Silicon Vs Thin Film Efficiency Solar Panel

Amorphous cadmium telluride cdte copper gallium indium diselenide cigs and organic solar panels.

Silicon vs thin film efficiency solar panel.

In all our grid connect packages we only use good quality poly or monocrystalline panels except in very specific circumstances for the. Quite often we re asked about the advantages of monocrystalline panels and polycrystalline solar modules over their amorphous thin film counterparts. These lightweight durable solar modules can be made in several different ways and with many unique materials. Thin film solar panels have the lowest cost out of the three solar panel types because of their low performance.

Types of thin film solar panels. There is a competitive price advantage of thin film modules over crystalline silicon pv modules. C si cells only lose about 1 in power output each year. There are four major types of thin film solar panels.

Because thin film panels are made of much thinner layers of silicon their efficiency 6 12 is typically lower than the rigid monocrystalline or polycrystalline panels as the thin layer cannot absorb as much of the light. Thin film is similar but that s after a 20 initial loss that happens the first time it s exposed to the sun. Small layers of semi conductive material are coated over a more durable material such as metal or plastic and then covered by a transparent weatherproofed layer. Despite the fact that the global thin film module production capacity have increased significantly since 2007 the price of crystalline silicon modules have sharply decreased.

Thin film panels are panels are purposely made to be thin and flexible for a greater variety of applications. Thin film modules are primarily composed of a rare metal called tellurium that can absorb solar rays better than silicon crystalline modules which is a factor in the price gap between the two technologies. Thin film solar panels are made with electricity producing layers hundreds of times thinner than those in traditional silicon panels. The efficiencies of these two technologies are rapidly increasing while the price gap rapidly is narrowing.

They are also easier to install than crystalline silicon panels which drops their price even lower. Enter thin film solar cells which are. Some estimates say crystalline panels may well produce useful levels of electricity for up to 50 years. When it comes to performance efficiency thin film solar cells are rated between 7 to 13 while manufacturers promise that upcoming models will have a performance efficiency of up to 16.

Thin film pv is quite popular especially in the u s.