JA Solar Panels Review of Company,Prices,Comparision – Are they any Good

8 Jul, 2011
JA Solar,Solar Cells,Solar Panels

JA Solar is the biggest solar cell producer in the world with more than 2000 MW of silicon cell capacity.The company has one of the lowest costs in processing of solar cells from solar wafers.The company is primarily a supplier of solar cells to most solar panel producers in Europe and Asia.However the sharp fall in solar panel prices in 2011 has resulted in most of the European companies shutting shop which has meant that JA Solar has faced a large loss in customer orders for its solar cells.Unlike its peer Trina and Yingli Solar,JA Solar does not have a good brand name or distribution of solar panels.It is more of a  upstream supplier of solar products to solar comapnies rather than a end distributor of solar panels.JA Solar has diversified into making solar panels of its own and in partnership with other companies.Having a strong presence in the end market has become essential to survive in the cutthroad solar market.

JA Solar Company

JA Solar was founded on 2005, and was publicly listed on New York’s NASDAQ stock market (ticker symbol: JASO) in  2007. The company sells its products to solar manufacturers worldwide, who assemble and integrate solar cells into modules.The company has two  solar cell manufacturing facilities, one located in Ningjin, Hebei Province, and the other in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province

JA Solar manufactures solar wafers,solar cells and solar modules making it semi integrated.JA Solar has also diversified into manufacturing and installing solar systems becoming a solar EPC Players.Yangzhou JA Solar PV Engineering Co., Ltd., subsidiary company of JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., is engaged in the solar PV system projects.It has built around 0 MW of solar projects in Beijing, Qinghai, Jiangsu, Hebei, Gansu, Xinjiang in China, and Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Korea.

JA Solar Panels Review

JA Solar primarily sells solar panels as an OEM Solar Panel Producer which means that it sells its solar panels to companies who put their own brand names on solar panels produced by JA Solar.THe company also sells polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar panels under the SECUM and MAPLE brand name.The power ratings of the solar panels are in the 150-320 Watt Ranges.JA Solar is mainly a monocrystalline solar cell producer and it has more mono solar panels than mutli solar panels.

The company’s solar panels are of the standard variety without anything to distingusih it from the competition.The company uses its own solar cells which are regarded highly in the solar industry though.The company sells it solar panels with standard features like

  1.  Standard waterproof junction box, with bypass diode
  2. 10-year quality guarantee and 10 – 25-year power output guarantee
  3. IEC,CE and UL Certifications

JA Solar Monocrystalline Panels

It sells solar panels in a wide variety of configurations .The solar panels sold are SECIUM JAM5 72,SECIUM JAM6 60,SECIUM JAM6 72 ,JAM(L) 72 , JAM6 60

JA Solar Polycrystalline Panels

The solar panels sold are MAPLE JAP6 60,MAPLE JAP6 72,JAP6 72 ,JAP6  60

JA Solar Panels Comparison and Prices

JA Solar Panels are not known internationally as the company is more focused on selling its solar cells being one of the biggest solar cell suppliers in the world.However the company is shifting  its focus to increase the focus in the solar panel space as well.JA Solar Panels are of good quality at decently low prices and are better solar modules than sold by other low cost Chinese companies like Sunlink and BYD Solar.The company does not have a great service presence so you are currently better off buying solar panels from Suntech or Trina Solar.However if you get a good deal on prices which means that the solar panels are cheaper than the other established solar panel manufacturers from China than you might want to buy JA Solar Panels.

Reviews of other Solar Panel Brands

Solar Panel Efficiency Technology and Range

Solar Panel Efficiency can be as low as 7% for amorphous silicon technology to as high as 18% for mono-crystalline silicon technology.Note some of the solar panels used in spacecraft have cells which have conversion factors ranging as high as 40% but those are niche applications.Solar Panels made by First Solar using the Cadmium Tellurium Technology are in the range of 11-12% while the CIGs technology which is being used to make solar panels by a number of companies like Miasole,Solyndra,TSMC and other have the range between 10-13% currently.Note Solar Panel Efficiencies are constantly increasing for all technologies each year.

