In the same way as newcomer Sigenergy are exciting our solar industry with their innovating inverters,
newcomer Aiko are creating almost as much interest with their all back contact (abc) N type, all-black panels.

Whilst Sigenergy are a new business entirely, Aiko aren't, founded 2009. They are just new to Australia.

They aren't the first manufacturer to use all back contact (abc) technology but they are the first at this price point.
A normal 'N' type panel from JinKo, Trina, LonGi etc sells for about $40 installed after deducting subsidies.
The Aiko 2S panel is more than double that at $85 installed, but not ten times as with other such panels.
So are they worth paying $45 extra for?

If you have shading I would say yes. Cheaper than an optimiser and likely just as effective, quite possibly even better.
Making them all-black will certainly appeal to people as well.

I am going to find some time to do my own comparison test on these panels in shade against a regular panel.
Ideally it would be a 3 way test with Regular TOPCon N type, Aiko, and Tigo optimised panel strings compared.
All I need is a small 3 x MPPT inverter with reporting on output on each MPPT and time.

For now though we will have to rely on Aiko's own test shown here on Youtube.

There are a few AIKO models available...
The original 440W 1S model. That's only about $20 more than a regular panel but not as effective against shade as the 2S.
One wholesaler said it's only 20% as effective compared to the 2S !!
That seems like an unlikely huge leap forward to me, but that's what he said.

The all-black Aiko 2S is available as 455W.
Datasheet here.

The black-framed Aiko 2P is available as 470W and 475W. 470W datasheet here.
475W datasheet here.

Those who have read my worries about selling 'unique' panels might be surprised by my recommendations for Aiko.
I am not a fan of panels that have totally unique electrical characteristics like Sunpower Maxeon, REC Alpha.
There's no certainty those brands will survive in the long term and if they fail and we get a panel failure....
what can I replace the faulty panel with? Answer, nothing. They are unique electrically speaking.

The Aiko panels however, whilst using abc technology actually have very normal electrical characteristics.
So if the worst happened in years to come we can swap it out with pretty much anything.
I suspect that low-cost 'abc tech' will be the next big thing.
No such thing as patents, apparently, in Chinese solar.

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This review was written by Andrew MacKeith, Solar4Ever service manager since 2011.
Solar4Ever is located in Morley (Perth), WA 6062