World electronics firm Panasonic introduced on Monday plans to shut its photo voltaic and vitality storage department. The corporate produced photo voltaic panels, inverters and batteries for the residential marketplace for over 25 years and was as soon as a significant photo voltaic provider to SolarCity/Tesla dealers. Panasonic stated it will honor all warranties, and clients can email the company for assist.
“We’ve got made the choice to discontinue our photo voltaic and battery storage enterprise line. This transformation permits us to concentrate on areas the place we will have the best strategic impression. We stay assured within the expertise and grateful to our companions and clients who’ve supported this journey,” acknowledged Panasonic on its website.
“We’re dedicated to a clean transition and can proceed to supply buyer assist to current clients, in addition to future clients who’re present process installations and commissioning. Please relaxation assured that each one warranties might be honored for each put in merchandise and people not but put in. The place third-party warranties apply, we’ll proceed to assist our clients by offering clear path and factors of contact. Help stays out there by way of our web site and our devoted photo voltaic and battery storage electronic mail at panasonicsolar@us.panasonic.com.”
Panasonic can hint its expertise in photo voltaic panel manufacturing again 40 years. SANYO Electrical first developed heterojunction technology (HJT) within the Eighties, advertising and marketing the superior photo voltaic panels as “HIT” for “Heterojunction with Intrinsic Skinny-layer expertise.” Panasonic acquired SANYO in 2009, and its HIT panels dominated the U.S. photo voltaic market within the early 2010s.
Panasonic as soon as produced solar cells in the United States and operated photo voltaic panel factories in Malaysia and Japan till 2022, till it outsourced panel manufacturing to an OEM. Panasonic additionally transitioned to panels with bigger wafers to observe business tendencies.
On the time, Panasonic director of photo voltaic Mukesh Sethi exclusively told Solar Power World that the choice to finish in-house manufacturing was monetary.
“We’ve got been the pioneer in heterojunction expertise, making panels for the previous 25 years. We’ve got made appreciable progress in effectivity and output over time. We’ve got elevated our manufacturing capability so many occasions by opening new manufacturing strains and services, however over the previous two to a few years, the photo voltaic business has modified significantly. The price of photo voltaic panels and cells have dropped, and new applied sciences have emerged, requiring large upfront investments in larger cells,” he stated. “So as an alternative of specializing in manufacturing the photo voltaic panels, which has change into a low-margin enterprise class now with the ever-falling costs and altering applied sciences, making it tough for producers to maintain up with the continual funding in new equipment, now we have determined to outsource the manufacturing so we will simply concentrate on designing and promoting the product.”
After going by a number of transitions, Panasonic most not too long ago landed on its EverVolt line of photo voltaic panels and batteries. Model ambassador Michael Phelps put in Panasonic panels, batteries and related parts at his Arizona home last summer and appeared at RE+ to advertise the corporate.
Panasonic additionally supported a strong installer program, offering advantages and enterprise alternatives to approved, premium and elite tiers of installers throughout the nation. Licensed Panasonic installers had unique entry to the corporate’s photo voltaic and storage merchandise.
The three most important gamers in residential photo voltaic within the 2010s — Panasonic, LG and SunPower — have now all exited the market. LG closed its photo voltaic division in 2022, and SunPower offered its panel tech to Maxeon in 2020 earlier than ultimately going bankrupt as an installer last year.
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