Polycrystalline Solar Panels

What do you understand with a Polycrystalline Solar Panel?

It is quite clear from the name that they are used to convert solar energy into electrical energy. They are made up from the silicon element which is a highly durable and abundant source in the environment. They are also titled as "multi-crystalline or many crystal silicon" because these are made up from many fragments of silicon element. In this, manufactures melts the fragments of silicon and form the wafers of polycrystalline silicon.

Construction of Polycrystalline Solar Panel

As with the monocrystalline, Polycrystalline also begins with silicon crystal 'seed' kept in a container of molten silicon. This container is simply allowed to keep cool rather than forming the silicon crystal as in Monocrystalline.

Although Polycrystalline solar panels are not better than monocrystalline efficiency. However, it is cheaper than the monocrystalline and by which they can be produced couple with lower efficiency. This is the reason it becomes dominant in the market.

The Polycrystalline cell's efficiency is improving day by day. The latest record for p-type polycrystalline solar cells has been the sustained excellence improvements of polycrystalline wafers that have pushed standard 60-cell multi-crystalline panels from 240W to 260W.

Polycrystalline is competing with Monocrystalline efficiency as they are now improving and have great efficiency.

Advantages of Polycrystalline Solar panel

• The cost for the formation of polycrystalline silicon is quite less than the monocrystalline solar panel. Also, expenses on waste silicon are also less in comparison with the monocrystalline solar panel.
• Multi-crystalline solar panels have lightly lower heat tolerance than the monocrystalline solar panel. The polycrystalline solar panels have a higher temp. coefficient than the solar panel comprised of mono cells. It means that the negate impact on its performance on increasing temperature by sunlight is less than the monocrystalline solar panel. But in practice, these differences are quite low.

Difference between polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar panels?

Now, you have read about polycrystalline solar panels and its advantages. But we recommend you to read about monocrystalline solar panels and then make your decision to buy a solar panel.