Canadian Solar vs Ulica Solar - solar panel manufacturer comparison
Canadian Solar has the broader catalog (292 vs 76 models). Canadian Solar leads on peak efficiency at 24.40%. Ulica Solar leans bifacial (58% 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
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
Ulica Solar skews to higher efficiency: 14% of lineup is 23%+
Ulica Solar offers more 600W+ panels (43% of lineup)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>PERC</strong> (67%)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>TOPCon</strong> (95%)
The flagships
Written summary
Canadian Solar is a Canadian-founded company (headquartered in Guelph, Ontario) that has been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006. It is one of the most persistently bankable names in the industry - Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has placed it on its Tier 1 list every year since 2014, and in 2025 it also made S&P Global Commodity Insights' Premier List of Tier 1 Cleantech Companies. Full-year module shipments reached approximately 30.7 GW in 2024, with planned module manufacturing capacity projected to exceed 51 GW by end of 2025. Ulica Solar, formally Ningbo Ulica Solar Science and Technology Co., Ltd., is a Chinese manufacturer based in Ningbo that was established in 2005 as a subsidiary of Shanshan Co., one of China's largest conglomerates. It achieved BNEF Tier 1 recognition as of Q1 2020, and operates an annual cell and module capacity reported at around 3 GW across its facilities. By nearly every institutional metric - shipment scale, exchange listing, and sustained bankability history - Canadian Solar carries the significantly stronger footprint.
In terms of product range, Canadian Solar serves the full market spectrum: its HiHero series uses heterojunction (HJT) cell technology and targets premium residential and commercial rooftops, while its TOPHiKu and TOPBiHiKu lines use TOPCon technology for utility-scale ground-mount and large commercial applications. Ulica Solar's catalog is weighted toward N-type TOPCon modules and covers residential through mid-scale commercial applications, with a broad bifacial offering suited to projects where rear-side gain is a priority.
For a typical buyer in 2025, Canadian Solar is the lower-risk default: its decade-long consistent Tier 1 status, NASDAQ-listed financial transparency, and multi-GW annual output make project financing and long-term warranty claims considerably easier to underwrite. Ulica Solar is a credible alternative for cost-sensitive projects, particularly where a narrower product spec meets the requirement, but it lacks the same depth of global institutional track record.
Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-06-18
Other brand comparisons
Shop prices: See 40 Canadian Solar offers · See 8 Ulica Solar offers
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.