What Are The Different Types Of Solar Panels And Their Characteristics

A View Looking Down At A Business With Commercial Solar Panels On Roof - Commercial Solar Roofing Nashville - Music City Solar Solutions 2306 Eugenia Ave Suite A Nashville TN 37211 (615) 692-1602
Sustainability and reducing one’s carbon footprint has become a worldwide movement with more and more people striving to leave the world better than they found it. In the contemporary world, we rely on power regularly, and this usually results in environmental pollution in some cases. This has necessitated the use of sustainable renewable energy solutions like solar panels.

Solar Panels In Nashville

Today, numerous companies manufacture solar panels like Music City Solar Solutions in Nashville, TN. There are many different types of solar panels to choose from. So, what are they? Polycrystalline, monocrystalline and thin-film panels. Each type varies in how it is manufactured, its performance, appearance, installations and costs. And depending on the installation type you want, one choice may be more suitable than its counterparts. For this reason, you need to know how they work first before settling on a specific solar panel type. To understand this, you need to know what the solar panels are made of and their characteristics first.

Monocrystalline And Polycrystalline Solar Panels

To make electricity, the solar panel cells are made using a semiconducting material that alters light into electricity. Both Polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels are made from silicon semiconductor wafers. To build these solar panel types, the wafers are assembled into columns and rows forming a rectangle that’s covered with glass sheet then framed together. Though both panels are composed of silicon cells, they vary in the silicon composition itself.

Monocrystalline panels are cut from single, pure crystal silicon while polycrystalline solar cells are made from silicon crystal fragments melted into a mold before they are cut into wafers. Monocrystalline solar panel types have high performance, aesthetics, and efficiency all though their cost is high. Polycrystalline solar types, on the other hand, are low cost but their efficiency and performance are relatively low.

Thin-film Solar panels

Unlike polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar cells, thin-films are composed of varying materials with the prevalent thin-film solar panel type being made from cadmium telluride (CdTe). The thin-film technology used for this type involves placing a CdTe layer in between transparent conducting layers which will assist in capturing sunlight. On top, it has a glass layer for protection. Thin-film panels can also be manufactured from amorphous silicon (a-Si), which is the same composition used in making polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels. However, they are made from non-crystalline silicon that is placed on top of plastic, glass, or metal.

You should note that each solar panel type has its own specific pros and cons, and your preferred installation type will depend on various factors of your property and desired characteristics. Music City Solar Solutions offers you with all the aforementioned different solar panel types to meet your preference.

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