JA Solar Panel Review - Clean Energy Reviews (2023)

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Overview of JA solar panels

JA Solar is a large, well-established company that manufactures reliable, cost-effective solar panels for a variety of applications, including residential, commercial and utility systems. The company isn't known for producing the most efficient panels, but they aim to focus on incorporating proven solar cell technologies to provide reliable, affordable panels backed by a respectable 12-15 year product warranty.The next-generation JA Solar Deep Blue 4.0 series, arriving in late 2022, will deliver improved performance with up to an impressive 22.4% efficiency

JA Solar Panels Quick View

• Power ratings (watts):330W - 545W

• % panel efficiency:Alta - 19,6% - 21,5%

• Cellular technology:PERC tip P i TOPCon tip N

• Price range:Low meds $$$

• The most popular panel:Deep Blue 3.0 400W

• Product warranty:Good - 12 to 15 years

• Service and Support:very good 4/5

• General:Recommended ☆☆☆☆☆

company history

Founded in 2005, JA Solar is one of the world's top 5 solar panel producers by volume, with more than 12 GW of panels shipped in 2021. The majority of production is located in China, with additional facilities in Vietnam and Malaysia. JA Solar is a large vertically integrated Chinese company that produces wafers, cells and panels that are available in 135 countries and regions. The company offers a range of panels for residential, commercial and large scale systems. When it comes to performance and efficiency, JA Solar is usually not at the forefront of innovation and generally sticks to tried and tested cell technologies that deliver good performance and reliability. Based on our experience and feedback from industry professionals, this more conservative approach seems to have paid off with few known quality issues discovered in JA boards.

JA Solar is ranked as one of the bestTier 1 solar panel manufacturersfrom Bloomberg New Energy Finance. However, it should be noted that the Level 1 rating is more a measure of the company's financial stability than a representation of quality and performance.

JA Solar produces a wide range of panels for residential, commercial and larger systems. The currently available Deep Blue 3.0 series was JA's first board to be built using P-type PERC cells in a larger 182mm format, incorporating many of the latest cell technologies, including multiple busbars in a high-density half-cell format. The next-generation Deep Blue 4.0X series, expected in late 2022, will use cells made from the best-performing N-type silicon substrate described below.

• Deep Blue 3.0- Current range using P-type PERC cells

• Deep Blue Light 3.0- Compact residential series up to 420 W

• Deep Blue 3.0 Pro- High power commercial series up to 605 W

• Deep Blue 4.0 X- The next generation N-Type boards will arrive at the end of 2022

The Deep Blue 3.0 range is the latest generation of JA solar panels. First released in mid-2020 and made from 182mmspecies PPERC cells, the Deep Blue series offer a good combination of performance and reliability backed by a renowned 12-year product warranty and a 30-year extended performance warranty.

Gallium PERC cells

The third generation of the Deep Blue 3.0 series includes more advanced 182mm lensesSilicon wafers doped with gallium.Traditional P-type cells are doped with boron, which can degrade up to 3% in the first year of use and up to 0.7% per year thereafter. In comparison, gallium-doped silicon reduces the degradation rate to 2% in the first year and 0.5% per year thereafter. The use of gallium doping has been proven to improve performance and reliability by reducing the ratelight-induced degradation, better known as LID.

Large plates with 78 cells

In recent years, JA Solar appeared to be more successful in the large utility segment and did not compete strongly in the highly competitive residential rooftop solar industry. The push for larger boards led to the development of higher power modules rated at an impressive 605W using a larger 78 cell form factor (156 half-cut cells) in the launch of the Deep Blue 3.0 series.

download the wholeJA Solar Deep Blue 3.0 spec with 78 cellsdata sheet

Deep Blue Light 3.0

In order to expand the Deep Blue range, JA introduced the smaller form factor 'Deep Blue 3.0 light' modules adapted to smaller residential and commercial roofs. These lightweight, compact panels offer high performance in a smaller package, best suited for rooftop installations. The Deep Blue light series is available in 54 (108) and 60 (120) cell options and ranges from 340W to 420W with a maximum efficiency of 21.3%.

download the wholeLight specification JA Solar Deep Blue 3.0data sheet

Serija Deep Blue 4.0X

Arrival at the end of 2022

The next-generation Deep Blue 4.0X series, due for release in late 2022, will use cells made from high-performance N-type silicon substrates, as opposed to the P-type substrates currently used by most manufacturers. The new panels feature a wide range of innovations, including what JA Solar calls BYCIUM+ cell technology, which is a patented versionTOPConcellular architecture. Other features include GFI technology, which stands for Gapless Flexible Cell Interconnection, and 16 micro busses, 6 more than the 10 common bus designs used by most other manufacturers. All these innovations increase the maximum efficiency of the panel by an impressive 22.4%, with a very good temperature coefficient of power of only 0.30%.

bifacial solar panels

Bifacial solar panels are becoming increasingly popular on large scale solar farms and commercial rooftops. Bifacial cells absorb light from both sides and, under the right conditions, can produce about 30% more energy than traditional monofacial panels. JA Solar manufactures bifacial panels using a combination of PERC, half-cut and MBB cells housed in a double-glazed structure. Double panels work best when installed in raised frame systems mounted on light surfaces.

Read more about the latest solar cell innovations including MBB, PERC and bifacial panels atOverview of solar module technology.

Quality and performance

PVEL (DNV-GL) is one of the world's leading solar module testing services based in Germany and produces an annual report every yearPhotovoltaic module reliability assessment report. Over the past 5 years, JA solar panels have consistently received results in the 'Top performance' category from over 20 of the world's best solar brands tested. Note that superior performance does not mean they are ranked #1, but they are among the best performing modules in the group with no serious degradation or failure issues.

PVEL is one of the most respected organizations for testing solar photovoltaic systems in the world, so the annual results provide a high level of confidence in the long-term performance and reliability of solar modules for small and large applications.

warranty and service

The current Deep Blue 3.0 series JA solar offers an industry-standard 12-year product manufacturer's warranty, which protects against any manufacturing defects for the first 12 years. In addition, the contract is for 25 yearsperformance guaranteeoffers a respectable minimum output power guarantee of 84.8% after 25 years of use, which is in line with most large Chinese panels made with common P-type PERC cells.

The next-generation Deep Blue 4.0X panels arriving in late 2022 will be made using high-performance N-type cells and are backed by a 15-year product warranty with options to extend up to 25 years. The performance guarantee is also increased with a longer warranty period of 30 years and a lower degradation rate of 0.4% per year, which equates to 87.4% after 30 years of use.

JA Solar has many service centers around the world, but there is currently no permanent service or support center based in Australia.

Abstract

Despite being one of the largest manufacturers in the world, JA Solar is not widely known in the residential solar world, as the company generally focuses its efforts on promoting utility panels. Generally speaking, JA panels can be summed up as reliable and affordable because they are cheap and have had few reported problems over the years.

The current range of Deep Blue 3.0 panels are available with power ratings up to 605W and built to a premium performance 182mmdoped with galliumP-type PERC cells that offer less degradation over a life expectancy of 25 years. The more compact DeepBlue 3.0 Light panels are built using the same cells but in a smaller form factor, making them an excellent cost-effective choice for residential systems with an output power of up to 420W and an efficiency of 21.3%.

The current generation of JA solar panels is backed by a reputable 12-year product warranty and a 25-year labor warranty. Although a longer 15-year product warranty and 25 to 30-year labor warranty is offered for the new generations of boards coming in late 2022 and early 2023. However, local support is clearly lacking so it would be great to have a JA Solar support office in multiple countries such as Australia.