Is There a New More Efficient Solar Panel Coming?

My dim LEDS claim to be 10 watts. Until I see things on a spec sheet that has a genuine telephone number and street address I will reserve my optimism.

10 am 100 watt panel would be putting out 10 volts. So yes, that is possible.

And yes, there are more efficient solar panels coming "Soon" as they say.. And when those arrive, there will be still more efficient ones coming "Soon" still, for the industry is always striving to improve efficiency.

100 watts by the way is about 8 amps at 12 volts. and at 14 (Common charging voltage) is even less, and since you normally want even more out of the panel, you are looking at like 6 amps into the controller.

I think RJ may have been hearing about concentrators becoming economical or else the spectrum splitter whatsits.

Panel efficiency should be distinguished from economical efficiency (money side of things) where both are part of "system efficiency."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell_efficiency

There are two guidelines for solar panels:

1: Someone has a lot of space, so they want to cover it as cheaply as possible.
2: There is limited space, so the person is willing to pay more for more efficient panels to use that space to its best potential.

Don't forget that the charge controller is important as well. With only a small area for panels, having a MPPT controller will come in handy. A larger area, a PWM controller that is cheaper may be good enough.

The shekels per watt of bleeding edge technology in solar panels is not for the cheap or folks on fixed income.

Besides, isn't having a big solar panel kinda like having a big deck?

When on sale, for just the panel, $1 a watt happens at Solar Blvd in the 100-140 watt size panels. I've seen 100 watt panels for $95, 120 watt panels for $115 and 140 watt panels for $135, last Black Friday sale that was there.

There will always be a better panel on the way !!!!! Will it be practical to manufacture, will it be cost effective; who knows ????

Today you can get panels at $1.50 a watt in the 100 watt range, and $1.00 in the 200-250 watt range. These are very reasonable prices, and for RV use; a great value.

If you have any interest in solar; go out and buy now.

Doug

There are always more better panels coming but at what cost and how soon.

AM Solar's 32 cell 100 watt panels are said to have 18% efficiency.

My Sharp 12v 130w panel claims a "module efficiency" of 13.1% A group of Hanwha 24v panels claim module efficiencies rising from 14.2% for the 235w to 15.9% for the 260w.

It seems there is a relationship between panel wattage and efficiency where more wattage means higher efficiency.

In that case, the new panels would only need to be higher wattage for the rumour to be true! :)

Given that the very best research (meaning not available for sale, still in development) solar panels just recently set a new record at (I think) 35% efficient, this leaves lots and lots of room for improvement. If I'm not mistaken, the best ones you can actually buy are about 20% efficient currently.

So, rumor or no, I'm pretty sure that better ones are coming. And after those, even better ones . . . .

I would suggest that when you decide to go solar, you buy the best combination of cost and efficiency you can find, and never look back. Better ones are certain to come on the market shortly after you write the check, no matter when you do it, so don't worry about it, and don't put off buying waiting for those better ones, or you'll never take the plunge.