THERE ARE SO MANY TYPES OF PV PANELS ON THE MARKET,
CAN YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE?
Can't tell your panels apart?
What is Photovoltaic ?
Photovoltaic Panels, also called solar panels, convert sunlight into electricity. When sunlight hits the panels, the ELECTRONS inside the middle layer of solar material vibrate and move in all directions but are blocked from going into the layer above and can only go out the bottom layer. Electrons moving in one direction is called electricity.
Are all solar panels the same? No.
To make electrons move in one direction, the PV Panels are coated with silicon layers. However, many old Mono and PolyCrystalline PV Panels and other inefficient options still exist today and should be replaced by modern day thin-film PV Panels which are lighter, more powerful, cost effective, easier to install, and built to last longer.
Let’s take a closer look at the common types of solar panels:
Heterojunction technology (HJT) is a solar panel production method that has been on the rise since last decade. It is currently the solar industry’s MOST Effective process for increasing efficiency and power output to the HIGHEST Levels (24% cell efficiency).
These panels can be made in a flexible roll in very light weight, low cost and easy to install.
Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) based solar cells are receiving worldwide attention for solar power generation.
Compared to other thin-film technologies, CIGS modules offer superior efficiency. They are efficient thin film solar cells that have achieved 22.8% efficiency.
These panels can be made in a flexible roll in very light weight, low cost and easy to install.
Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV) is a photovoltaic technology that generates electricity from sunlight by many parabolic mirror combinations, every one unit parabolic mirror of sunlight is focused onto the SMALL area solar cell in the centre. It does not function well compared to normal solar panels which work from direct sunshine.
CPV panels are NOT sensitive to LOW or DIFFUSE Lighting, it is less efficient than a normal solar panel.
It must track the sun, so it needs an expensive mechanism known as a solar tracker, which gets the power collected from its panel.
The parabolic mirror surface will become non reflective after a few years, and need MORE Maintenance.
Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) solar cells contain Thin Film layers of Cadmium Telluride materials as a semiconductor to convert absorbed sunlight and hence generate electricity.
These panels are expensive and so are less cost effective.
Cadmium is a toxic material so these panels must be disposed of correctly.
The principal advantage of Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) solar cells is their LOWER manufacturing costs, which makes these cells very COST Effective. One of the main advantages of a-Si over Crystalline Silicon is that it is much more uniform over large areas.
These panels can be made in a flexible roll in very light weight, low cost and easy to install.
Poly Crystalline (poly-Si) solar panels are made from silicon. However, instead of using a single crystal of silicon, manufacturers melt many fragments of silicon together to form the wafers for the panel. Poly Crystalline solar cells are also referred to as “Multi Crystalline” silicon.
Poly Crystalline solar panels generally have lower efficiencies than Mono Crystalline cell options because there are many more crystals in each cell meaning less freedom for the electrons to move. Due to the easier manufacturer process, these panels have a lower price point on average. In addition, Poly Crystalline solar panels tend to have a blue hue instead of the black hue of Mono Crystalline solar panels. Because they are less efficient than other types of panels, you will need MORE to provide electricity for your home.
A Mono Crystalline solar panel is simply a solar panel made from Mono Crystalline solar cells or“wafers.” Mono Crystalline wafers are made from a single silicon crystal that is formed into a cylindrical ingot. Because a Mono Crystalline cell is composed of a single crystal, the electrons that generate a flow of electricity have more room to move. As a result, Mono Crystalline solar cells are more efficient than their Poly Crystalline solar cell counterparts, but they are more expensive per panel.