AIKO, the Chinese solar manufacturer listed as Shanghai Aiko Solar Energy (SSE: 600732), said on October 9 that it will supply panels for three utility-scale solar projects in South Africa owned by developer Infinity Power. The order covers 773.5 megawatts-peak (MWp) of capacity. The details come from AIKO’s press release, distributed via PRNewswire. No price was disclosed.

So the headline number only tells part of the story. The more useful questions are which projects these are, what they promised to sell power for, and why a developer would pick a less common panel design to build them.

Inside the Order

AIKO will ship 1,195,136 of its ABC modules to Highveld in Mpumalanga province and to Onderstepoort Solar 1 and 2 in North West province. The company expects them to generate more than 1,871 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year once running. That’s a forecast.

Two contractors split the build. Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy has Highveld. PowerChina Guizhou Engineering has both Onderstepoort sites. Power from all three is meant to go to state utility Eskom under 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs), long-term contracts that fix the price a buyer pays for electricity. The release describes those PPAs as planned, and that is how we describe them too.

Why 773.5 Doesn’t Match the Government’s Figures

Anyone checking official records will find a smaller number. South Africa’s Department of Electricity and Energy lists the three projects at 240 MW, 220 MW and 190 MW. That adds up to 650 MW.

The gap is normal. Government awards count the alternating-current (AC) power a plant can push onto the grid. Panel orders count direct-current peak capacity, what the panels produce under ideal test conditions. Developers routinely install more panel capacity than grid capacity so the plant runs near full output for more hours of the day. Here the panel side is about 19% larger.

The Cheapest Bid in the Round, and the Two Priciest

The same government list shows what each project bid. Highveld offered power at R420.74 per megawatt-hour, roughly 42 South African cents per kilowatt-hour. That was the lowest price among all eight solar winners in Bid Window 7 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the country’s auction for privately built renewable power.

Onderstepoort sits at the other end. Its two projects bid R492.03 and R492.20 per megawatt-hour, the highest prices on the list.

One panel order, spanning the whole price range of the round. That is worth keeping in mind against AIKO’s main pitch. The company argues its higher-output panels cut the number of modules, mounting structures and cables a project needs, which helps projects stay competitive as auction tariffs fall. That’s AIKO’s argument, and it hasn’t been proven at these sites yet. Highveld locked in the lowest tariff of any winner, which leaves it little room for cost overruns.

What “All Back Contact” Means

Most solar cells carry thin metal lines across the front. Those lines carry current out of the cell, but they also shade a sliver of it. Back-contact cells move all of that wiring to the rear. More light reaches the silicon.

AIKO brands its version ABC. The models in this order, AIKO-A645/650-GRH66Dw, are rated at 645 to 650 watts each, with efficiency of up to 24.1%, the company says. It also claims degradation of no more than 1% in year one and 0.35% a year from years 2 through 30. Those are manufacturer specifications, not independent field results.

For comparison, trade publication TaiyangNews reported in June that AIKO and rival LONGi each brought 25%-efficient back-contact modules to market in the first half of 2026. The panels bound for South Africa sit a notch below AIKO’s top commercial products.

A Crowded Lane

Back contact is no longer a niche bet. LONGi sold 19.55 gigawatts (GW) of back-contact modules in the first half of 2026, more than 65% of its total shipments, TaiyangNews reported. Over the same stretch LONGi’s overall shipments fell more than 24%, with the industry still stuck in oversupply and thin margins.

That is the backdrop here. Repeat utility-scale customers matter when panel makers are fighting on price.

Third Project, Same Customer

This is AIKO and Infinity Power’s third collaboration in Africa, the release says, following the 258.5 MWp Nefer Benban and 1.2 GWp Nefer Menya projects in Egypt. AIKO announced in June that it had been picked as sole module supplier for Nefer Menya. With South Africa added, the partnership’s combined volume passes 2 GWp.

It is AIKO’s first project with Infinity Power in South Africa. It is not Infinity Power’s first in the country. The developer, a privately held joint venture between Egypt’s Infinity and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar that describes itself as Africa’s largest pure-play renewable energy provider, reports about 1.3 GW of operating capacity across Egypt, South Africa and Senegal. It won six of the eight Bid Window 7 solar projects, 1.28 GW in all. This order covers three. The other three, in Limpopo province, are not part of the announcement.

Ahmed Zakaria, Infinity Power’s Director of EPC and Strategic Procurement, credited AIKO’s delivery record on the Egyptian projects and said the company looks forward to “bringing full portfolio into commercial operation.”

What the Release Leaves Out

There is no contract value, no delivery schedule and no target date for commercial operation. The 1,871 GWh output figure, the homes-powered estimates (about 456,000 homes across the three sites) and the roughly 1.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide avoided each year are all company projections. AIKO says the emissions figures rest on public estimates.

For investors, the order adds a known name to AIKO’s customer list in a second African market. What it means for revenue or margins, the release doesn’t say.

Sources

• Infinity Power Taps AIKO for 773.5 MWp South African Solar Portfolio, Extending Africa Partnership Beyond 2 GWp, PRNewswire, October 9, 2026.
• REIPPPP Bid Window 7: List of Successful Bidders, Department of Electricity and Energy, Republic of South Africa (hosted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa).
• Ministry Unpacks Latest Renewable Energy Preferred Bidder Awards, Engineering News, January 6, 2025.
• AIKO Seals Landmark 1.2 GW Module Supply Deal for Infinity Power’s Nefer Menya Solar Project in Egypt, AIKO, June 17, 2026.
• LONGi’s H1 2026 Module Shipments Drop As BC Sales Rise, TaiyangNews.
• Back-Contact Modules Break the 25% Barrier as Solar’s Efficiency Race Accelerates, TaiyangNews TOP SOLAR MODULES Analysis, June 25, 2026.

Editorial Disclosure

This article is based on a press release issued by AIKO on October 9, 2026, distributed via PRNewswire. Securities discussed: Shanghai Aiko Solar Energy Co., Ltd. (SSE: 600732), whose shares trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in renminbi. Infinity Power is a privately held joint venture and has no publicly traded shares. Next Gen Tech Stocks has not received compensation from AIKO, Infinity Power, their management, investor relations representatives, or any third party for this coverage. No staff member or principal of Next Gen Tech Stocks holds a position in this security at the time of publication. Statements regarding expected energy output, homes powered, emissions avoided, planned power purchase agreements, and the commercial operation of the projects are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties; actual results may differ materially. References to this company are for market context and analytical purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation. All securities carry investment risk including possible loss of capital.

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