Tindo Solar seek investment partners as it prepares new factory, storage offer

Australian solar panel manufacturer Tindo Solar is seeking an investment partner that will help the company maintain its strong recent growth as it prepares to open its new plant in Adelaide and prepares a new retail offering that includes battery storage.

Tindo Solar, based in Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, has achieved sales of $30 million over the last 12 months, and says it has been forced to turn customers away as it attempts to keep up with strong demand during the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Tindo Solar is only weeks away from commissioning a new $11 million facility capable of producing almost three-times the number of solar panels that it produced in its now-decommissioned factory.

The new factory also includes a production line that can produce solar panels that integrate the new global standard M-10 solar cell and which will also produce a 540W large-format panel for utility-scale solar projects.

“The demand in the last twelve months has been overwhelming,” said Glenn Morelli, Tindo’s executive chairman.

“COVID has generated interest in Australia-made and high quality, and current policies in China are creating shortages of imported solar panels. We’ve had over 1,000 resellers approach us this year, requesting Tindo Solar panels, but we’ve had to say ‘no’ to most of them.

“The market for solar has matured beyond a race for the lowest-cost, and there is growing demand for high-quality panels, with battery.

“COVID has simply amplified that trend, along with a clear preference for Made-in-Australia. With fresh capital from an equity partner we can invest in greater output from our new plant to meet the growing demand.”

Tindo Solar’s capital-raising with equity will allow the company to elevate its level of production volumes to the next level and help it meet demand for high-quality Australian-made solar panels.

An investment partner would also support Tindo Solar’s plans to introduce a new retail offering in the coming six months, helping to meet increasing Australian demand for integrated energy solutions, rather than single pieces of technology.

“Tindo enjoys a very loyal customer base of more than 100,000, and we’ll be offering a total energy solution combining solar panels, battery and retail energy,” said Morelli.

“We are really excited about our new phase of growth – our new plant cannot come online fast enough.”

Tindo Solar has engaged Adelaide-based corporate advisory firm Fortis Ago to assist the company in finding an investment partner for their next phase of growth, as Tindo Solar is expecting to provide a formal Expressions of Interest document in mid-November.

Tindo Solar decommissioned its South Australian manufacturing facility back in September ahead of the opening of its larger, state-of-the-art factory.

The company had been producing Australian-made solar panels at its Mawson Lakes site in Adelaide since 2011 and produced more than 284,000 locally assembled solar panels with an equivalent output of 82.5MW.

The new production facility is designed with a capacity to produce 150MW of solar panels annually.

“We have gone up against some of the biggest corporations in the global renewables sector, and we have continued to grow,” Tindo Solar CEO Shayne Jaenisch said, speaking in September.

“We employ an excellent workforce that has always pushed for innovation and quality in an Australian-made product, and we’ll be continuing that tradition as we move into the new premises. This is an exciting time for Tindo Solar and for Australian manufacturing.”