From mid-2024 onward, the number of products in the 22.0%-22.5% band declined, with the product count falling to 9 and the share to 20% by December 2025
During the second half of 2025, most changes were driven by products upgrading into higher-efficiency bands or being delisted
The band’s share fell from 36% at the start of 2024 to 30% by year-end and continued to decline through 2025
The solar modules in the TOP SOLAR MODULES list are organized into 4 efficiency bands: above 22.5%, 22.0%–22.5%, 21.7%–22.0%, and 21.5%–21.7%. In our previous article, we discussed the highest efficiency band. This section focuses on the second efficiency band, 22.0%–22.5% (see Efficiency Band Above 22.5%).
One could call this the gateway efficiency band, especially for TOPCon and HJT technologies. It was also the band that saw the highest growth in 2023, when more and more companies began commercial activities with TOPCon. However, as companies quickly gained experience and improved their technologies, they eventually moved up to the higher band. As a result, both the number and the share of this band started to decline from H2 2024 onwards. The number of products dropped from 13 in July to 9 by December, while the share fell from 26% to 20%.
In July 2025, the band remained unchanged at 13 products with a 26% share, in line with June, and this trend continued in August, except for a minor internal efficiency adjustment. Yingli rounded out its module’s efficiency from 22.36% to 22.4%; however, the overall band positioning in terms of share and absolute representation remained unchanged. In September 2025, DAS Solar moved up from this band, improving its module efficiency from 22.5% to 23.1%. As a result, the product count declined to 12, and the share fell to 24%. October saw further contraction with the band losing 2 more products. Canadian Solar improved its module efficiency from 22.5% to 22.6%, while Qn-Solar’s TOPCon module was delisted. In November 2025, while the product count remained the same, the concurrent reduction in the overall listing led to a slight increase in the share of this band to 21%. In December 2025, another product exited this band when Risen Energy improved its module efficiency from 22.5% to above 23%, thereby moving into a higher-efficiency category. This reduced the product count to 9 and brought the share back down to 20% by the end of the year.
Starting with 15 products in January 2025, down from 16 in December 2024 with the delisting of Akcome’s HJT module in January, the band slipped further to 14 products by the end of H1 2025. Correspondingly, its share shrank from 30% to 27% over these 6 months. The next and the only other change occurred in May, when Trinasolar moved to the higher band by improving the efficiency of its TOPCon module from 22.5% to 23%. These 2 developments were the only updates impacting this category during H1 2025.
Starting at 36% at the beginning of 2024, its share decreased to 30% by the end of the year. The number of products declined from 20 to 16 – dropping by one in April, 2 in July, and one more in November. In an intra-band upgrade, DMEGC Solar improved the efficiency of its TOPCon product in January 2024 from 22.45% to 22.5% – the top efficiency in this band – and subsequently graduated to the higher band in April. In February, Tongwei Solar increased the efficiency of its TOPCon module, exiting this band entirely. Offsetting the dip, Qcells joined our listing the same month with a module rated at 22.3%, which remained unchanged until the end of the year. In March, Türkiye’s Kalyon was listed for the first time with a TOPCon module at 22.38% efficiency. However, this addition was offset by the delisting of Canadian Solar’s HJT module in the same month. In April, as mentioned above, DMEGC Solar once again improved the efficiency of its TOPCon product beyond 22.5%, leaving the group. In May, EGING PV improved its TOPCon module efficiency from 22.45% to 22.5%, which it maintained through the end of the year. In July, JA Solar and REC increased their TOPCon and HJT module efficiencies beyond 22.5%, exiting this band. Another upgrade came in November, when SolarSpace improved the efficiency of its TOPCon modules to 22.65% and left the band.
Complementing this efficiency-based assessment, TaiyangNews also recognizes sustained leadership through its TOP SOLAR MODULES Badge of Excellence, awarded to manufacturers that feature in the top 10 rankings for at least 6 months in a calendar year (see TOP SOLAR MODULES 2025: Badge Of Excellence).
The text is an edited excerpt from TaiyangNews’ latest TOP SOLAR MODULES Report 2025, which can be downloaded for free here.
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