Companies with Highest Efficiency Solar Panels

The Companies that make the Solar Panels with the highest efficiences are Sunpower and Panasonic/Sanyo.Sunpower has the highest efficient solar modules in the market using a properietary process and has solar cells with efficiency reaching a top limit of 24%.Sanyo also has very efficient solar panels under the HIT brand name.These solar panels also approach the 18% range (solar modules not cells).Normal crystalline plain vanilla solar panels come in the range of 13-14%.Note solar modules have lower efficiency than solar cells as some area is left for the frame etc.There are other companies that are fast catching up to Sunpower and Sanyo in the high efficiency solar panels as well.Note higher efficiency solar panels sell at higher prices per watt as the require lesser area.AUO which has a JV with Sunpower has recently claimed to have produced the higher efficiency solar panel .

List of Top Global Solar Cell Suppliers – A Disappearing Breed

28 Feb, 2011
China,Europe,JA Solar,Q-Cells,Solar Cells,Solar Panels,Solar Photovoltaic Energy,Taiwan

Crystalline Solar Cell Suppliers are fast disappearing due to the changing dynamics of the global c-Si Solar Panel Industry.With vertical integration becoming imperative as margins and prices get squeezed,independent solar cell suppliers are having a tough time.Increasing raw material costs in terms of higher polysilicon and solar wafer prices and competition from numerous players has decreased the number of pure play solar cell suppliers.However a few of the top solar cell producers continue to grow and flourish though they are also entering into other segment of the PV solar supply chain.Most of the independent solar cell suppliers are from Taiwan and some from China.European solar cell producers have mostly disappeared due to the high cost base of the European factories.Note this list is mostly composed of solar cell producers who don’t have big module making operations.You can find a list of the top solar energy companies most of which make solar cells as well.List of Top  Global Crystalline Solar Cell Suppliers – A Disappearing Breed

1) JA Solar – This Chinese company is not only the biggest solar cell producer in the world but is also the lowest cost one as well.The company has grown much faster than the industry due to its low costs and good quality.The company is looking to ship more than 2 GW of Solar Panels and Cells in 2011 with  50% growth.The company has small wafer and module facilities as well but continues to be primarily a solar cell producer

2) Gintech – This Taiwanese company has become the biggest solar cell producer in the country overtaking Motech.The company continues to expand aggressively as it uses its high quality to win more contracts from Japanese and European customers.

3) Motech - The company which used to be a pure play cell producer has expanded into polysilicon,modules and wafers.It is one of the oldest solar cell companies in Taiwan and faced tough times in 2008 post the GFC.TSMC owns a stake in this company.

4) Neo Solar - This is one of the fastest growing companies in Taiwan and has focused on solar cells.It has managed to grow revenues and shipments despite tough competition from domestic as well as international competition.

5) Q-Cells - The largest solar producer of cells in 2008 faced a horrendous 2009 running losses of as high as Euro 1 billion.After restructuring it has moved its factories to Malaysia and has diversified into solar modules and systems.The German company has seen its stock price drop more than 95% from the peak levels.It is using Flextronics as an outsourced module producer for its cells.

6) Del Solar - This company is another Taiwanese one with big operations in solar cells like the others.The company is also a new one like Neo Solar and has given strong competition to others like Motech.

7) China SunEnergy - This is a small Chinese Company which primarily engages in solar cell production.However industry cost pressures have made it get into module production as well.It bought 2 small Chinese panel companies in order to survive the onslaught.It has drastically reduced costs in the last one year to become competitive.

8) E-Ton – This Taiwanese Solar Cell Producer used to be one of the biggest pre 2008,however currently it faces huge headwinds.The company faces financial problems from a US acquisition that went wrong.It was on the verge of selling itself to Foxconn but the deal did not went through.

Note other Solar Cell Producers who sell Modules are Suntech,Trina Solar,Yingli,Sharp are big producers of solar cells as well.Thin Film Technology does not require the intermediate step of solar cell production so there are not thin film cell companies.

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