There were a number of reasons for this thinking.
Difference between polycrystalline and multicrystalline solar panels.
Monocrystalline solar cells have historically had a higher peak efficiency and were more readily available than polysilicon solar cells.
Polycrystalline solar panels are also referred to as multi crystalline or many crystal silicon.
The efficiency of polycrystalline solar panels is somewhat lower but the benefit for customers is that this option is more affordable.
However instead of using a single crystal of silicon manufacturers melt many fragments of silicon together to form the wafers for the panel.
You would need a much larger array of polycrystalline panels to produce the same amount of energy than if you used monocrystalline which may not work for households with limited roof space.
In fact both polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar panels serve the purpose well by producing the required amount of electricity for your home.
Polycrystalline are also known as multi crystalline solar panels and unlike monocrystalline solar panels the melted silicon to produce them is poured into a square mould.
For the chinese tier 1 solar panel the cost difference between polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels is 1 2 cents per watt.
The key difference between monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar panels is that comparatively the monocrystalline solar panels are black in color and are more efficient and durable whereas polycrystalline solar panels are blue in color and are less efficient and less durable.
Therefore the primary component of a solar cell is silicon.
A quality mono crystalline solar panel such as the suntech 190w also used by gold coast solar power solutions has a pmax rating of 0 48 o c though only a difference of 0 08 per o c this small amount adds up on hot summer days and makes the poly multi crystalline out perform the mono crystalline solar panel in real world australian.
Usually polycrystalline silicon solar cells won t have the corners cut off of them so you won t see the large white spaces on the front of the panel that you see on monocrystalline panels.
However there are certain differences that relate to the types of technology used for the manufacturing of these panels.
Tindo solar panels using polycrystalline cells.
At the wholesale level poly and mono modules from this category examples being canadian solar longi trina or jinko are around 50 cents per watt.
When solar pv first boomed in australia in 2009 2010 monocrystalline solar panels were thought to be superior to polycrystalline solar panels.
Polycrystalline panels have about 13 to 16 efficiency while monocrystalline panels have an efficiency rate of anywhere from 15 to 20.
This silicon is then cooled and finally sliced into square wafers creating the polycrystalline shape.
Manufacturers use silicon in making solar panels.
