Efficiency Rating Solar Panels

Most solar panels are between 15 and 20 efficient with outliers on either side of the range.

Efficiency rating solar panels. So if a solar panel has an efficiency rating of 15 that means 15 of the sunlight that hits the solar panels will be converted into electricity. A higher solar panel efficiency rating means a panel will produce more kilowatt hours of energy per watt of power capacity. High quality solar panels can exceed 22 efficiency in some cases and almost reach 23 but the majority of photovoltaic panels available are not above 20 efficiency. The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency.

The most efficient solar panels commercially available today have solar panel efficiency just under 23. If a solar panel has 20 percent efficiency that means it s capable of converting 20 percent of the sunshine hitting it into electricity. The graphic below shows how dramatically solar panel performance has improved over time. In other words the efficiency value that we can find on the datasheet of a solar panel represents the ability of the module to convert sunlight into electricity according to its size.

Simply put solar panel efficiency is referred to the ratio of peak power compared to the amount of sunlight that arrives at the solar cells of the module. Total panel efficiency is measured under standard test conditions stc based on a cell temperature of 25 c solar irradiance of 1000w m2 and air mass of 1 5.