Over the past year, Choice magazine and the CSIRO have partnered up to test and review some of the most commonly sold solar panels in Australia. This is excellent for consumers, as it highlights the most popular panels and quantifies their features. Now, the results are in.
After a full year of exposure to all sorts of Australian weather conditions, the JinkoSolar panel came second overall and was one of only two modules to score over 90%. It was also one of two modules to receive an “excellent” performance rating. It comfortably outperformed all other modules in its price range, with the highest performing - and only other panel receiving an excellent rating - being over 70% more expensive than the JinkoSolar. There’s no one feature that can be attributed to the performance of the JinkoSolar panel in its price category, rather a combined effort of many seemingly minor technical enhancements.
JinkoSolar, the world’s largest producer of solar panels, subjects its products to more stringent tests than other manufacturers. This ensures that their panels can handle anything that the Australian climate throws at them and will continue to do so for many years. An example of this is JinkoSolar being the first Chinese manufacturer to receive the Qualification Plus (Q+) certification from TÜV Rheinland. TÜV Rheinland does independent certification for solar modules. To be able to install solar panels in most countries (including Australia), the panels need to meet IEC61215 and IEC61730. Q+ by TÜV Rheinland is a far more rigorous test, particularly for mechanical robustness which is very important in Australian conditions. It also tests hot spots, insulation and wet-freezing cycle.
The JinkoSolar panel has excellent low-light performance and high-heat tolerance compared to other popular modules in the test. This is very important, as panels spend much more time in the lower light than in perfect lighting conditions. In fact, panels will never find themselves in the same conditions as the testing chamber by which it receives its nameplate output – Standard Test Conditions (STC). The JinkoSolar panel performs better in more realistic conditions, with a higher output at Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) than other panels. This is one of the main reasons why two panels with the same peak or nameplate performance can differ in yearly yield.
For added peace of mind and to ensure transparency with the Australian market, JinkoSolar has invited the Australian Solar Council into its factory to conduct independent inspections for the Positive Quality program. This is completely voluntary, and provides consumers further confidence knowing that the Australian Solar Council has inspected the facility and confirmed that such products are an excellent fit for the Australian market. Click here to read more about Positive Quality from the Australian Solar Council and see all the manufacturers that have allowed the Australian Solar Council into their factory.
There are many other small benefits that make JinkoSolar panels perfect for our conditions, such as lower temperature coefficients, good weak-light performance and Potential Induced Degradation (PID)-free panels at 85 degrees. This is why many households in Australia and the world are choosing JinkoSolar, the world’s largest producer of solar panels. Not only are homes choosing JinkoSolar, but utility-scale projects too. JinkoSolar panels were chosen for the 1.8MW farm in Uluru – the harshest of Australian conditions. With all the benefits of these panels, the confidence in choosing panels selected for solar farms in the desert, and award-winning performance in reputable tests like this one from Choice and the CSIRO, it’s no wonder the JinkoSolar panel is one of Australia’s most popular and best value-for-money panels.
For more information about this test, visit the Choice website.