2. Boviet Solar

In barely a decade, this Vietnamese company has grown into a top-tier solar company.

It missed out on becoming a Top Performer in its first four Kiwa PVEL testing rounds, but finally made the grade in 2019, and has done so every year since.

Boviet’s annual manufacturing capacity is 3GW, which is significantly less than Trina’s 55.9GW – but give it time.

The company was acquired in 2016 by Boway Group, a multinational industrial manufacturing corporation with offices and factories in China, the US, and Germany.

With this level of backing – which has allowed Boviet to spend around £230 million on a factory in North Carolina – you can expect to see the company become even more popular in the coming years.

3. HT-SAAE

HT-SAAE was established in 1998, as part of the decades-old, state-owned China Aerospace Science Technology Corporation, and now has an annual revenue of around £1 billion.

As well as solar, the Chinese company – whose full name is HT-Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical – manufactures products in two other main industries.

One is the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning industry, which includes heat pumps, while the other is civil-military integration, which applies to technological innovations like satellites.

HT-SAAE has four main factories – three in China, in Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, and Jiangsu –  and one in Turkey. It’s also built solar farms all over China.

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4. Risen

Risen Energy was created in 1986, but its solar branch only launched in 2002 – and it only started selling panels in 2006.

The Chinese company now has more than 15,000 employees on five continents, generates around £3 billion in annual revenue, and has made Kiwa PVEL’s Top Performer list four years in a row.

Risen has three excellent solar panels on Kiwa PVEL’s list, including one – the RSM144-10-BNDG – that passed every trial except the Damp Heat test, which analyses a panel’s ability to simultaneously withstand high temperatures and humidity.

These panels are made at eight factories across China and Malaysia.

5. VSUN

VSUN, which stands for Vietnam Sunergy Joint Stock Company, was taken over by Japanese company Abalance Corporation in 2019.

The solar firm became a Kiwa PVEL Top Performer in 2021, and has earned that title every year since.

In 2024, VSUN began using its factory in Vietnam to turn silicon into wafers, cells, and modules, moving the company to a fully integrated production line that relies less on Chinese sources.

The company’s research and development and engineering work takes place in Japan, and it also has branches in Germany, the US, and China.

6. SEG Solar

The only American manufacturer on this list was originally a branch of Seraphim, a Chinese solar company.

SEG Solar separated entirely from Seraphim at the end of 2022, and is nearing completion on its brand-new factory in Houston, Texas, which covers 23,000 square metres.

This plant, which joins SEG factories in China, Indonesia, and Thailand, will allow the company to fulfil its goal of a “fully integrated photovoltaic industry supply chain with zero tolerance for forced labour.”

The company has been a Top Performer for the past three years, and its SEG-BTC-BG panel is one of the four panels in 2024 that passed all of Kiwa PVEL’s tests.

This panel, which is part of SEG’s Alpine N Series, has a peak power rating of 680-725W.

7. Emmvee

India’s sole representative in this article was founded in 1992 as a solar thermal producer, then branched out to manufacturing solar panels in 2007.

One of these panels, the EHCBG144, is among the four models to pass every Kiwa PVEL test this year. It’s available in power ratings from 530 to 575W.

Emmvee’s three other panels on Kiwa PVEL’s list aced every trial except the PAN test, which measures output in a variety of scenarios.

The company, which has its headquarters and new 46,000 square-metre factory in Bengaluru, employs around 650 people.

Its founder, D.V. Manjunatha, is quoted on the Emmvee website as saying: “I aspire to continuously provide my consumers with a comfortable life with my products and services.”

8. Meyer Burger

Hans Meyer and Willy Burger founded Meyer Burger in 1953 as a watchmaking machine manufacturer.

In 1970, it started cutting silicon wafers to sell to semiconductor producers, but it took until 1983 for the Swiss firm to enter the solar panel market.

However you slice it, Meyer Burger is the oldest company on this list – and it’s stayed true to its roots.

It still researches and develops solar technology at its Switzerland sites, though it’s expanded since its early days, and now produces panels in Germany and the US.

The company’s longevity is proof that this strategy has paid off – and in 2024, Kiwa PVEL dubbed Meyer Burger a Top Performer for the first time.

9. NE Solar

The only Cambodian business on the Top Performer list is also a newcomer – but it’s clearly going places.

NE Solar will soon open its new factory in Phoenix, Arizona, to go with its manufacturing centres in Indonesia and Cambodia. The Arizona facility is set to have an annual production capacity of 2GW (gigawatts).

For context, the UK’s solar installations collectively have a capacity of 16.8GW, as of May 2024.

The company, which is also known as New East Solar Energy (Cambodia), has also produced one of the few panels on Kiwa PVEL’s list to have succeeded in every test.

The NESE-72MHB-M10 can be purchased in peak power ratings from 530 to 575W.

The methodology

To qualify for the list, solar companies had to submit at least two sample panels for testing and allow Kiwa PVEL into their factories to see how they make their products.

They then had to pass a series of rigorous tests designed to prove beyond any doubt that their panels could continue functioning at a high level during and after extreme conditions.

For Kiwa PVEL to award a company Top Performer status in 2024, none of its panels could have a major defect, suffer a wet leakage failure – where water gets inside – or have bypass diodes that wouldn’t work after the Thermal Cycling or Mechanical Stress Sequence tests.

These rules successfully separated the best from the rest, as 66% of manufacturers that put themselves forward for Kiwa PVEL’s tests experienced at least one failure.

