Aiko Launches Its Most Ruthlessly Efficient Solar Panel Yet

If you’ve only just had the most efficient residential solar panels in Australia installed on your roof, unfortunately you won’t be able to enjoy that bragging point for much longer: Aiko Solar claims to have (again) broken their own record with what they claim is the first residential panel in Australia to exceed 24% module efficiency.

The Shanghai-based company has announced the local launch of the Neostar 480W,  which will maintain a compact footprint of 1757 x 1134mm.

SolarQuotes’ resident fact-checker Ronald Brakels notes that “Aiko has sold panels Neostar panels overseas with efficiencies of up to 25%. But these have been large panels that are around 2.5 metres long, which makes them cumbersome to install and often difficult to fit on a residential roof.”

He added: “The higher the solar panel efficiency, the more electricity can be generated from a given amount of roof space. So they are especially useful for people with limited roof space.”

SolarQuotes approached Aiko to confirm the precise efficiency level achieved, with the company revealing that the Neostar 480W has reached 24.1% efficiency.

Aiko Country Director Thomas Bywater advised SolarQuotes that: “essentially in the last 12 months we have been able to lift the same architecture about 30 watts on the existing production line through adjusting the time of certain processes, the types of pastes and materials for making cells, and tailored selection of the underlying silicon (we need actually less doping, more resistivity).”

The Solar Panel Efficiency Arms Race

The efficiency percentage represents how much sunlight energy hitting a panel’s surface is then converted into electrical energy. To compare the Neostar 480W’s performance with some other market leaders:

• Longi’s Scientist panels available in Australia feature 23.3% efficiency — the same rating as Canadian Solar’s best;
• Longtime efficiency kings Maxeon Sunpower’s highest rating is 23%;
• Premium brand REC’s most efficienct panel is 22.6%.

Where it used to be the case not so long ago that a higher efficiency panel came at a premium price, that dynamic is changing rapidly.

Ronald expressed optimism about the role this efficiency arms race has on panel prices. “Higher efficiency means less material is required per watt to make the panel, helping keep costs down,” he says. “And panel costs have really come down over the past 14 months.”

Produced at the company’s facility in the Chinese city of Zhuhai, “initial pilot shipments of the 480W Neostar 2P are already en route to Solar Juice, Aiko’s local distribution partner,” a spokesperson for Aiko said in a statement.

Winning Over Australian Installers

The announcement comes after Aiko convincingly won the 2025 SolarQuotes Installers’ Choice Awards for Best Solar Panels as a first-time entrant, after only launching in Australia early last year.

A clue to Aiko’s popularity with Australian installers might be that the company’s slick marketing operation pitches as much to them as to homeowners.

Aiko’s press release announced the Neostar 480W has been “meticulously engineered to meet the needs of Australian solar installers … weighing under 22 kilograms and occupying less than 2 square metres, the panel retains the compact, lightweight design that installers value for safe handling and ease of installation.”

Aiko has also upgraded its standard Neostar 2P 465 Watts panel to 470 Watts across major distributors, and teased the arrival of other new solar module types in the coming weeks.

A Shady Marketing Approach

Aiko’s marketing approach has attracted some controversy in Australia however, with questions asked of its claims that its panels cope better with shade interference than competitors through its “Partial Shading Optimisation” solution.

Scrutiny by MC Electrical attracted a furious response from Aiko, who allegedly told the Brisbane-based installer that a video made about their shade claims was “a grubby attack that they’ll never forget”.

How Efficient Can Solar Panels Get?

Back at Aiko HQ, Bywater told SolarQuotes that the company has scope to hit new heights in the near future.

“We did initially think it would be necessary to launch our 3rd generation panels in order to get 480 watts, but we’ve been able to do it with the existing tech currently on the shelf,” he said. “Excitingly, we think it is even possible to get a 54 cell production module to 485 watts on the current architecture.”

The next generation of Neostar panels due “in the back end of the year” will change the architecture to put the “module bus” on the rear too, which Bywater says could mean Aiko goes past 485 watts pretty quickly.

Aiko has set its sights high, last year announcing a US$4 million initiative with the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics aimed at achieving 30% efficiency with interdigitated back contact solar cells.

Ronald has raised an eyebrow at the goal, saying: “They say they want to get to 30% efficiency. That’s going to be tough, but here’s hoping they can creep their way towards it.”

Efficiency is an important consideration for solar panels, but not the only one — particularly if you have plenty of roof space. For more on what to consider, look to our comprehensive guide on buying solar panels.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/aiko-launches-its-most-ruthlessly-efficient-solar-panel-yet/