The product warranty on a Canadian Solar panel is 12, 15 or 25 years. Which one you get depends on the model code on your quote. For the CS6R-XXXT, that 25 year term applies to rooftop installs only. The power warranty is the same 30 years on every model in the statement: at least 99% of labelled output in year one, no more than 0.4% drop a year after that, and at least 87.4% at the end of year 30.
The figures here come from three documents, read in October 2026: CSI Solar's Limited Warranty Statement for the TOPHiKu series, version 1.6, the 2026 datasheet for the TOPHiKu6 All-Black CS6.1-54TM-H, and MCS certificate BABT 8767 R19 from the UK test house TUV SUD BABT.
Ask each installer to write the full model code on the quote, then get a second and third price for the same system size in kWp.
Get a Solar Quote →The product warranty starts at 12 years
The default term in the statement is a twelve year limited product warranty. It covers defects in materials and workmanship that have an adverse effect on the panel's functionality. Everything longer than that is an exception written into the same document, granted to a named list of model codes.
The statement applies to panels delivered under a sales contract or order signed on or after 1 April 2025. The module types it covers are the CS6W-XXXT, CS6R-XXXT, CS6.1-54TM-XXXH, CS6.1-54TD-XXX, CS6.1-60TM-XXX, CS6.1-60TM-XXXH, CS6.1-72TD-XXX, CS6.2-48TD-XXX, CS6.2-54TM-XXX, CS6.2-66TM-XXX and CS7L-XXXT. The XXX stands for the rated output in watts.
Panels sold to and installed in Australia, New Zealand and mainland China are excluded from this statement, so a UK install runs on it.
The fifteen year list holds two codes: the CS6.2-48TD-XXX in black frame and in all black, and the CS6.2-54TM-XXX. Each turns up again further down, on the twenty-five year list that carries no roof condition, but not on the same terms: the CS6.2-48TD-XXX is there in both finishes, the CS6.2-54TM-XXX in black frame only. Ask the installer to write the term in years on the quote, against the exact code and finish you are being sold. The warranty does not promise any particular power output: that is a separate promise, covered below.
The 25 year term on the CS6R is rooftops only
The twenty-five year term comes in two groups. The first is for roof-mounted panels only. The second carries no roof condition (except in Japan).
The roof-only group starts with the CS6R-XXXT in black frame and in all black, the CS6.1-54TD-XXX in black frame, and two all-black codes, the CS6.1-54TM-XXXH and the CS6.1-60TM-XXXH. It then adds three black-frame codes that do not appear in the covered-types list at the top of the statement: the CS6.2-48TM-XXX, the CS6.2-36TM-XXX and the CS6.2-32TM-XXX.
That contradiction matters at signing. The statement puts those three in the roof-only group, yet they are not among the module types it says it covers. If one appears on your quote, ask the installer to confirm the warranty term in writing before you sign.
The no-roof-condition group covers the CS6.2-48TD-XXX in black frame and all black, and the CS6.2-54TM-XXX in black frame.
Ask for the warranty period in years on the quote itself, not read off either list.
The datasheet repeats the roof condition. The 25 year product warranty "is available only for products installed and operating on rooftops in certain regions". A brochure headline of 25 years is doing a lot of work with a very small asterisk.
This matters if your array is not going on the roof. Put it on a frame in the garden instead, and the 25 year term on a CS6R is not written for that install. You are back to the twelve year default. Price that in before you choose between a roof array and ground mounted solar panels.
The 30 year power warranty is the solid half
CSI Solar warrants the output for thirty years from the Warranty Start Date: at least 99% of labelled power in year one, no more than 0.4% actual decline a year from year two onwards, and at least 87.4% of labelled power by year 30. That applies to all products listed in the warranty statement.
Output is verified at Standard Test Conditions only. The document also says testing measurement uncertainty is applied to every power measurement. So a panel that looks a bit down on a sunny afternoon in Kent proves nothing on its own.
Ask for the warranty statement and the datasheet on every quote, not just a Canadian Solar one. It is worth doing the same check on a Trina Vertex S+ quote too.
Your warranty clock may already be running
The Warranty Start Date is the day after the first install is finished, or 90 days after the panels are delivered to the buyer, whichever comes first. Delivery here means delivery to the buyer under Incoterms 2020.
So ask for the delivery date as well as the install date, and keep the invoice. If the panels were delivered well before your install date, the earlier of the two is the one that counts. A claim has to carry the quantity, the serial numbers and the purchase invoices, and the term is counted in calendar years from that start date.
MCS: check the code, not the brand
MCS certificate BABT 8767 R19 was issued to CSI Solar Co., Ltd. by TUV SUD BABT Unlimited. It was valid from 16 January 2025 and expired on 31 July 2026, against MCS 005 Solar Photovoltaic Modules at Issue 3.1 and MCS 010 Factory Production Control at Issue 2.0. Its annex lists the certified panel ranges code by code, with a separate certificate number for each.
R19 gives each code its own certificate number and certified power range: the CS6R-xxxT at 400 to 455 W under BABT8767-64, the CS6.2-48TD-xxx at 435 to 470 W under BABT8767-75, the CS6.1-54TD-xxx at 430 to 480 W under BABT8767-70, and the CS6W-xxxT at 540 to 605 W under BABT8767-63.