Thermal Cycling

Thermal Cycling simulates the temperature swings that happen to a solar panel each day, as the thermostat rises and falls with the sun – but intensified.

By running hundreds of cycles, Kiwa PVEL was able to show how a panel would be affected by these extreme temperature changes across its lifespan. To pass, a panel had to experience less than 2% power degradation.

84% of the panels submitted for testing met or exceeded this requirement – which means 16% failed.

This test is particularly important if there’s a substantial difference in temperature between night and day where you live – but as with all these trials, the required standard is high enough to guarantee peace of mind for any domestic customers.

If you get a panel that passes this test, you can rest safe in the knowledge that even in a UK heatwave, your system won’t let you down.

Mechanical Stress Sequence

This is a thorough examination of a panel’s ability to maintain their form when researchers place static and shifting loads on them, then simulate extreme weather like high winds.

If a panel’s glass, frame, and cells don’t crack under the pressure and changing conditions, they should be able to pass the test.

Just like in the Thermal Cycling test, the bar for success was set at less than 2% power degradation – and 95% of panels succeeded.

For customers in the UK, where high winds and falling tree branches are sometimes problems, this fact is a comforting one.

Hail Stress Sequence

Climate change is fuelling an increase in the size of hailstones all over the world, causing billions of dollars in damage each year in the US alone.

It’s therefore absolutely worth analysing solar panels to see if they can deal with this hazard without any glass breaking or cells cracking.

To test each panel’s durability, Kiwa PVEL pelts it with lab-made ice balls that measure between 3.5 and 5.5cm, varying the density, shape, and velocity in the same way for every model.

To become a Top Performer, panels must emerge unscathed from a bombardment of ice balls that measure at least 4cm.

Just 64 panels passed this test, which is well under half of the models examined by Kiwa PVEL.

Potential Induced Degradation (PID)

This test measures how much current is lost as it moves around a solar panel – and how this amount changes over time.

If a panel doesn’t handle current well, letting a large proportion slip away with every circuit, you don’t want it on your roof.

The chemical make-up of your panels’ glass, anti-reflective coating, and encapsulating material (the plastic which goes above and below the cells) all has a large influence on how much of an effect PID will have on your system.

To assess how vulnerable panels are to PID, Kiwa-PVEL exposes them to high temperatures and humidity. To pass, models must emerge with less than 2% power degradation.

Ultimately, just 58% of panels passed the test.

Light Induced Degradation (LID)

Both LID and another, similar effect called LETID (Light and Elevated Temperature Induced Degradation) can cause a significant drop in your solar panels’ efficiency.

LID can result in a system’s efficiency falling by up to 13.8% at first, with a 1% to 3% per year drop afterwards.

It’s caused by small amounts of oxygen left in the molten silicon during the panels’ manufacturing process.

When light shines on your system, the oxygen can combine with the boron in your panel, creating an entity that captures electrons, disrupts the solar process, and gets worse as the years pass.

The other malfunction of this type, LETID, is brought about by high levels of sunlight in soaring temperatures – typically above 50°C. Over several years, the phenomenon can cause a 10% power loss.

It’s not entirely clear why LETID happens. Currently, researchers think the common industrial production technique of rapidly heating and cooling solar cells is a big factor, while metal contamination and a panel’s hydrogen content are also believed to be influential.

While LID typically happens in the first few weeks after installation, LETID can take years to emerge, which makes it harder to track the causes and effects.

Both LID and LETID can affect most solar panels on the market – and even if temperatures are unlikely to hit 50°C where you are, it’s worth knowing your system can cope with light and heat.

To pass the Kiwa PVEL test, panels had to experience less than 1% of degradation – combined – across the LID and LETID results. 96% of panels succeeded in meeting this mark.

PAN performance

This test examines whether panels are as good at producing electricity as their manufacturers say they are.

‘PAN’ refers to computer files with the extension ‘.PAN’ that contain a solar panel’s calculated performance.

Kiwa PVEL takes these files, which are made by manufacturers for simulations, and tests them extensively across a wide range of temperatures and light levels.

The test disposes of all assumptions made by solar companies that could create a more favourable outcome for their panels, and instead relies on neutral, objective data.

Top Performers in this test must finish in the top quartile of panels for overall electricity output.

So instead of relying on manufacturers or suppliers who may mould data into a more appealing shape, Kiwa PVEL gives you impartial results you can trust.

Damp Heat

Heat and humidity can break down the materials that keep a solar panel together, leading it to lose functionality or even stop working entirely.

To test how well panels deal with these conditions, Kiwa PVEL puts models in a chamber with a temperature of 85°C and a humidity level of 85%, and leaves them there for two periods of 1,000 hours each.

Overall, the panels spend more than 83 days in these incredibly sweltering rooms.

To reach Top Performer level, panels must exit the chamber with less than 2% power degradation – which 69% of them did in 2024.

As with most of these trials, the scenario isn’t a realistic depiction of what a system in the UK will face – but knowing panels can endure these punishing scenarios allows you to buy with confidence.

Next steps

We’ve laid out the best solar panels and the brands that make them, based on a demanding set of tests that put them all through the wringer.

These panels are all, objectively, the cream of the crop – which means you can rely on them to function at a high level for decades, saving you thousands of pounds along the way.

The next step is to get in touch with installers and see which ones use these top-tier products.

If you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll generate an estimate.

Best solar panels: FAQs