A comparison by MyBroadband shows that the prices of South Africa’s locally assembled solar panels compete fairly well with those imported from overseas.

The vast majority of solar panels sold in South Africa are sourced from China, the world’s biggest solar panel, inverter, and battery manufacturer.

The country has increased its share of the global solar panel market to over 80% compared to about 40% a decade ago.

That can be attributed to a range of factors — including its vast production lines, established supply chains, economies of scale, cheap labour and ample land for factories.

China’s government has also helped assure its dominance in this sector by providing significant subsidies to solar panel manufacturers, enabling them to make panels at a significantly lower cost than other countries.

While many governments argue that the subsidies amount to unfair trade, China has undoubtedly played a critical role in making solar panels more affordable to people around the world.

Major Tier-1 Chinese brands that have flooded the South African market include Canadian Solar, JA Solar, Jinko, Longi, and Trina Solar.

However, newly imported panels from these brands are now subject to an additional tax intended to support South Africa’s local manufacturers.

The International Trade Commission of South Africa (ITAC SA) recently implemented a 10% duty on imported solar panels, cells, and modules.

ITAC said the duty sought to assist in protecting the remaining local manufacturers, attract new investments into the industry, and encourage the deepening of the value chain through the localisation of certain inputs.

The intervention came seven years after ARTSolar — one of just a handful of local solar panel manufacturers — applied for the duty.

ARTSolar is a 100% locally-owned company that is currently the only PV manufacturer in the country with high-volume production capabilities for utility-scale sites.

Its production facility in New Germany, KwaZulu-Natal, can laminate, test, and frame PV modules.

ARTSolar itself has admitted that the 10% duty would not materially impact its business because of the oversupply of panels in the market.

Solar installers and stores still have large amounts of stock due to the surge in demand during record-breaking load-shedding in 2023, followed by a prolonged period without the power cuts strangling demand.

However, ARTSolar argued the duty would at least equalise the cost between local and imported panels for large-scale commercial projects.

That formed the basis of its original application to ITAC, in which it argued that local panel makers had no meaningful work in the industry as the last Renewable Energy Independent Producer Programme project ended due to a flood of low-priced imports.

To participate in these projects, manufacturers must have a certain portion of their equipment made locally.

ARTSolar’s selection limited — but prices not exorbitant

MyBroadband compared the prices of ARTSolar’s panels with similar Chinese models available from major online stores specialising in solar and backup power equipment.

All ARTSolar models come with a 12-year product guarantee and a 30-year linear power guarantee, which is comparable to Tier-1 manufacturers’.

Efficiency and environmental protection features are also aligned with current industry standards.

At the time of publication, ARTSolar only listed three solar panels in its online shop, with capacities of 500W, 545W, and 550W.

Two of those capacities — 500W and 550W — are difficult to find among the major Chinese manufacturers. We therefore also looked at the prices of three more common similar sizes — 505W, 555W, and 565W.

The most affordable ARTSolar 500W panel is R1,811, while the cheapest Chinese-made model is a 555W Jinko Solar unit, which is available from Solar & Inverter Warehouse for R1,625.

The 550W ARTSolar model costs just R61 more than the 500W unit, so it would be the better value-for-money choice.

Chinese panels that had similar pricing included the Canadian Solar 550W and 555W models.

If 10% were added to the retail prices of the internationally manufactured panels, ARTSolar’s prices would be much more competitive.

In addition, ARTSolar recently held a sale offering the following prices:

• 500W full black — R1,500
• 545W bi-facial — R1,450
• 585W full black — R1,900

Based on the pricing seen by MyBroadband, South Africans wishing to support local jobs and industry can consider ARTSolar as an alternative to the major Chinese brands.

The table below compares the prices of solar panels from local manufacturer ARTSolar with major Chinese brands available from well-known online retailers.