Poly Vs Mono Solar Panels

Advantages of mono solar panels.

Poly vs mono solar panels.

Usually polycrystalline silicon solar cells won t have the corners cut off of them so you won t see the large white spaces on the front of the panel that you see on monocrystalline panels. Polycrystalline solar cells are blended from multiple silicon sources and are slightly less efficient. The older of the two mono panels are the most developed type of photovoltaic panel cells. While on the other hand poly crystal solar panelare made out of fragments of silicon which were melted together to form the wafer.

The main difference between the two technologies is the type of silicon solar cell they use. Thin film technology costs less than mono or poly panels but is also less efficient. Looking at mono vs poly solar panels you can see that mono crystalline panels have a smoother more uniform appearance than poly crystalline panels. Mono crystal solar panelsare made out of highly pure single piece silicon.

See an example of monocrystalline cells below. They typically perform better than polycrystalline alternatives albeit by a small amount. Now to make things a little more confusing there s recently a third type of panel technology hit the market. Monocrystalline solar panels have solar cells made from a single crystal of silicon while polycrystalline solar panels have solar cells made from many silicon fragments melted together.

The way they are manufactured causes the panels to have a blue color which some people consider to be an eyesore. It is mainly used in large scale commercial applications. Mono solar cell panels have a typical efficiency of around 15 at the 25 c mark which drops at 50 c by around 12 15. All you need to do is pick a good brand and you ll be set.

Monocrystalline solar cells are more efficient because they are cut from a single source of silicon. For two panels of similar wattage the difference in performance between mono and poly is absolutely tiny so don t stress over it at all.