---
title: "Solarwatt vs Trina Solar - Brand Comparison | ComparePV"
description: "Compare Solarwatt vs Trina Solar solar panels: full portfolio, efficiency, cell technology breakdown, warranty terms and company background."
source: "https://comparepv.com/solarwatt-vs-trina-solar"
---

# Solarwatt vs Trina Solar

Trina Solar has the broader catalog (340 vs 44 models). Trina Solar leads on peak efficiency at 24.80%.


## The two companies


| Attribute | Solarwatt | Trina Solar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Country | Germany | China |
| Headquarters | Dresden | Changzhou |
| Founded | 1993 | 1997 |
| Employees |  |  |
| Annual capacity |  |  |
| Tier 1 | no | yes |
| Listed |  |  |
| Website | [https://www.solarwatt.com](https://www.solarwatt.com) | [https://www.trinasolar.com](https://www.trinasolar.com) |


## Catalog & Power


| Measure | Solarwatt | Trina Solar | Margin |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Panel Models | 44 | 340 | +296 |
| Max Power | 460 W | 760 W | +300 W |
| Avg Power | 385 W | 520 W | +135 W |


## Efficiency


| Measure | Solarwatt | Trina Solar | Margin |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Max Efficiency | 23.00% | 24.80% | +1.80 pp |
| Avg Efficiency | 20.56% | 21.71% | +1.15 pp |


## Reliability & Warranty


| Measure | Solarwatt | Trina Solar | Margin |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Avg Temp Coefficient | -0.330%/°C | -0.302%/°C | +0.028 |
| Bifacial Share | 22 (50%) | 145 (43%) | +7 pp |
| Avg Warranty | 29.0 yrs | 28.2 yrs | +0.8 yr |


## Efficiency distribution

Trina Solar skews to higher efficiency: 22% of lineup is 23%+


| Efficiency band | Solarwatt | Trina Solar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| \<20% | 13 (29.5%) | 22 (6.5%) |
| 20-21% | 19 (43.2%) | 57 (16.8%) |
| 21-22% | 2 (4.5%) | 83 (24.4%) |
| 22-23% | 9 (20.5%) | 102 (30.0%) |
| 23%+ | 1 (2.3%) | 76 (22.4%) |


## Power distribution

Trina Solar offers more 600W+ panels (34% of lineup)


| Power band | Solarwatt | Trina Solar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| \<400W | 20 (45.5%) | 28 (8.2%) |
| 400-499W | 24 (54.5%) | 142 (41.8%) |
| 500-599W | 0 | 54 (15.9%) |
| 600-699W | 0 | 72 (21.2%) |
| 700W+ | 0 | 44 (12.9%) |


## Cell technology

Dominant cell tech: **PERC** (77%)

Dominant cell tech: **TOPCon** (73%)


| Technology | Solarwatt | Trina Solar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PERC | 34 (77.3%) | 75 (22.1%) |
| TOPCon | 10 (22.7%) | 248 (72.9%) |
| Unknown | 0 | 11 (3.2%) |
| N-type | 0 | 6 (1.8%) |


## Top panels, Solarwatt


| # | Model | Power | Efficiency | Temp. coefficient | Technology |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 460 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-460-wp) | 460 | 23.0 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 2 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 455 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-455-wp) | 455 | 22.8 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 3 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 450 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-450-wp) | 450 | 22.5 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 4 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 450Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-450wp) | 450 | 22.5 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 5 | [vision M 5.0 450 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-vision-m-5-0-450-wp) | 450 | 22.5 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 6 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 445 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-445-wp) | 445 | 22.3 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 7 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 445Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-445wp) | 445 | 22.3 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 8 | [vision M 5.0 445 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-vision-m-5-0-445-wp) | 445 | 22.3 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 9 | [SOLARWATT Panel vision M 5.0 440Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-solarwatt-panel-vision-m-5-0-440wp) | 440 | 22.0 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 10 | [vision M 5.0 440 Wp](https://comparepv.com/panel/solarwatt-vision-m-5-0-440-wp) | 440 | 22.0 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |


