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A new survey shows that most Australian solar installers are not concerned about solar panel and battery brands, but have a clear preference when it comes to inverters. Fronius has been rated Australia’s most popular residential inverter brand by the nation’s solar installers. A recent survey by market research firm Solar Nerds shows that more than one-quarter of installers prefer to use the Austrian manufacturer’s products. The survey, which canvassed the opinions of more than 250 solar installers from around the country, shows that 27.1% of respondents prefer to use Fronius Inverters. Inverters from Chinese manufacturer Sungrow attracted the support of 18.69% of installers, but in a blow for manufacturer loyalty, another 17.76% said they had no preference when it comes to which brand they work with. The lack of brand loyalty was even more pronounced with solar panels and battery energy storage systems, with 25.23% of installers saying they don’t have a favorite solar panel to work with, while 23.26% said the same about battery systems. Chinese manufacturing major Trina Solar was the most popular of the solar panels, with 14.02% of installers preferring to work with them, ahead of JinkoSolar (13.08%) and Longi (8.41%). Solar Nerds said Sungrow (20.56%) and Tesla (18.69%) were popular battery choices, with BYD (8.41%) the next most favored choice. Sydney-based solar design provider Pylon was the most popular design tool by a large margin, preferred by 38.3% of respondents, ahead of OpenSolar which gathered 23.4% of the votes. Green financier Brighte was the most popular finance company with 41.3% of installers nominating it as their preferred lender, while 39.13% of respondents declared they don’t use finance at all. Imraan Thanawalla, managing director of Solar Nerds parent Solaris Finance, said one of the interesting finds of the survey was the industry’s attitudes on “buy now, pay later” products. “There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence from the industry that people really don’t like buy now, pay later in solar but this question had installers split,” he said. “Although disapprove had the most responses, more than half are indifferent or approve.” When asked their opinion about buy now pay later products in solar, 43.8% of installers said they disapprove of the contracts while 35.4% were indifferent and 20.8% approved. The findings come with new laws for buy now pay later products to kick in later this year with the products to be regulated under national credit laws and companies in the sector will have to determine that products are suitable for their users under responsible lending obligations. From 10 June 2025, providers of buy now pay later contracts will need to hold a credit license that authorizes them to engage in credit activities as a credit provider, subject to transitional arrangements. |
