Properties Of Mono Solar Panel

Mono crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Solar cells made of monocrystalline silicon, also called single-crystalline silicon (sc-Si), are quite easily recognizable by an external even coloring and uniform look, indicating high silicon-purity, as you can see on the picture below:

Another good way to seperate mono- and polycrystalline solar panels is that the polycrystalline solar cells are perfectly square. Monocrystalline solar cells are made out of silicon wafers, which comes in cylinders. To optimize performance and lower costs of a single solar panel, the cylinder wafers a chunk of  their edges squared away, resulting in the characteristic look you can see above.

Advantages

1: Since monocrystalline is of the highest grade of silicon-purity, solar panels made of it are the most efficient. The efficiency rate (how much of the energy in the form of sunlight is converted to electricity) usually end up somewhere between 12-19%.

2: Another way of saying high efficiency is space-efficient. Since monocrystalline silicon panels yield the highest power outputs, they also require the least amount of space to achieve a desired capacity compared to the other types. Monocrystalline silicon panels usually has somewhere between 60 and 72 solar cells, the equivalent to an output of 120-300 Wp (watt-peak).

3: Monocrystalline solar panels tend to last longest and the majority of the manufacturers put a 25-year warranty on them.

Usually performs better than a similarly rated polycrystalline solar panel at lower light and lower temperature conditions.

Disadvantages

1: Monocrystalline solar panels are the most expensive. From a financial standpoint, if you have sufficient space, you should choose a solar panel that is made of polycrystalline or amorphous silicon.

2: If the panel is partially covered with shade, dirt or snow, the entire circuit is broken. If you are not using micro-inverters, this could mean that the entire array with solar panels takes a big hit performance-wise.

3: To make monocrystalline silicon, we have to grow large cylindrical ingots with the Czochralski process. Due to the geometry of these ingots, monocrystalline silicon cells are not entirely square, and significant amounts of the silicon ends up as waste.

4: Monocrystalline solar panels are more efficient in cold weather, but as the temperature increases, the electrical conversion rates goes down.


Mono Solar Panel pics