Canadian Solar and Sunrun have signed an agreement that Canadian Solar will supply 112 MW of solar panels to Sunrun in 2016. They will be CS6P-260|265P panels, which are 260 or 265 watts, with a module efficiency up to 16.47%. They also have a product warranty of 10 years and a linear power output warranty of 25 years.
“We are pleased to be working with an industry leader like Canadian Solar to ensure our customers have a great customer experience and access to high quality modules for their home solar systems. As North America’s largest module manufacturer, Canadian Solar believes wholeheartedly in our corporate mission of making a difference in the lives of others through solar. Together with Sunrun, this joint collaboration will help allow us to reach new solar users and spread the word about the incredible power of solar energy,” explained Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar.
The number of panels to be delivered is over 43,000, which seems much more than when you first read the 112 MW figure.
So, what is the huge purchase of solar panels for? There doesn’t appear to be any indication specifically about what they will be used for, but it’s easy enough to imagine why — increasing demand for Sunrun’s rooftop solar systems.
“Supporting its growth on into the future, Sunrun is also expanding its supply chain, announcing that it is adding 7 new warehouses in a very short 4-week period. I’m sure it feels shorter for them as I recently supported a major supply chain upgrade and it requires close coordination across many functions — especially on a timeline like this. Specifically, Sunrun is adding warehouses in Baltimore, MD; Bakersfield, CA; Marlton, NJ; Hartford, CT; Somerset and Stockton, CA… and one more yet to be announced,” wrote a Solar Love author, Kyle Field. In fact, Sunrun has had over 100,000 solar power customers — it would be reasonable to assume they need more space to store solar panels that will be moved quickly to customer rooftops.
Sunrun was only founded in 2007, so getting to a level with over 100,000 customers is very impressive, but for some reason, you probably won’t see any reporting about this achievement in the mainstream media.
Canadian Solar, one of the largest solar power companies in the world, has shipped over 12 GW of solar panels — this too is a great achievement you won’t hear about on the nightly news.
