Tank-Weld enters solar distribution market
Published:Wednesday | January 28, 2026 | 12:06 AMLuke Douglas/Gleaner reporter
Tank-Weld Group, the local construction supplier, has launched a solar division to supply panels, inverters and batteries across the Caribbean as demand surges following Hurricane Melissa’s destruction of grid infrastructure in western Jamaica.
The company is distributing products from three Chinese manufacturers — Deye, Suntree and TW Solar — and has begun exporting to neighbouring countries, CEO Chris Bicknell said. Tank-Weld doesn’t offer installation services, instead supplying products to independent installers serving commercial and residential customers.
“We’re here to help make renewable energy more accessible, affordable, and a practical energy choice for everyone’s future,” Bicknell told the Financial Gleaner. “We have also begun exporting to nearby countries and are preparing for further growth in solar product exports throughout the region.”
Tank-Weld secured distribution rights through relationships built after becoming sole Jamaican dealer for China-made Shacman trucks in 2018. The state-linked structure of Chinese companies helped Tank-Weld leverage that partnership into solar agreements.
“China’s companies are all related under the state,” Bicknell said. “We have built and developed a very strong relationship with Shacman and this became a good reference for the major brands of solar products to partner with us not only in Jamaica, but across the region.”
The company has installed solar systems at all its Jamaica locations — including facilities in Kingston, Spanish Town, Montego Bay and Trelawny — with renewables supplying more than 60 per cent of its energy needs. Bicknell said falling battery costs are driving residential demand while opening opportunities in light commercial and industrial segments.
“The batteries are becoming more viable, not only at the residential level, but also the commercial and industrial level,” he said. “I would say the business is more weighted towards the residential side at this time...but it is ripe for light commercial, medium commercial and heavy industrial.”
Hurricane Melissa, which devastated western Jamaica last October, has accelerated interest in off-grid power. Bicknell said the government is considering solar installations in remote areas where rebuilding transmission infrastructure would prove costlier than distributed generation.
“Government is looking at ways to incorporate solar energy into the hurricane recovery effort,” Bicknell said. “For people living in remote areas and who lost everything it is more costly to bring in electricity from the grid, because of all the JPS poles and infrastructure that need to be replaced, than to install a small solar solution for a home.”
Bicknell declined to specify investment levels, citing rapid expansion into Caribbean and Latin American markets. “[The investment] is very dynamic and is growing rapidly,” he said. “We are looking to the region where it will escalate the investment many times.”
Jamaica aims to generate half of electricity from renewables by 2030. Energy Minister Daryl Vaz said last May that solar and wind accounted for 12.5 per cent of the country’s energy mix. Additional renewable projects under development, along with complementary storage facilities, are expected to bring the total to 48 per cent, Vaz said.