There is no doubt that China is the leading manufacturer of critical PV, Inverter & Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in the world. With that said however, there are now a plethora of brands which can make it hard for customers to determine the quality and bankability of these suppliers. The term “Tier 1” is so commonly thrown around and with so many brands forming part of this category, it seems that this is the new norm.
Bloomberg defines a Tier 1 solar manufacturer as “those which have provided products to five different projects which have been financed non-recourse by five different (non-development) banks in the past two years”.
If the long-term performance of your solar assets are important to you, then making sure you have performed your technical due diligence is key to EPCs, Developers & Financiers in securing their financial returns at reduced risk.