Types of Solar Cells
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Three solar cell types are in current use. They include amorphous solar cells, monocrystalline solar cells, and multicrystalline solar cells. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages that make it suited to specific applications. For the purposes of Solar Power Industries, multicrystalline solar cells represent the greatest efficiency for manufacturing and the greatest value to the customer.
Amorphous cells have been used for a long time in products like solar powered calculators, and garden lamps. The entire panel consists of one piece, making individual solar cells less identifiable. This has long been the least efficient solar cell type, but they have begun to improve to the point where they may become a viable alternative to crystalline solar cells. Theoretically, monocrystalline cells are the most efficient cell type, but in practice poly-crystalline cells produce nearly the same energy output. Moreover, since monocrystalline silicon crystals form circular cross-sections, more silicon is wasted when squaring the wafer than when manufacturing multicrystalline cells since they naturally produce square cross-sections. SPI focuses solely on the production of polycrystalline solar cells because of these advantages. |
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