Tips on How to Buy Polycrystalline Solar Panels

Jay Dioxy Riboz | Jul 19, 2010 |

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Buying the best solar panels for your home

Polycrystalline solar panels - what are they?

As the need for energy becomes increasing and the price of electricity becomes higher every year or so, more and more people are searching for alternative sources of energy which are also renewable and environment friendly. With this new consciousness, the use of solar panels as an alternative energy source immediately comes to mind. There are many kinds of solar panels, and one of the most popularly used in homes is the polycrystalline solar panel.

There are cheap renewable sources of energy and polycrystalline solar panels are not different. These kinds of solar panels are made from polycrystalline cells which are less expensive, but less efficient, than their more expensive counterparts like monocrystalline cells.

Polycrystalline solar panels appear like shattered glass, unlike monocrystalline modules which are smooth in nature. They are squarely-shaped and made from silicon which consists of many types of crystals, which result in a mosaic, shattered appearance. They are much easy to produce and manufacturers incur lesser cost to produce them, therefore, making them cheaper for buyers.

One square meter of a polycrystalline solar panel is enough to generate 100 to 125 watts of power if exposed to direct sunlight. A dozen of these would be enough to power several low-powered equipments and light electric bulbs, depending on the power usage. The price per solar panel may range from $8 to $11 per watt. The most common brands of polycrystalline solar panels are Kyocera, Sharp, Solarex.

In general, the solar panels' efficiency in converting the 100% of the sun's energy which is received by a collection of panels is lowly rated, usually at 5% to 15%. More research would still be done to increase this rating to 50%. It is common sense that you need more solar panels to power your home utilities that need more energy to be used.

It is just easy to compute the number of solar panels that you'll use. Each kind of solar panel has energy generation capacity specification. You just have to calculate how much energy you will need and buy the number of panels according to their specified energy rating.

The use of solar panels will be widely accepted as a common source of energy in the coming years. Certainly, polycrystalline solar panels will be one of the top preferences for buyers because of its inexpensive price as compared to other kinds. Solar panels will be a common power-generating tool of future homes especially that it is eco-friendly. High electric bills will be a thing of the past by then.