By Ali McBride, Aurora Solar
When you think of solar panel efficiency, you’re most likely thinking about how much sunlight a given panel turns into electricity. While this is certainly an important consideration for customers choosing a new photovoltaic system, it’s far from the only aspect of “efficiency” that goes into a high-performing PV system.
In this blog, we’ll look at a few different variables that go into making an efficient solar installation. We’ll start with how well different panels and panel types turn sunlight into electricity, but also looks at other factors, like planning, installation, and maintenance.
But let’s get started where the rubber hits the road: the panels themselves.
In just the past 15 years and even with tariffs, solar PV prices have come down to the point where one can actually “over design” their solar PV system to take into account things like dusting of the panels, LID over the useful life of the panel and keeping in mind technologies are coming along that will allow one to have their own EV charging port, to charge one’s EV(s) at home. Folks are taught to use the STC when over the long haul the PTC or NOCT is a better parameter to use when designing a long term solar PV system. Now that manufacturing technology has increased to the point where many panel manufacturers are putting ‘linear’ degradation warranties of 30 years where a panel still puts out from 88% up to 92% of the power when the panel was new. Since there are solar PV panels that were manufactured in the 1970’s that are still in service today and still putting out specified power after 40 years of use makes one believe that solar PV manufactured today could be a 50 plus year legacy product on one’s roof.