Two things stand out in that annex. The first is a gap around the All-Black CS6.1-54TM-H. The warranty statement names a CS6.1-54TM-XXXH, and its datasheet calls the same panel the CS6.1-54TM-H, listing seven power ratings from 435 W to 465 W. Neither form of the code is in R19's product list at any rating. If that is the panel on your quote, ask your installer to show you the MCS certificate that covers it, rather than reading the warranty list as proof of MCS cover.
The second is the certificate's expiry. R19 ran until 31 July 2026, so ask which certificate covers the code on your quote now.
MCS puts the condition plainly: "Your system was installed by an MCS certified installer using certified products". It adds that a supplier "might ask for your MCS certificate to confirm this" when you sign up to a SEG tariff. Search the MCS Product Directory for the exact code on your quote, and if it is not there, ask the installer which certificate covers it before you sign.
Run the same check on whatever brand is on your quote, whether that is LONGi, Aiko or something else, and weigh what you find against the rest of the field when you are choosing panels.
What the All-Black TOPHiKu6 actually is
That MCS gap is a question about paperwork, not about how the All-Black TOPHiKu6 works. Before you weigh it up, it helps to know what the panel itself is.
Canadian Solar's datasheet for the CS6.1-54TM-H, sold as the All-Black TOPHiKu6, lists seven power ratings from 435 W to 465 W, in 5 W steps. Module efficiency runs from 21.3% on the 435 W version to 22.8% on the 465 W version. It has 108 N-type TOPCon cells, set out in two blocks of nine by six.
Each panel measures 1800 by 1134 by 35 mm and weighs 23 kg, the figures your installer draws the roof layout around. The front is 3.2 mm tempered glass with an anti-reflective coating, and the frame is anodised aluminium alloy.
The temperature coefficient of Pmax is -0.29% per degree C. The datasheet rates it for snow load up to 8100 Pa and wind load up to 6000 Pa. Power tolerance is 0 to +10 W, so the panel can beat its label but never fall short of it.
For what the efficiency percentage does and does not tell you, see solar panel efficiency. For the price of the whole system, see solar panel costs in the UK.
What is excluded, and who pays to take the panels down
If a claim succeeds, CSI Solar picks the remedy: repair, replacement, extra panels to make up the wattage gap, or a refund of fair market value. The cost of taking the panels down and putting them back up stays with the buyer, unless CSI Solar agrees otherwise in signed writing. Any charge for disposing of the old panels as electronic waste stays with the buyer too. CSI Solar does cover reasonable transport both ways once it has authorised a return, plus reasonable material and labour costs if it chooses to repair.
Two of the exclusions are worth reading twice. The warranty does not apply to panels that have been moved from their original installation location. It also does not apply where CSI Solar has not received full payment from the buyer. A repair or replacement does not extend the term either. The replaced panel inherits whatever is left of the original.
Who the warranty belongs to if you sell the house
The limited warranty is transferable to a party taking legal title to the panels, as long as the panels remain installed in their original location. The statement also lists panels moved from their original installation location among the exclusions, so the condition does real work.
The document routes Europe, Middle East and Africa claims to Canadian Solar EMEA GmbH, Radlkoferstrasse 2, 81373 Munich, Germany, at service.emea@csisolar.com. In practice, start with the installer who sold you the system, and keep the warranty document in case you need it later.
Ask each MCS-certified installer for four things: the full model code, the system size in kWp, the estimated annual generation in kWh, and the warranty PDF that covers that code.
Get a Solar Quote →Frequently asked questions
It is 12, 15 or 25 years on the panel itself depending on the model code, plus 30 years on power output. The TOPHiKu Limited Warranty Statement version 1.6 sets a twelve year default, gives fifteen years to the CS6.2-48TD-XXX and CS6.2-54TM-XXX, and gives twenty-five years to a named list that includes the CS6R-XXXT for rooftop installations only.
Not for the model codes listed under the "Rooftops installation only" heading, which include the CS6R-XXXT, the CS6.1-54TD-XXX and the CS6.1-54TM-XXXH. The datasheet puts it the same way, saying the 25 year limited product warranty is available only for products installed and operating on rooftops in certain regions. A ground mounted CS6R falls back to the twelve year default.
No less than 99% of labelled power in year one, no more than 0.4% actual annual decline from year two to year 30, and no less than 87.4% of labelled power at the end of year 30. Output is verified at Standard Test Conditions only, with testing measurement uncertainty applied to the measurement.
It starts the day after the first installation of the panels is completed, or 90 days after delivery to the buyer under Incoterms 2020, whichever date is earlier. Ask for the delivery date as well as the install date, because the earlier of the two is the one that counts.
MCS certificate BABT 8767 R19, issued to CSI Solar Co., Ltd. by TUV SUD BABT Unlimited, ran from 16 January 2025 with an expiry of 31 July 2026 and covers MCS 005 at Issue 3.1 and MCS 010 at Issue 2.0. Its annex lists the CS6R-xxxT at 400 to 455 W and the CS6.2-48TD-xxx at 435 to 470 W, among others. Check the exact code on your quote in the MCS Product Directory, because MCS certified products are a condition of the Smart Export Guarantee.
Yes. The limited warranty is transferable to a party taking legal title to the panels, as long as the panels stay in their original installation location. Moving the panels to another property voids it.
The CS6.1-54TM-H runs from 435 W to 465 W in 5 W steps, with module efficiency from 21.3% to 22.8%. It uses 108 N-type TOPCon cells, measures 1800 by 1134 by 35 mm, weighs 23 kg, and has a Pmax temperature coefficient of -0.29% per degree C.