Solar panels have been consistently increasing in efficiency at about 5 annually since 2010.
Energy efficiantcy of polycrystalline solar panels.
Monocrystalline solar panels tend to generate more power than other types of panels not only because of their efficiency but because they have come in higher wattage modules as well.
Polycrystalline solar panels generally have lower efficiencies than monocrystalline options but their advantage is a lower price point.
Polycrystalline solar panels along with other types of panels have been used in the generation of solar power for several years.
Solar panel efficiency is a measure of the amount of solar energy irradiation which falls on a panel surface and is converted into electricity.
The average efficiency of solar panels falls between the 17 to 19 percent efficiency range.
Monocrystalline solar panels can reach efficiencies higher than 20 percent while polycrystalline solar panels usually have efficiencies between 15 to 17 percent.
Polycrystalline solar panels are also made from silicon.
With the many crystals in each cell there is less freedom for the electrons to move around.
In addition polycrystalline solar panels tend to have a blue hue instead of the black hue of monocrystalline panels.
The efficiency of polycrystalline solar panels today is about 15 percent.
This leaves polycrystalline modules behind the monocrystalline solar cells which achieve module efficiencies of approximately 19 percent.
So if a solar panel has an efficiency rating of 15 that means 15 of the sunlight that hits the solar panels will be converted into electricity.
This is offset by the significantly lower production costs and the significantly lower energy requirements.
The canadian solar cs6u 335p has an efficiency range of 17 23 percent which is above the average poly crystalline solar panels.
Due to the many recent advances in solar cell technology over the last 5 years average panel conversion efficiency has increased from 15 to 20.
Factors that affect solar panel efficiency.
However thanks to new technologies polycrystalline panels are now much closer in efficiency to monocrystalline solar panels than they have been in the past.
The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency.
Solar panel efficiency is a measure of how much sunlight that hits the surface area of a solar panel is converted into usable electricity.