Solar industry technology is advancing rapidly. Strong, more resilient, and less expensive solar equipment continues to grow. The unique new technology can be easily missed with too many news stories to track. However, a technology announcement is not to be missed: Trina Solar released panels with just 500 watts.
Panel Wattage changed over Time?
Just as in the first half of 2016, when our network of installer networks began to register wattages of individual panels, at the time, panels 300 watts or less of the 325 or larger panels included a larger percentage of quota. Today, as our ninth Intel report shows, most quotes on the market contain either 320 or 330-watt panels. However, it is impressive to move past 400-watt panels and 500-watt panels: a 50% increase over the most often residential solar panel!
Two factors helping the panel to gain this power rating are worth noting. In the first place, these panels are primarily designed for larger installations, meaning that the panels themselves are physically larger than typical home panels. Secondly, these panels are bifacial such that both the front and back of the panels can collect the sunlight and generate an increased amount of energy. In residential applications, bifacial panels are less often installed.
Are panels getting more powerful?
Increasing their efficiency or increasing their physical size are two main ways to make solar panels stronger. At about 23 percent, the most efficient solar panels on the residential market are available. This means topping at 425 watts for a standard residential plate. The power rating increases by about 10 watts. Every half percentage point or so, the panel efficiency increases.
This efficiency level would have already been unbelievable at solar panels just five years earlier. It would probably produce a 525-watt panel if residential panels increased their efficiency by another five percentage points to 28%. Alternatively, solar panels will move from 60 cells to 72 and beyond, allowing large, wider, and more space-saving panels. This will also result in systems design or integration issues for larger and heavier modules, thus producing higher power solar panels.
Final Note
For a relatively inexpensive system, 500 watts are a lot of power, the actual capacity of your system largely depends on the size of your battery over time. I hope this post has explained some of the details on 500-watt solar panels. This article may be helpful for you.
