Adelaide-based Tindo Solar has today launched its first panel aimed at the utility-scale segment. Ahead of its product listing with the Clean Energy Council, the 545W Karra module was evaluated by TUV SUD Korea which found the panel actually generated 5 watts more than its rating.
Specifically, the engineers at TUV found Tindo’s utility-scale panel produced 549W of power at around 21% module efficiency and 23.1% cell efficiency, recording a 0.07% cell-to-module (CTM) loss. The industry average energy efficiency of a solar module is between 17 and 19%, and the average CTM loss is 2-3%, Tindo noted.
The testing, Tindo said, found its 545W Karra module “one of the most efficient panels available in the world.”
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The 545W panel is considerably larger than Tindo’s largest residential rooftop module, the 410W Karra, and is specifically designed to be used in utility-scale arrays, either on a rooftop or ground-mounted applications. It is 2283mm x 1149mm in size, weighs 29kg and includes a 25-year limited product warranty.
The panel was designed to coincide with its new production line in South Australia that uses the latest global standard for solar cells, the M10, Tindo said, adding that the new product will be available in commercial qualities from March 2022. “Over the next decade there will be a steeper increase in demand for panels in large-scale projects than from our core market of rooftop retail and commercial,” Tindo Solar Chief Executive Officer, Shayne Jaenisch, said.
Jaenisch added the typical utility-scale panel used in Australia is imported and doesn’t require a Clean Energy Council (CEC) listing. Jaenisch said there was strong interest in Australia-made panels built for utility applications, which reflected concerns about performance but was also linked to waste going to landfills and alleged forced labor in foreign supply chains.
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