In this article
Aiko makes the most efficient mainstream residential panel we fit. That matters most when usable roof space is limited: more watts fit in the same area. On a larger Perth roof, the budget may be the tighter constraint.
Aiko panel selection
- What we fit now is the NeoStar 3 Series: the all-black 3S+ at 490 W and the 3P at 500 W. This page originally covered the NeoStar 2S, two generations back.
- The efficiency comes from ABC — all-back-contact cells, with the gridlines moved off the front of the panel. Fewer lines shading the cell, more of the rectangle working.
- It is worth paying for when roof space is the constraint: a small north face, a roof cut up by plumbing, or a house where the only good aspect is already full.
- On a clear north-facing roof with room to spare, more of a cheaper panel usually gets you to the same annual generation for less money.
Efficiency and shading
On efficiency, at the residential end of the market, they are at or near the top and have been since the ABC platform arrived. That is a narrow claim and it is the only one worth making, because “best panel” is not a question with an answer — the best panel is the one that suits the roof, the budget and the inverter it is paired with.
The design does two things that matter beyond the headline number. Moving the metallisation to the back removes the busbars from the front, which is why the panel is uniformly black rather than striped, and it also changes how the panel behaves when part of it is shaded: the cell-level architecture limits how far a shaded section drags down the rest of the string. On a Perth roof with an aerial, a flue or a neighbour’s jacaranda, that is a more useful property than the last half-point of efficiency.
Limited roof space
Buy the efficiency when you are short of roof. If the north face fits eighteen panels and you need twenty-two panels’ worth of generation, a higher-output module is the difference between a system that meets the bill and one that does not. Same for a two-storey with a small usable aspect, or a house where the good roof is already covered and you are adding to a west face.
Do not buy it for a roof that has space. We would rather put a larger array of a mid-range panel on a house and spend the difference on a battery that is actually sized to the evening, or on the switchboard upgrade that half these jobs need and half these quotes leave out. A panel is the part of the system least likely to fail and least likely to be the reason a system underperforms.
Range updates
It was written in February 2024, when the NeoStar 2S was still arriving and PSW Energy was among the first Australian installers to carry Aiko. That has all happened. The 2S is superseded, the range has moved to the NeoStar 3 Series, and the pricing this page used to quote is years out of date and has been removed rather than left to mislead.
The award history is still accurate and still worth the weight it was given: Aiko took an Intersolar Award for Innovation at Munich in 2023 for the ABC module design. Module-specific awards are rarer and more meaningful than brand awards, because they are judged on the product rather than on the company’s market presence.
Current models and what they cost today are in the solar range. For a panel count worked out against your actual roof rather than a brochure, ask for a written price.