AE Solar vs Runda Solar - solar panel manufacturer comparison
AE Solar has the broader catalog (646 vs 6 models). AE Solar leads on peak efficiency at 24.43%. Runda Solar leans bifacial (100% of lineup).
Both catalogues are read from the manufacturers' own datasheets. A brand is not scored against the market here, only against the other brand on this page.
The two companies
AE Solar is a German Tier 1 manufacturer of high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) modules. The company specializes in producing durable and innovative solar panels with German engineering standards, offering solutions for residential, commercial, and utility-scale applications. AE Solar operates in over 100 countries and...
- Founded
- 2003
- Headquarters
- Gersthofen, Germany
- Annual capacity
- 2+ GW/year
- Employees
- 501-1000
- Tier 1 bankable
- Yes
Runda Solar (Jiangsu Runda PV Co., Ltd.) is a high-tech company dedicated to manufacturing world-class solar photovoltaic modules. The company's business covers the entire photovoltaic industry chain, including R&D, production, and sales of PV modules, as well as energy storage and smart grid solutions. Runda Solar...
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China
- Annual capacity
- 4GW (modules), 8GW (cells), 1GWh (energy storage) GW/year
- Employees
- 800+
Catalogue against catalogue
An average over a catalogue describes the range a manufacturer publishes, not the module you would buy. A brand with two flagship panels and eighty older ones averages worse than one that has retired its back catalogue.
What each of them builds
Runda Solar skews to higher efficiency: 67% of lineup is 23%+
Runda Solar offers more 600W+ panels (100% of lineup)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>TOPCon</strong> (54%)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>TOPCon</strong> (100%)
The flagships
Written summary
Runda Solar, operating as Jiangsu Runda PV Co., Ltd., is a Chinese manufacturer founded in 2009 and headquartered in Jiangsu Province. The company holds TUV and UL certifications and meets IEC61215 and IEC61730 standards, and its panels are distributed across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America through a network of regional offices. No BloombergNEF Tier 1 listing for Runda was found in available sources, which places it outside the bankability tier occupied by larger Chinese peers. AE Solar, by contrast, was founded in 2003 and maintains its headquarters in Konigsbruck, Germany, with manufacturing in China and Turkey at an annual capacity of roughly 2 GW. The company has appeared on the BloombergNEF Tier 1 PV Module Manufacturer list for five consecutive years - most recently confirmed for Q1 2026 - giving it a notably stronger institutional footprint for project finance purposes.
On the product side, Runda offers a broad technology mix spanning PERC, TOPCon, and HJT modules, targeting residential rooftops through to commercial ground-mount applications. In January 2025 its N-type bifacial glass-glass series received European Fire Protection Class 1 certification, signaling a push into premium building-integrated segments. AE Solar's current flagship is the Meteor series, an N-type TOPCon line rated at 430 W to 440 W with module efficiency of up to 22.57% and a low temperature coefficient of -0.29%/C. The Meteor series earned a Kiwa PVEL Top Performer Award in 2025 and a five-star rating in a PV Magazine module test, and AE Solar backs its N-type panels with a 30-year power warranty guaranteeing at least 87.4% output at end of life.
For a buyer in 2025 who needs documented bankability for project financing, AE Solar is the clearer choice. Runda Solar may suit cost-sensitive buyers or markets where BloombergNEF certification is not a lender requirement, but the absence of confirmed Tier 1 status makes it harder to recommend as a default for institutional or utility-scale procurement.
Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-05-14
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Comparisons are computed from manufacturer datasheets held in the ComparePV database and may not reflect a brand's complete current lineup. Nothing on this page is paid placement.