JA Solar - Solar Panel Reviews

About JA Solar

JA Solar is a giant manufacturer of solar panels. In 2022 they were the fourth largest in the world. As none of the companies ahead of them have much of a lead, JA Solar is in the running to become the largest panel manufacturer ever.

They have concentrated on producing low-cost but reliable panels. The 12-year product warranties they provide are less than the 15 to 25 years of most panels we recommend. However, because they are reliable, well-supported in Australia, and good value for money SolarQuotes has no problem recommending them.

While JA Solar is a giant company, its panels are rarely used on Australian roofs. This is because they focus on providing panels for solar farms. Most of theirs are large and all are bifacial. This means they can make use of light that hits both their front and rear. This provides no advantage to panels in a typical rooftop installation, which are mounted on rails only centimetres above the roof surface.

Company History

JA Solar was founded in 2005 by Jin Baofang. I read some interesting stories about this billionaire in the past, but they seem to have been scrubbed from the internet so I can't back them up. But trust me, they were all good. Or at least good as in amusing.

This internet scrubbing may have had something to do with his detention by the Chinese government towards the end of 2020 on unspecified charges. But these days he's back running JA Solar.

Jin Baofeng got his start in solar in 1996, producing monosilicon with three small crucibles. Nine years later he created JA Solar which soon made him a billionaire.

In 2017 the company began the mass production of double glass panels which have a glass sheet on the front and back with solar cells sandwiched inside.

The company strategy is referred to as "One body, two wings" and it probably sounds better in Chinese. The body refers to the production of silicon and solar panels, while the wings refer to the production of other products required by solar farms and their construction and commissioning.

JA Solar Production

JA Solar shipped 38.1 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels in 2022 with around 60% being exported from China. Their production estimate for 2023 was 60-65GW. That's a huge increase, but given how fast solar has been expanding they have an excellent chance of achieving it.

JA Solar produces both solar silicon and panels. This makes it a vertically integrated company involved in the production of all the major solar panel components.

Production Locations

Most of JA Solar's production occurs in China where they have multiple factories. They also produce panels in Malaysia and Vietnam and are planning to build factories in India and the United States.

JA Panels -- All Bifacial

JA Solar currently produces 10 different panels. Six are large and over 2.27m in length, while four are standard-sized and around 1.72m by 1.13m. Their panels are named Deep Blue and all are bifacial.

Because they're bifacial they're rarely used on home roofs, but note there is no harm in using them for a standard rooftop installation. While installing them centimetres above the roof won't let them provide any bifacial advantage, it doesn't create any problems.

Unlike some bifacial panels, JA Solar's all have frames. Some say frameless panels look better, but having frames makes installation and maintenance easier.

Bifacial Panels Suitable For Tilt Frames

While bifacial panels may not make sense for the typical rooftop installation, if tilt frames are used it will allow light to hit them from behind and increase their output. On a typical roof, this increase may be under 10%. But on a reflective white membrane roof it could result in a 27% increase. However, this is only likely to be achieved in a close-to-ideal situation and requires keeping the roof clean.

While the extra cost, clutter, and complexity of tilt frames mean they're rarely used for residential solar these days if they are used, it's worth considering bifacial panels.

Panel Efficiency

JA Solar panels have high efficiency which ranges from 21% to 22.8%. This is for light hitting the front of the panel. At the time of writing in September 2023, the highest efficiency you can get is 23%, so JA Solar panels can come very close to that.

Heat Resistance

Solar panel efficiency is reduced by heat. All JA Solar panels lose around 0.3% efficiency for each degree the temperature is over 25°C. This means when they're 45°C they'll only produce 94% as much power as at 25°C. This is a relatively low loss and better than most panels. This may result in less than 1% greater output over a year compared to a typical panel, but a small benefit is better than nothing.

Warranties

Solar panels come with two warranties:

• Product warranties: These cover defects in materials and construction.
• Performance warranties: These promise the panel won't lose more than a set amount of capacity each year.

JA Solar product warranties are for 12 years. Nowadays, this is not particularly long.

The standard length of a performance warranty is 25 years but, like nearly all bifacial panels, JA Solar panels have a 30-year performance warranty. For all their panels it promises they'll lose no more than 1% of capacity in the first year and no more than 0.4% in each subsequent year. So after 30 years, they'll have a minimum of 84.7% of their original capacity. This is better than the performance warranty of most solar panels but is not unusual for good-quality bifacial ones.

Making A Warranty Claim

If you need to make a warranty claim, you should first contact your installer. But if they are no longer around, you can contact JA Solar directly.

JA Solar Sydney Office: (02) 8912 2165

Financial Status

Having panels with a 12-year product warranty and a 30-year performance warranty won't do you any good if the company that made them is no longer around. While there is no guarantee any company will still be around 12 to 30 years from now, the good news is JA Solar's current financial position appears reasonably secure. In the first quarter of 2023, PV Tech placed them in the top category of their PV ModuleTech bankability report. This means they think they are one of the solar panel manufacturers least likely to suffer financial difficulties or go bankrupt.

Recommendation

While bifacial panels are rarely used for rooftop solar, SolarQuotes has no problem recommending them. If I was going to have panels installed in tilt frames on my roof I would consider them.