Three Reasons to Be Thankful For All-Black Solar Panels

The solar power industry is seeing a shift in a few different areas in regards to solar panels. We are seeing more and more solar companies increasing the size of photovoltaic cells, and some companies using the half-cut photovoltaic cell technology. But another trend that we are especially thankful for, is the industry-wide shift to all-black solar panels.

More and more of your top solar companies have released all-black solar panels and more and more homeowners are installing all-black solar panels on their rooftops.

There are a few reasons that we are thankful for all-black solar panels, keep reading to find out why!

Reason #1: The Technology 

The black photovoltaic cells have turned the solar energy industry on its head, by making strides in the efficiency of a solar panel, also considered to be the holy grail of the industry.

The reason black photovoltaic cells are so special is because the photovoltaic cells can absorb 99.7% of the sunlight. This means that only 0.3% of incident light is reflected from the photovoltaic cell surface, which helps it beat the typical anti-reflective coating in the more traditional techniques of solar panels.

The black photovoltaic cells use more sophisticated nanotechnology in the production process.

The nanotechnology has been gaining momentum in more recent years. Nanotechnology is a science, engineering, and technology developed at the nanoscale, which is around 1 to 100 nanometers. This application is being used to redesign everything we know from medicine to car parts and is now being used for solar panels.

Just as everything is done on the nanoscale, the geometry of the nanotexture can vary. Small changes in the nanoscale are going to have a large impact on the macroscale. Therefore the different solar companies that are manufacturing a new generation of solar panels are using different approaches to their nano designs.

As the different layers of the photovoltaic cells are so small, the lighter wavelength sees the photovoltaic cell as a single structure. Hence the reflection is small. The efficiency of a solar panel is reported to have around a 0.4% increase using the nanotechnology approach to develop the all-black photovoltaic cells.

For the new process, the efficiency of a solar panel is a major leap in the right direction. The reason being, darkness is the absence of light and the all-black color illustrates the ability to absorb the majority, if not all of the light.

This technology has taken quite some time to develop as the industry has to overcome quite a few technical challenges. One of the major challenges was keeping the nanostructure intact during the silicon doping process. Doping is an extremely important part of the manufacturing of photovoltaic cells. It involves the adding of impurities to intrinsic semiconductors to alter their properties at high-heat.

Reason #2 the Aesthetics

Another huge impact when it comes to all-black solar panels is aesthetics. Homeowners are gearing towards all-black solar panel installations due to their sleek all-black appearance. These solar panels look good on any and every rooftop. They also have some of the highest efficiency of solar panel levels on the market today.

Reason #3 The All Black Solar Panels on the Market

The more popular the all-black solar panels get, the more solar companies are going to start manufacturing all-black solar panels. Listed below are some of the all-black solar panels that we are thankful for and why;

Hanwha Q Cells, q-peak duo blk-g6 all-black solar panels, come with a 25-year warranty and are expected to raise the efficiency of a solar panel to up to 20.1%. The new G6 solar panel has a 340 W solar power output and is certified to handle heavy snow and wind loads. The solar panels will have larger photovoltaic cells that will help the solar panels deliver up to 6% more solar power.

LONGi released the HI-MO4 solar panels using m6 size, 166-millimeter wafers, which are larger than previous solar panels. The new solar panels boast a maximum solar power output of 345 watts and the efficiency of a solar panel is 18.3%. The new solar panels have a better energy yield with a low irradiance performance coefficient and less than 2% first-year solar power degradation.

The HiDM all-black solar panels from Canadian Solar have a better shading tolerance in comparison with their other solar panels. With a lower internal current, lower hot spot temperature, reduced risk of photovoltaic cells cracking in a small region. The solar panels also enhance module reliability. They can also withstand heavy snow loads and strong winds. The HiDM has a 330 W solar power output, with the efficiency of a solar panel reaching 19.57%.

Solaria Power XT solar panels have a sleek all-black look. The solar panels have a 360 W solar power output raising the solar company’s, efficiency of a solar panel to 19.9%. Solaria’s solar panels are one of the highest power modules on the market, producing more power per square meter area, and they lower solar panel installation costs due to fewer BOS components.