Most Efficient Solar Panels (HIT,E-20,ZTJ) On the Market for Sale

Sanyo HIT BiFacial Solar Panel

Solar Panels are sold by hundreds of companies around the world  ranging from small to very large and comes in various shapes and sizes as well.Besides this solar panels are also made of very different materials for example silicon solar panels and thin film solar panels.So comparing solar panels and choosing a solar panel is a very difficult process if you want the best solar panel according to your need.The most efficiency solar panels are needed in cases where the land area or rooftop area is at a premium.Note a typical 200-250 watt solar panel requires an area of 60×38 inches which means an area of around 2000 square inches.1 megawatt of solar panels would require an area of between 5-10 acres of land depending on the efficiency of the solar panels.However this can be reduced by using solar trackers which can increase the output of solar panels though they to increase the area requirement slightly.Also the area also depends on the location of the place since a place receiving high sunlight for example California would  require lesser area for generating the same amount of electricity compared to London (upto 30% fewer solar panels).Note solar panels with higher efficiency have a higher price tag associated with them since they require higher cost to manufacture.The most efficiency solar panels which are used in spacecraft and have a efficiency of around 35-40% may cost upto 100 times more than the normal silicon solar panel.

Most Efficient Solar Panels in the Market

Sunpower

Sunpower is a vertically integrated solar energy company known more for its highest efficiency solar panels..Sunpower is present in all 3 segments of the solar systems business namely a)residential b)commercial and c) utility. It is one of the largest US installers and has recently won a number of large utility contracts for building solar farms.The company was recently bought by the French Oil Giant Total.Sunpower sells the highest efficiency solar panels made from its record breaking monocrystalline solar cells which have more than 24% efficiency.Sunpower E-18 to E-20 Solar Panels – SunPower E18 to E20 Series solar panels deliver high efficiency solar technology utilizing SunPower Maxeon patented technology with back-contact solar cells.

1. Sunpower  E18/308 Solar Panels –  Utilizing 96 back-contact solar cells, the SunPower  308 delivers a total panel conversion efficiency of 18.9%. This Solar Panel weights 18.6 kg and delivers 308 watts being one of the few solar panels in the market capable of exceeding 300 Watts of power.
2. Sunpower E19/240  Solar Panels  – This Solar Panel lies in between the E18 and E20 Solar Panels and like its name has 19% Efficiency which is also the midpoint of the two solar panels.Utilizing 72 all back-contact solar cells, the SunPower  240 delivers a total panel conversion efficiency of 19.3%
3. Sunpower E20/435  Solar Panels – This is the most efficient solar panel available in the market today with the highest power rating of 435 Watts.the E20  series provides panel conversion efficiencies of up to 20.1%. This Solar Panel weighs jus t28.6 kgs and has 128 Sunpower Maxeon Solar Cells.It has a 25 year power warrant and a 10 year produc t warranty.It has all the normal IEC Certifications.

Sanyo

Sanyo Electric which was recently bought by the Japanese Electronics giant Panasonic also makes very high efficiency solar panels under the HIT brand.These solar panels using the Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin Layer Technology which means that its uses

a thin layer of amorphous silicon along with a layer of crystalline silicon which increases the amount of sunlight that is cap

ture.Sanyo sells 3 types of HIT Solar Panels

1. HIT Power N and A Solar Photovoltaic Modules – These have higher power ratings than normal HIT modules and range between 205-225 Watts.
2. HIT Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules – The back face of a HIT Double panel generates electricity from ambient light reflected off surrounding surfaces, and combines with power from the front face of the panel. Depending upon system design and site albedo, this results in up to 30% higher power generation (more kWh) per square foot.HIT bifacial solar cells are hybrids of single crystalline silicon surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers.As temperatures rise, HIT Double solar panels produce more electricity than conventional solar panels at the same temperature, due to their low temperature coefficient.
3. Normal HIT Power Panels – HIT Power panels have a double-wall black anodized aluminum frame for extra strength, and are tested to 60PSF. The panels come pre-equipped with a touchsafe junction box, USE-2 outdoor rated cables, MC4™ locking connectors, and are UL 1703 safety rated for wind, hail, and fire.

Note the production processes for making the above solar panels is complex which means additional costs.You can buy slightly lower 16-17% efficient solar panels from Chinese solar panel manufacturers like Yingli Energy which makes the Panda solar panels.Yingli PANDA has been made using  in-house collaboration between the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) and Amtech Systems.Average cell efficiency on commercial production lines exceeds 18.5% with up to 16.2% efficiency.Besides this Kyocera,Sharp  also make high efficiency and high quality solar panels.

Multijunction Solar Panels

Theoretically, efficiencies of over 70% could be reached by using hundreds of different layers, each one tuned to a small range of light wavelengths varying from ultraviolet to infrared. However due to difficulties in manufacturing such complicated crystals, the idea could not be put into practice. The theoretical efficiency of multi-junction solar cells is about 86.8% for an infinite number of junctions, implying that more junctions increase efficiency.

Emcore Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR) is a commercial provider of Solar Cells for Spacecraft.With a sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 30%, the ZTJ solar cell is the highest performance space qualified multi-junction solar cell. Production of the multi-junction solar panels will take place at EMCORE’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Read more about Multi-junction Solar Cells and Panels.