Canadian Solar vs Solplanet - solar panel manufacturer comparison
Canadian Solar has the broader catalog (292 vs 0 models). 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
Solplanet, a brand of AISWEI, manufactures user-friendly and reliable solar inverters, EV chargers and monitoring solutions. AISWEI, formerly SMA's Chinese subsidiary, has been manufacturing high-quality products since 2007. The company is driven by the idea of 'solar for everybody', making solar energy accessible...
- Founded
- 2007
- Headquarters
- Shanghai, China
- Annual capacity
- 10 GW/year
- Employees
- 127
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%)
The flagships
Written summary
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Ontario, Canada, and has grown into one of the world's largest vertically integrated solar manufacturers. It is publicly listed on Nasdaq and is consistently recognized as a Tier 1 bankable manufacturer by financial institutions cited in BloombergNEF and Wood Mackenzie assessments. With a reported module production capacity above 60 GW annually and manufacturing sites across China, Southeast Asia, and a newer facility in Texas, Canadian Solar carries one of the strongest institutional footprints in the global solar industry.
Solplanet is the consumer-facing brand of AISWEI Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese company that was formerly the Chinese manufacturing subsidiary of SMA Solar Technology before becoming independent in April 2019. AISWEI's core business is solar inverters - with more than 3 GW of annual inverter production capacity - and the Solplanet brand is best established for string and hybrid inverters deployed across Europe and the Asia-Pacific. While Solplanet does offer a panel lineup in the residential-friendly 380-460 W range, it does not feature on major Tier 1 panel bankability rankings, and independent third-party panel reviews are comparatively sparse. In terms of institutional standing as a panel maker, Canadian Solar occupies a materially different position.
Canadian Solar's module portfolio ranges from value-oriented PERC products to higher-efficiency N-type TOPCon offerings under the HiKu6 and HiKu7 families, with the latter reaching large-format outputs suited to utility-scale ground mounts. Solplanet's panel lineup, positioned at the residential end of the market, lacks the same depth of documented field performance and certification coverage. For a typical buyer in 2025, Canadian Solar is the stronger default choice as a solar panel manufacturer, offering better-documented performance, wider installer familiarity, and deeper bankability credentials. Solplanet is a credible and growing brand for inverters and may suit cost-sensitive residential buyers open to a less-established panel name, but the two are not interchangeable across the range of commercial or utility use cases.
Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-06-26
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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.