Canadian Solar vs Gintech - solar panel manufacturer comparison
Canadian Solar has the broader catalog (292 vs 7 models). Canadian Solar leads on peak efficiency at 24.40%. Canadian Solar leans bifacial (46% 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
Canadian Solar Inc. is a global renewable energy company founded in 2001. Headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, it manufactures solar PV modules and provides battery energy storage solutions. The company also develops utility-scale solar power and battery energy storage projects.
- Founded
- 2001
- Headquarters
- Kitchener, Canada
- Annual capacity
- 51 GW/year
- Employees
- 17,113
- Listed
- NASDAQ: CSIQ
- Tier 1 bankable
- Yes
Gintech Energy Corporation was a Taiwanese manufacturer of crystalline silicon solar cells and modules, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Zhunan, Hsinchu Science Park. The company produced mono- and multi-crystalline solar cells under its Diamond, Douro, and Phoenix product lines. In January 2018, Gintech merged...
- Founded
- 2005
- Headquarters
- Zhunan (Hsinchu Science Park), Taiwan
- Employees
- 1000-2000
- Listed
- TWSE: 3514
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
Canadian Solar skews to higher efficiency: 13% of lineup is 23%+
Canadian Solar offers more 600W+ panels (24% of lineup)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>PERC</strong> (67%)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>PERC</strong> (29%)
The flagships
Written summary
Canadian Solar is a Canadian manufacturer headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, founded in 2001 by Dr. Shawn Qu, now operating in more than 20 countries with roughly 20,000 employees. It holds Tier 1 status on BloombergNEF's bankability list and appears on S&P Global's Premier List of Tier 1 Cleantech Companies, with module manufacturing capacity exceeding 50 GW per year, placing it among the largest and most bankable module suppliers worldwide. Gintech Energy, by contrast, was a Taiwanese solar cell manufacturer founded in 2005 in the Hsinchu Science Park that at its peak ran a large single-site cell production facility, but it has not existed as an independent brand since October 1, 2018, when it merged with Neo Solar Power and Solartech Energy to form United Renewable Energy. The institutional footprints of the two names are therefore not comparable: Canadian Solar is an active, globally recognized manufacturer, while Gintech is effectively a defunct brand today.
Canadian Solar's current lineup spans TOPCon modules (including the TOPBiHiKu and TOPCon 3.0 series, reaching around 700 W with efficiencies up to 24.8 percent) as well as HJT modules, covering residential rooftop systems, commercial and industrial (C&I) installations, and utility-scale ground-mount projects. Gintech, during its years of operation, focused solely on producing silicon solar cells (primarily PERC and mono-Si technology) that it supplied to module makers, including Canadian Solar itself, which in 2008 signed an annual cell supply contract with Gintech worth about USD 60 million - illustrating a supplier relationship rather than genuine brand-to-brand competition.
For a typical buyer today, whether sourcing panels for a rooftop project or a utility-scale array, Canadian Solar is the only practically available option of the two: it offers a current product catalog, warranty and service support, and recognized bankability. Gintech is no longer sold as a module brand, so this comparison is effectively a historical one rather than a real purchasing choice.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 5 · 2026-10-05
Other brand comparisons
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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.