Solar Panel Percent Efficiency

If a solar panel has 20 percent efficiency that means it s capable of converting 20 percent of the sunshine hitting it into electricity.

Solar panel percent efficiency.

Current solar panels can successfully convert around 20 percent of their collected energy. That bump in efficiency combined with an over 17 percent price drop could convince a decent amount of homeowners to make the jump to solar power. So if a solar panel has an efficiency rating of 15 that means 15 of the sunlight that hits the solar panels will be converted into electricity. A new solar panel has reached 47 percent efficiency in the lab and nearly 40 percent in the field.

Usually solar cells collect sunlight on their entire surface converting it to electricity at perhaps 15 19 percent efficiency meaning about 85 percent of the energy is lost in the process. Most solar panels are between 15 and 20 efficient with outliers on either side of the range. The average efficiency of solar panels falls between the 17 to 19 percent efficiency range. Solar panel efficiency is a measure of the amount of solar energy irradiation which falls on a panel surface and is converted into electricity.

The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency. This panel exceeds typical panels by combining six kinds of collectors into one micro thin. Due to the many recent advances in solar cell technology over the last 5 years average panel conversion efficiency has increased from 15 to 20. High quality solar panels can exceed 22 efficiency in some cases and almost reach 23 but the majority of photovoltaic panels available are not above 20 efficiency.

That might sound low but scientists believe that with current technology solar panels will hit a peak. To calculate the efficiency of your panel just multiply the amount of sunlight that hits the earth s surface in your area known as the incident radiation flux by the area of your panel measured in square meters. What is solar panel efficiency. Most solar panels have efficiency ratings of around 15 to 18 percent.