How Efficient Are Solar Panels? Top Brands Compared in ...

09 Dec.,2024

 

How Efficient Are Solar Panels? Top Brands Compared in ...

It's important to choose efficient solar panels, but you don't always need to choose the most efficient model. Here are some scenarios when selecting the most efficient panels makes sense:

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1. You want to maximize your solar production

You may want your system to produce as much electricity as possible. Or, you might want to buy the least amount of electricity from your utility but have limited roof space. In either of these cases, you should choose the highest-efficiency solar panel.

2. Higher-efficiency solar panels will save you money

Highly efficient solar panels tend to cost more than their less efficient counterparts. But, the higher your panel's efficiency, the more electricity you'll produce, and the more you'll save on your electric bills. 

You need to calculate if the increased savings you achieve by generating more electricity over the lifespan of your solar energy system with high-efficiency panels justifies the higher upfront cost.

Let's consider two solar panel systems located in Massachusetts. Both have 20 solar panels of the same physical size. One system has SunPower's M-Series 440 W panels with 22.8% efficiency, while the other includes panels with 21% efficiency.

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Solar savings with high-efficiency panels

Key Questions and Answers About Going Solar

You&#;ll see lots of figures and factors in a solar proposal. But there are five really worth focusing on when comparing offers.

Price per watt or kilowatt. That&#;s the upfront cost divided by the size of the system. The lower the cost per watt, the better the system&#;s value. You can use each company&#;s estimated cost per watt to compare proposals. &#;It&#;s like unit pricing at your supermarket.&#; explains Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage CEO.

Warranties. They may differ for the workmanship, the solar panels, and the inverters&#;that is, the mechanisms that take the direct current (DC) that the solar panels create and convert it to alternating current (AC) electricity that our homes use. A standard solar panel warranty is 25 years, Aggarwal says. Inverter warranties range from 10 to 25 years.

Rated power. This is a measure of the system&#;s efficiency&#;that is, how much electricity it puts out under ideal conditions. Rated power of at least 400W is preferable; Aggarwal recommends 420W to 440W, because he says it&#;s the most efficient. The solar company should also give you a projection of how much the power production will degrade by the time the warranty expires. Solar panels&#; productivity degrades at a median, 0.5 percent a year, according to the Department of Energy&#;s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At the end of a typical, 25-year warranty, that translates to productivity of 87.5 percent.

Annual production. You may notice that the proposals you get from different companies show dramatically different estimates of the amount of power they can provide&#;from, say, 100 percent of your current needs to 125 percent or more. Why bother with all that excess power? If, say, you add an electric vehicle to your power consumption, planning for more power may be worthwhile. &#;If you think you&#;re going to buy an electric car in next four to five years, you may want to oversize your system now,&#; Aggarwal says. &#;Most installers won&#;t be willing to add new panels and inverters in the future.&#; Depending on the arrangement with your utility, you may be able to sell back the excess power, reducing your electric bill further. 

Quality of the solar equipment. You can look on EnergySage and SolarReviews for comparisons and judgments of solar panels and inverters; names like Canadian Solar, LG, and QCel show up highly rated there. For inverters, experts we talked to preferred microinverters, individual units attached to each panel, versus string inverters, which are connected to both the panels and each other like Christmas lights. As with Christmas lights, string inverters are annoyingly interdependent. &#;If one panel goes out, Aggarwal says, &#;the whole system goes out.&#;

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