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Manufacturers we specify

Trina Solar and the 210 platform on a flat roof

Trina Solar supplies us the Vertex N, a 132-cell n-type TOPCon module built on the 210 mm wafer platform in a bifacial dual-glass laminate. It is the one module in our line-up whose datasheet we hold in full, so this is the page where the argument is made from published figures. It suits a wide flat roof with a reflective membrane, and it is a poor answer where access or handling is tight.

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  • Full datasheet held and published here
  • Rear-side gain modelled, never assumed
  • Over 50 kWp, outside MCS
  • 1997 Founded Changzhou, Jiangsu
  • STAR: 688599 Listed company Shanghai, since 2020; the old NYSE ticker is dead
  • Over 292 GW Cumulative module shipments By the middle of 2025
  • Modules What it supplies to us No inverter or battery line

The bifacial flat-roof specification, chosen where a reflective membrane and long uninterrupted runs let a 210-platform module earn its rear side.

Most module pages have to talk around a datasheet, because the manufacturer’s figures move by series and revision and a published number can be wrong by the time an order is placed. This one does not: we hold the Vertex N sheet in full, verified, and the numbers below come off it.

They also happen to be the three numbers a flat-roof design actually turns on.

01 The range

Trina Solar supplies solar modules

Solar modules

Large-format bifacial dual-glass modules on the 210 platform

The flat-roof specification. A 132-cell module on the 210 mm wafer covers a great deal of area per fixing, and the dual-glass build lets a light single-ply membrane return yield off the back of the panel instead of wasting it as reflected light.

  • Vertex N TSM-NEG21C.20
  • Vertex S+
  • Cell architecture: N-type TOPCon, bifacial dual glass
  • Power band: 695 to 720 W across the series
  • Module efficiency: Up to 23.2%
  • Temperature coefficient: -0.29%/°C
  • Bifaciality: 80±5%
  • Warranty: 12 years product, 30 years power

The 720 W bin at 23.2% is the top of the series. The bin you receive is set by the production run, so the exact SKU suffix and power class are confirmed against the datasheet at survey rather than carried across from this page.

Datasheet figures only. We publish no price, and the exact model is confirmed against the design and the current datasheet before order.

02 Bankability

Twenty-eight years of trading, and one listing that will trip up a diligence pack

Trina has been making modules since 1997, which puts it among the oldest continuously trading names in the industry, and cumulative shipments had passed 292 GW by the middle of 2025. It holds the top PV ModuleTech bankability band alongside LONGi and JA Solar, and it is an independent Top Performer on the 2026 Kiwa PVEL scorecard. That is a strong profile by any reading.

The part a diligence team gets wrong is the listing. Trina was taken private from the New York Stock Exchange in 2017 and relisted on the Shanghai STAR Market under 688599 in 2020, so a search on the old ticker returns a company that has not existed in that form for the better part of a decade. If a funding pack cites a NYSE listing for this manufacturer, the pack is out of date. A 2024 net loss also sits in the record, in common with the sector under module price pressure, and it should be read as market conditions rather than as a solvency question.

BloombergNEF Tier 1 lists Trina Solar for Q1 2026. We re-verify the listing for the exact module before contract.

  • 1997 Founded Among the longest continuously trading module makers
  • STAR: 688599 Shanghai listing Relisted 2020 after the 2017 take-private
  • Over 292 GW Cumulative module shipments By the middle of 2025
  • PV ModuleTech AAA Top bankability band Alongside LONGi and JA Solar
03 From the datasheet

The three numbers a flat-roof layout turns on

Published figures for the Vertex N, verified against the live manufacturer sheet. Everything else on this page is an argument about how to use them.

  • 80±5% Bifaciality How much of the front-side response the rear face returns
  • -0.29%/°C Temperature coefficient Output retained as the module heats above 25 degrees
  • 87.4% Guaranteed output at year 30 On a 0.4% annual attenuation curve
04 Row spacing

Rear-side gain is bought with roof area, not for free The trade a bifacial layout makes, and the reason we model it on the actual roof before promising anything.

A bifacial module returns light that has bounced off the roof surface behind and below it. Two things govern how much: how reflective the membrane is, and how much clear space sits between the rows. Pack the rows tight to maximise installed capacity and the rear faces mostly see the module in front. Open the rows out to feed the rear faces and fewer kilowatts fit on the roof.

There is no general answer to that trade, which is why we will not quote a bifacial uplift percentage before we have flown the roof. The drone survey gives us the membrane condition, the true plane dimensions, the plant and the parapet lines, and the yield model then runs the layouts against each other with your own consumption behind them.

Roof colour is the part clients are most often surprised by. A weathered dark membrane returns very little, and on that roof the honest recommendation is a cheaper monofacial module and the saving spent elsewhere.

Bifacial gain on a commercial flat roof
Our own drone survey model. Row spacing, plant clearances and membrane condition are read from this before any bifacial gain is claimed.
05 Diligence

Shanghai, not New York A small correction that has embarrassed more than one funding pack.

