How Can Solar Panel Efficiency Help Me Save Money?

Innovation continues to keep happening.  Every few weeks, it seems that a university, technology organization or team of researchers is making headlines for the new improvement in solar cell technology. From the use of new semiconductor materials to the inclusion of nanowires, the rush is on to see who can produce the most efficient solar cell for an affordable cost. Cost is essential when finances matter.

There is a way to decipher the rules of this cost-saving game. There are traditional crystalline silicon cells, thin-film cells, single-junction cells, multi-junction cells and developing solar panels like quantum dot cells. Some use a lens to concentrate the sun’s rays, while others are non-concentrator. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has followed the efficiency process of more than 20 different types of solar cell technologies that have surfaced since the 1970s.

Rating Panels

This is how you think about a rating.  An efficiency rating ranks the percentage of sunlight catching the solar cell that gets converted into usable electricity. The higher the efficiency, the less surface area it will take for the solar panels to gather your energy requirements, but the higher the price tag.  We love lower price tags.

Comparisons are helpful. Some people compare greater efficiency levels with higher-quality panels, but this isn’t necessarily true. High efficiency indicates your solar panel system will utilize less space on your rooftop. Consequently, those who live in high-density areas and have minimal space for solar are commonly more concerned with efficiency levels. The less space, the more you have to do with it.

The Efficiency Leader In Solar

The modern efficiency leader, multi-junction solar cells work by combining rare semiconductor materials with differing bandgaps, such as germanium, gallium, and indium, to convert a broader scale of the solar spectrum into energy. The cell’s top layers are produced to absorb higher-energy photons while sending lower-energy photons that are received by the cell’s lower layers, cells are astonishingly expensive and still used primarily in the space trade to power satellites.

Information on a timeline is coming. A week ago, the Japan-based Sharp Corporation garnered global acclaim when it achieved a new solar cell efficiency world record of switching 44.4 percent of sunlight to energy. So that beats the 37.8 percent efficiency produced by the California-based Spectrolab in April, right? Incorrect. Although they’re both multi-junction solar cells that use compound semiconductor materials, Sharp uses a lens to focus the sunlight, and Spectrolab’s record-breaking solar cell does not.

What did this company say? Sharp doesn’t divulge the price of these highly-efficient cells, but Gregory Glenn, a PV consultant in Los Angeles, provides some insight. Because Sharp’s cells are so tiny (they measure 4mm-by-4mm), Glenn said that many cells could be created per wafer. “The cost depends on how they ramp up production, but it seems reasonable to assume that with high production equipment and 150mm wafers, they could achieve 25-to-30-cents per watt,” he stated, at high solar intensity levels.  

What other kinds of cells? A multi-junction solar cell that exceeds 40 percent efficiency is encouraging because scientists believed this was the efficiency barrier. And boosting efficiency levels helps decrease production costs and will eventually push the price down. “There is a fixed cost and amount of time for making each panel,” states Greentech journalist Ucilia Wang. “If the company produces each panel with a higher power rating (in watts) for the same amount of time as it did before, then that panel’s cost-per-watt is lower.”

Summing Up The Article

What did we learn? The technology breakthroughs that are helping solar cells relative 50 percent efficiency levels are improving, but everyday applications are still years off.  

So you might be wondering how you can get involved in the solar efficiency game today?  HahaSmart can help you find the lowest-priced solar panels with great efficiency.  

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