If you’re in the market for home solar power and your installer gave you a quote for Waaree solar panels, you might be looking for information on whether they’re a good choice. You came to the right place!
Waaree solar panels are made in India and are now available in the United States, particularly from SunPower, although they haven’t yet been used in many installations. They are a decent middle-cost option that should perform well for decades to come.
Read on to learn more about this newer solar brand!
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- Waaree is an Indian company that has been making solar panels since 2009.
- Solar installations using Waaree solar panels cost about 10% more than average.
- The company’s current offering in the United States is limited to one model: the WSMDi-400, which is made with 132 half-cut mono PERC solar cells and can output 400 watts under full sun.
- Waaree includes two warranties for the WSMDi-400: 12 years of product and materials coverage and a 27-year performance guarantee.
- The WSMDi-400 is also rumored to be sold by SunPower under the “U Series” brand name, with additional labor warranties covered by SunPower.
- These solar panels are not the best-performing on the market, but they are based on the most popular technology currently available and made in a highly-automated facility, so they are high-quality products that should last for decades to come.
About the company
Waaree Energies Limited is an India-based company that was started in 2009 (as a subsidiary of Waaree Group, an Indian company founded in 1989). The company now produces many kinds of solar products, including inverters, solar street lights, and portable solar chargers. But Waaree solar panels for residential rooftops are the flagship product in the United States.
Waaree currently has 12 GW of manufacturing capacity in two facilities on India’s west coast, north of Mumbai. This makes them quite a large manufacturer.
Here’s a video from Waaree that shows older polycrystalline modules being made in the company’s highly-automated facility.
Cost
Waaree is a newer brand in the United States, so there is limited information about system cost. Early indications from the California interconnection database suggest that solar installations that use Waaree solar panels cost about 10% more than the average.
The current nationwide average cost of solar panels is $3 per watt, so expect to pay between $3 and $3.30 per watt if paying cash for a home solar system with Waaree solar panels. That translates to about $18,000 to $19,800 for an average-sized 6 kW solar system.
Current products
The only Waaree solar module currently available in the United States is the WSMDi-400. It was used in very few installations during 2022, but more of these panels are becoming available as the U.S. continues to see increases in demand for home solar panels.
As its name suggests, the WSMDi-400 is a 400-watt solar panel. It is made using 132 half-cut PERC solar cells, and has an efficiency rating of 20.03%. That is about industry average, but not as high as the 22.8% reached by the most efficient solar panels.
There are also various claims that Waaree WSMDi-400 modules are part of the SunPower U-Series lineup. SunPower is known for selling some of the highest-quality solar panels in the world, manufactured by Maxeon, but that quality comes at a very high price, so SunPower offers the U-Series for customers who want a somewhat lower-cost option.
Waaree’s solar panel warranty
Waaree’s WSMDi400 panels come with both a product warranty and a power output warranty. You can find Waaree’s warranty document here (look for the information about panels that use half-cut M6 cells).
The product warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 12 years, and provides that the company will repair or replace any defective modules or refund the customer a prorated amount based on the number of years they’ve been in service.
The power output warranty for the WSMDi states that the panels will output no less than 98% of their rated output during the first year, and that their output will degrade by no more than 0.55% per year from year 2 to year 27. By the end of 27 years, the warranty says the panels must still exhibit at least 83.7% of their rated output.
If you purchase Waaree solar panels as part of a SunPower Equinox system, SunPower extends the product warranty to 25 years, and also covers the labor to remove and replace any defective panels.
Bottom line: are Waaree solar panels worth it?
Waaree solar panels use industry standard technology and are comparable to products from better-known brands like Qcells and Canadian Solar. The company’s products won’t win any awards for being the absolute best or most efficient, but they should perform as specified for at least three decades after installation.
In our opinion, it would be wise to pay no more than a $3.30 per watt cash price for a solar installation that uses Waaree solar panels (or maybe about $3.90 per watt if financed). Getting the extra SunPower labor warranty protection can make the extra 10% above the average cost of a solar system worth it.
Thi Deremer
Solar Policy Analyst and Researcher
Ben Zientara is a writer, researcher, and solar policy analyst who has written about the residential solar industry, the electric grid, and state utility policy since 2013.