Trina was listed in New York until 2017, when it was taken private. It relisted on the Shanghai STAR Market in June 2020 under 688599, and that is the entity a lender should be reading. The old ticker still appears in archived research and in the occasional template, and a pack built on it describes a company that no longer trades in that form.

The other recent structural change is on the supply side. In December 2025 Trina sold its direct US manufacturing plant, so American-made Trina stock is no longer part of the picture. For a UK commercial roof that is usually immaterial, since the modules come from Chinese and South-East Asian capacity in either case. It matters if your procurement policy or a funding condition specifies where modules are manufactured, in which case it needs raising before the specification is written rather than after.

Neither point argues against the manufacturer. Both argue for describing it as it is today.

Bifacialgainismodelledonyourroof,neverquotedfromabrochure.

Thepowerbinisconfirmedatsurvey,becausethebiniswhatthedesignisbuilton.

Athirty-yearguaranteeisonlyworththeentitythatwritesit.

06 Two roofs

When the big module wins, and when it loses

The Vertex N is a large, heavy, double-glazed object. That is an advantage and a liability depending on what is between the van and the roof.

Recommended It wins here

Open plane, light membrane, crane access

Long uninterrupted runs on a reflective single-ply roof, with a lift or a crane to land the pallets. Fewer, larger modules mean fewer fixings, fewer connectors and fewer hours at height.

  • Fixing and labour count falls with the module count
  • Rear-side response has something to work with
  • Row spacing can be opened without losing the target capacity
It loses here

Hatch access, dark roof, congested plane

A roof reached through an internal hatch or a narrow stair, or one broken up by plant and rooflights. A 132-cell dual-glass module is difficult to handle and wasteful at the edges of a fragmented plane.

  • Manual handling on a constrained access route
  • A dark membrane returns little to the rear face
  • Edge losses on small planes outweigh the format advantage

Where this is the roof, we specify a smaller format or a different maker and set out why in the proposal.

This module is defined by its size and its second glass face, and both cut in one direction on some roofs and the other direction on others.

07 Honest placement

Where we specify Trina Solar, and where we do not

Specify

Where it fits

  • Wide flat roofs with a light single-ply membrane, where the rear face of the module has something worth reflecting.
  • Long uninterrupted runs where a 132-cell format reduces the fixing count and the labour per kilowatt.
  • Ballasted layouts with room for the row spacing bifacial gain needs to be worth having.
Specify something else

Where it does not

  • Roofs reached through a narrow hatch or a tight stair, because a 210-platform dual-glass module is a genuinely awkward object to carry.
  • Dark or heavily soiled membranes, where the rear-side gain is small enough that a cheaper monofacial module is the better answer.
  • Tightly congested planes broken by plant and rooflights, where a large format wastes more area at the edges than it wins in the middle.
  • Any specification that needs American-made modules, since Trina exited direct US manufacturing in December 2025.
08 FAQ

Trina Solar on a commercial roof: common questions

We will not put a percentage on it before the survey. The datasheet bifaciality is 80±5%, which describes the module rather than the roof, and the yield depends on how reflective your membrane is and how far apart the rows can sit. We fly the roof, read the membrane condition and the true plane dimensions, then model the layouts against each other with your own consumption behind them. On a dark or weathered roof the honest answer is often a monofacial module.

The Vertex N datasheet carries a 12-year product warranty and a 30-year power guarantee, with 87.4% of rated output still guaranteed at year 30 on a 0.4% annual attenuation curve. Terms move by series and by the distributor supplying the UK stock, so we confirm the product and performance warranty against the sheet for the exact code specified and set both out in writing in the proposal.

No, and this is the correction most worth making about this manufacturer. Trina was taken private from the New York Stock Exchange in 2017 and relisted on the Shanghai STAR Market under 688599 in June 2020. A funding pack that cites the old ticker is describing a company that no longer trades in that form, so we name the current listing in every document.

That is the question to settle before the specification rather than on delivery day. The Vertex N is a large dual-glass module on the 210 mm platform, and a roof reached by an internal hatch or a narrow stair may not accept it at all. We check the access route and the handling plan at survey, and where the route is the constraint we specify a smaller format and say so plainly.

From a signed order a typical commercial roof runs around eight to sixteen weeks, and the pacing item is usually the network connection rather than the panels. We lodge the G99 application early and run design and procurement alongside it. A dated programme goes out with the proposal once the survey and the connection position are confirmed, rather than a fixed number of days promised in advance.

No. An array of this size sits outside MCS, which is a domestic scheme, so the assurance comes from the engineering record: design and installation to BS 7671, commissioning and verification to IEC 62446-1, a G99 connection agreed with the network operator, CDM 2015 duties across the works and a structural survey behind the ballasted layout. Our quality without MCS guide sets out the stack.

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Last updated August 2026

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The equipment is chosen to fit the design, not the other way round.

Tell us about the roof and the load. We survey the site, model the array in PV*SOL against your half-hourly data, and specify what actually fits, with the manufacturer, the series and the warranty named. Trina Solar goes on the roof where it is the right answer and not because it is on a list.

  • On-site 3D drone survey and half-hourly PV*SOL model
  • We confirm your DNO and handle the G99 connection
  • Over 50 kWp, outside MCS