## Top panels, Trina Solar


| # | Model | Power | Efficiency | Temp. coefficient | Technology |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [TSM-NEG21C.20Q-760](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20q-760) | 760 | 24.5 | -0.260 | Monocrystalline |
| 2 | [TSM-NEG21C.20Q-755](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20q-755) | 755 | 24.3 | -0.260 | Monocrystalline |
| 3 | [TSM-NEG21C.20Q-750](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20q-750) | 750 | 24.1 | -0.260 | Monocrystalline |
| 4 | [TSM-NEG21C.20Q-745](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20q-745) | 745 | 24.0 | -0.260 | Monocrystalline |
| 5 | [TSM-NEG21C.20-740](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-co-ltd-tsm-neg21c-20-740) | 740 | 23.8 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 6 | [TSM-NEG21C.20 740](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20-740) | 740 | 23.8 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 7 | [TSM-NEG21C.20Q-740](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20q-740) | 740 | 23.8 | -0.260 | Monocrystalline |
| 8 | [TSM-NEG21C.20-735](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-co-ltd-tsm-neg21c-20-735) | 735 | 23.7 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 9 | [TSM-NEG21C.20 735](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20-735) | 735 | 23.7 | -0.290 | Monocrystalline |
| 10 | [TSM-NEG21C.20Q-735](https://comparepv.com/panel/trina-solar-tsm-neg21c-20q-735) | 735 | 23.7 | -0.260 | Monocrystalline |


## Summary

Solarwatt is a German manufacturer founded in 1993 in Dresden, Saxony, majority-owned by Stefan Quandt, who also holds a significant stake in BMW. The company built its reputation as the European pioneer of glass-glass solar module technology and targets the premium residential segment, backing its entire range with a 30-year product and performance warranty. Solarwatt does not appear on BloombergNEF's Tier 1 bankability register - a classification oriented toward large-project financing rather than module quality - and it operated a single 300 MW Dresden manufacturing facility before announcing its closure in 2024, citing the economic difficulty of German-based production and shifting manufacturing elsewhere. Trina Solar, founded in 1997 in Changzhou, China, operates at an entirely different scale: it holds BloombergNEF Tier 1 status, has shipped over 260 GW of modules cumulatively as of end-2024, targets module production capacity of around 120 GW per year, and reported full-year 2024 revenue of approximately $11 billion USD. Trina has also achieved PVEL Top Performer recognition for eleven consecutive years. In terms of institutional footprint and global bankability, Trina Solar is the substantially larger of the two.

Solarwatt's range is built exclusively around glass-glass double-glazed construction, making its panels particularly well-suited to long-life residential rooftop installations in demanding climates where durability over conventional glass-foil modules matters most. Its focus is intentionally narrow - homeowners and small commercial rooftops in Europe. Trina Solar serves a far wider set of use cases, from residential rooftop to commercial and industrial (C&I) to utility-scale ground-mounted projects. Its Vertex series uses 210mm large-format wafers with TOPCon cell technology, achieving efficiencies of up to 22.5%, and its manufacturing plants in China, Thailand, and Vietnam provide supply-chain resilience valued in large procurement contracts.

For residential buyers in Germany or markets where Solarwatt has strong installer distribution, its premium glass-glass construction and 30-year warranty make a compelling case for buyers prioritizing longevity over cost. For commercial, utility, or international buyers - particularly those where BloombergNEF Tier 1 status is a project-finance requirement - Trina Solar is the stronger default choice. The two brands are not interchangeable: they compete in different niches and serve meaningfully different buyer profiles.

Written by claude-sonnet from the figures above.


## Other comparisons

- [Solarwatt vs A.B. Energy](https://comparepv.com/solarwatt-vs-a-b-energy)
- [AE Solar vs Trina Solar](https://comparepv.com/ae-solar-vs-trina-solar)
- [Solarwatt vs AEET](https://comparepv.com/solarwatt-vs-aeet)
- [AIKO vs Trina Solar](https://comparepv.com/aiko-vs-trina-solar)
- [Solarwatt vs AKCOME](https://comparepv.com/solarwatt-vs-akcome)
- [ARTsolar vs Trina Solar](https://comparepv.com/artsolar-vs-trina-solar)


---

Source: https://comparepv.com/solarwatt-vs-trina-solar

Not in this file, on the page: the distributions above drawn as charts.