Solar Panels: Choosing the Right One

Solar Panels: Choosing the Right One

Choosing the best brand of solar panels for your PV system is one of the considerations aside from its price. The solar panels that you will install on your roof will be there for a long time. Thus, you need to ensure that these panels will give you a favorable return of investment. Some brands like JinkoSolar, JA Solar and Astronergy can obviously be trusted because of their Tier 1 rating.

According to Solar Quotes, Tier 1 rating implies a good company reputation and low-risk investment. This may not be correlated to high-quality products, but looking at the big picture of a Tier 1 solar panel manufacturer, the financial stability or bankability can be a good sign of their outstanding performance and capability of creating high-performing solar modules which are acceptable and patronized by the market. This can also mean that Tier 1 panels are backed by a strong warranty, so people can expect that the company will operate for the next 25 years or beyond.

Quarterly, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a reliable and well-known industry research firm, ranks these solar manufacturers according to certain criteria or Tier 1 qualifications such as:

• At least 6 different projects of 1.5 MW’s or more in the past 2 years
• Have received non-recourse debt financing by 6 different banks
• Manufacturers need to own production facilities and the brand name
• Cannot have filed bankruptcy, insolvency, or defaulted on bond payments

 

How to determine the right size of PV system?

In order to choose the right solar panels for your home, you need to bear in mind the size of solar PV system appropriate for your house type. In most cases, typical homes use 20kWh of electricity per day which equates to a 5kW solar PV system. You have to determine the amount of electricity you need for your home by easily checking it from your previous electric bills and computing for your average power consumption. From this initial idea, you can now choose the number of panels you need depending on their power output.

 

How many solar panels do you need?

As mentioned earlier, the number of solar panels that you opt to put into your PV system depends on how much electricity your house requires. A 5kW system will require at least nineteen (19) Jinko 275w Poly or JA Solar 275w Poly or eighteen (18) Astronergy 285w Mono  panels to start with. Most homeowners use these solar panels because of the improved reliability and conversion efficiency.

Moreover, these modules have and outstanding performance in low-light irradiance conditions, so you won’t worry for the energy it can convert with the limited source of sunlight.

 

                                                                                                                         

                                                          Jinko Solar 275w Poly                                                                             JA Solar 275w Poly                                                                    Astronergy 285w Mono

 

As an addition to, you might encounter the terms Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline when you start sourcing for your preferred panel. Monocrystalline solar modules are made of high-purity silicon called monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si). These cells make the module highly-efficient but more costly than polycrystalline ones. These panels are also heavier than other type of panels to install on your roof. You can expect that these panels can have an efficient rate of 15% to 20% since they are made out of the highest-grade silicon.

On the other hand, polycrystalline panels with polysilicon (p-Si) provide productivity with lower cost. They are significantly lighter than monocrystalline cells and produce less waste in production which result to minimal ecological footprint. If you don’t have a problem on having an efficiency rate of 13% to 16%, polycrystalline panels are for you.

Monocrystalline panels have rounded edges which have been cut during production to optimize performance while polycrystalline modules look perfectly rectangular. So, you can easily identify mono and poly panels by their appearance.

Depending on your preference, you need to choose wisely which solar panels can give favorable output.

 

How much budget you should spend?

Aside from the panels mentioned above, you can decide to use panels with higher energy output up to 360w. Of course, all of these depends on your budget. Higher power output panels are advisable to those houses with limited rooftop space to achieve the required amount of electricity.

In some scenarios, houses with spacious rooftop can install lesser energy output panels which are cheaper than Tier 1 panels. Link Energy solar panels are best example of these alternative option. You can maximize your rooftop with these modules without spending a lot while achieving the same level of solar PV system output.

As an additional tip, you can check out the latest Link Energy panels with aesthetically beautiful crystal pattern here: http://bit.ly/LinkEnergyPanels 

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Link Energy Crystal Panel

Looking the best panel is not an easy task, but having enough knowledge and research is a good start to have your reliable and efficient solar PV system.

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