Solar Efficiency
Solar efficiency – we refer to the electric solar panels -is known to be inferior to the wind turbines efficiency. Solar panels actually are divided into two categories: Solar Heating or Solar Thermal Panels and Electric Solar Panels. Solar Heating Panels have far better efficiency compared to the Electric Solar Panels.
Lab researchers claimed they have improved the solar efficiency recently. While the improvement may not look convincing to us actually it still means a lot. Professor Martin Green and his colleague Anita Ho-Baillie, two scientists at the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia are said to led a team of U.S. researchers to victory with a multi-cell combination that is able to convert 43 percent of sunlight into electricity. The previous record was 42.7 percent.
But such panels are not commercially available yet. People are looking for panels with better solar efficiency factor because high efficiency panels will occupy less space on their yards or rooftops. Suniva, Inc., the only U.S. manufacturer of high-power monocrystalline silicon solar cells reported on August 26, 2009 that its ARTisun™ series solar cells are achieving conversion efficiencies of more than 18 percent in production, a record for screen- printed cells in regular full-scale production. Furthermore Suniva plans to steadily raise its commercial cell efficiencies above 20 percent through a series of incremental design and processing innovations.
In 2006, Kyocera,the largest solar module manufacturer in the world claimed its 15×15 centimeter multicrystalline silicon PV cell achieved the world’s highest energy conversion efficiency to date (18.5%). Note that the panels are multicrystalline, different from Sundiva’s monocrystalline panels.
While some people decide to wait until higher efficiency panels are mass produced it seems that purchasing solar panels with the best efficiency available in the market will still give them some benefits because solar cost is going cheaper now by 40%. Add other factors such as the federal and local tax incentives and you will have a very reasonably price to make your own electric solar system.
article posted by the SolarCost Admin
Related posts: