ARTsolar vs DAON - solar panel manufacturer comparison
Both brands are closely matched on catalog size, efficiency and bifacial share - the choice comes down to local availability, price and specific model features.
Both catalogues are read from the manufacturers' own datasheets. A brand is not scored against the market here, only against the other brand on this page.
The two companies
Catalogue against catalogue
An average over a catalogue describes the range a manufacturer publishes, not the module you would buy. A brand with two flagship panels and eighty older ones averages worse than one that has retired its back catalogue.
What each of them builds
Written summary
ARTsolar is a South African solar module manufacturer founded in 2010 and headquartered in Pinetown, near Durban. It is 100% locally owned and is widely recognised as the only South African company manufacturing high-efficiency PV modules at scale. Its production facility is rated at up to 300 MW per year, with a planned ramp to 500 MW. The company has pursued a succession of technology partnerships - first with LONGi Solar, then Talesun, and most recently JA Solar, which has agreed to help ARTsolar upgrade its Durban plant into a 340 MW high-efficiency TOPCon production line. Through these partnerships the facility has achieved Tier 1 module accreditation. DAON, by contrast, is the flagship module brand of DAS Solar, a Chinese manufacturer founded in 2018 that moved rapidly to establish one of China's first 1.2 GW per year N-type TOPCon cell production lines. DAS Solar's industrial footprint and financial scale are considerably larger, giving DAON the stronger institutional standing on a global basis.
In terms of product positioning, ARTsolar serves primarily the South African utility-scale and commercial rooftop market, with its technology roadmap now anchored in TOPCon cell architecture licensed from and supervised by JA Solar. Its modules carry TUV (IEC) and SABS certification and come with a 30-year linear power output guarantee. DAON modules are fully N-type TOPCon, built on 182 mm large-format wafers, and are offered exclusively as bifacial units targeting both ground-mount utility projects and larger commercial rooftops. DAS Solar has reported peak module efficiencies around 22.1 % and power outputs reaching 615 W for the DAON series, positioning it at the higher end of the current mainstream N-type market.
For a buyer outside South Africa, DAON is the more straightforward choice given DAS Solar's established global supply chain and proven high-volume TOPCon manufacturing. For projects within South Africa - particularly those subject to local-content requirements or government procurement rules - ARTsolar retains a unique advantage as the only domestically manufactured Tier 1 option, though its recent workforce reductions signal that its business stability should be monitored closely before committing to long-term supply agreements.
Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-06-12
Other brand comparisons
Comparisons are computed from manufacturer datasheets held in the ComparePV database and may not reflect a brand's complete current lineup. Nothing on this page is paid placement.