Solar Panel Stc Rateing

Stc in an acronym for factory standard test conditions which is 1 000 watts per square meter solar irradiance 1 5 air mass and a 25 degrees c.

Solar panel stc rateing.

The temperature of your solar panel for example is rarely a constant 25 c the temperature used to determine stc ratings. Wattage is simply how much electricity a solar panel can produce under perfect test conditions known in the industry as standard test conditions stc. So here we go the different categories of solar panel ratings. When we talk about solar panel ratings we most often talk about wattage.

Standard test conditions stc stc is the set of criteria that a solar panel is tested at. Ambient temperature at 10 meters above ground level and wind. Ideally you want this number to be as low as possible. As you can see the canadian solar 260 watt polycrystalline module has a ptc rating of 239 1 watts and an stc rating of 260 watts.

And as panels cool their output goes up this type of power drop off happens for all panels. See how much you can save with solar. In other words if the temperature outside is 20 c your solar panel s temperature is probably around 40 c. Every solar panel has a published power rating.

As the panel heats up as they all do in the real world its output drops. Solar panel degradation rate the solar energy degradation rate measures the rate at which a panel s power output decreases over time. A higher power rating means that the panels are more effective at producing power. Ptc is an acronym for pv usa test conditions which were developed at the pv usa test site at the university of davis california.

Since voltage and current change based on temperature and intensity of light among other criteria all solar panels are tested to the same standard test conditions. Sunpower solar panels offer the industry best degradation rate at 0 32 year. This is because it rates solar panels in terms of the instantaneous power that they produce under a set of ideal conditions. The ptc rating represents a more real life condition of 1 000 watts per square meter solar irradiance 1 5 air mass and 20 degrees c.

Most solar panels are 20 c hotter than the ambient temperature. The stc rating is always the highest rating. All solar panels receive a nameplate power rating indicating the amount of power they produce under industry standard test conditions. If you add up the rated power for all of the panels then you get the peak rating of a solar system.

The stc rating of a solar module is determined by carefully controlling light and temperature in the testing environment. Most residential and commercial solar panels on the market have power ratings in the range of 250 to 400 watts.