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    Renewable Energy

    Solar Energy Basics

    Solar energy basics consist of education, need, and planning.  Educating yourself to the different types of systems can be a daunting task.  So many products to choose from, yet not enough information to work with.  Even if you decide to work with a solar professional, you might want to know if they are using the best solution for you, or are they selling you the best solution for themselves.

     

    What does a system consist of?
    1. Solar panels

    2. Mounting (Roof/Ground) or Tracker.

    3. Charge Controller

    4. Inverter

     

     

    Solar Panels

    There are many types of solar panels out on the maket. Mainly you can break it down to Three different types. Monocrystalline, Polycrystalline, Amorphous

     

     

     

     

     

    Monocrystalline Silicon Panels
    Monocrystalline panels use crystalline silicon, a basic semiconductor material.
    The way to identify weather a panel is Mono or Poly is simple. A Mono panel has individual cells. A Poly type panel is solid with what looks like flakes of silicon pressed together. . Monocrystalline panels are typically 15-18% efficient, meaning that for every unit of solar energy that hits the cell, the panel can convert 15-18% of this energy into electricity. These panels are usually more expensive.

     

     

     

     

     

    Polycrystalline Silicon Panels
    Polycrystalline, or multicrystalline, photovoltaics use a series of cells in place of the single large cell used in monocrystalline panels. These panels are the lease expensive pv panel available today. The drawback of these panels is that they have lower efficiency rates at 12-14% efficiency.

     

     

     

     

    Amorphous Silicon or Thin Film Panels
    Thin-film panels are the lowest efficiency of any current photovoltaic technology at 5-6%. The primary advantage of thin-film panels lies in flexibility.

     

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