When a new person, who wants to install a solar plant, when he searches it on YouTube or tries to study about it. Then a lot of confusion is created for him that there are so many types of panels, so which one is best for me. So after seeing so many types of panels, after hearing so many names like:
- Poly
- Mono
- Full Cell
- Half Cut
- Poly Half Cut
- Bifacial,
- Monofacial
- N-Type
- PType
- Topcon
- Monoperc
- HJT
We feel that like:
- these are different technologies,
- different types of materials have been used in it,
- unalike companies make it, its price is different,
- electricity produced will be different, there are different benefits,
many questions arise in our mind.
Comparison Factors in Solar Panels
When we are comparing two solar panels, so the difference in it can be of different types. There may be a difference in the material used in it, the technology with which it is made can be differenthe type of glass used in it can be different. The wattage in it can be different, the cells used in it can be different. So these above mentioned types not so many types of solar panels. Although these names are based on different technologies, or the material used in it, their different names are based on it.
Here we will discuss that what is the difference between these names, what is the difference in it. If you want to install a solar panel today, which one should you install, which one will be good for you.
Are these Latest Technologies?
So these Topcon, Monoperc, Halfcut, Bifacial, these things, have not been launched today or tomorrow. If we talk about Topcon, it has started to be made since 2-3 years. But it has started to sell more now, so Monoperc has also been around for a long time.
So the Reason for this article is that all the available data about Topcon or Perc, is in lot of technical depth. But a common man who has to install a 5 kilowatt system at home. He has nothing to do with how the company has connected the cell inside. Or what layer has been put behind it, what kind of soldering has been done inside it. Or what kind of sheet has been put inside it, it has nothing to do with that.
Poly
They want to know which technology is good, whose quality is good, so let’s start first. The panels that we have, the most basic one was poly, everyone must know, if you don’t know, then we will discuss here. So basically the major component of a panel is a cell. Whatever kind of panels are there, poly, mono, topcon, bifacial, perc or whatever, or HJT. You must have heard the name of HJT very little, I will tell you a little about it too. So whatever panel you see, there can be only two types of cells, the first was poly, which is used very little now.
Mono
The second is mono, so poly means multi and mono means single. That is, the cell that is made, the poly module in it, the poly cell, has more crystals. That is, small pieces are refined again and a cell is made, but the mono has single crystals. Like we take a big piece of marble, cut a straight natural piece of a stone, or anything, we call it a mono cell. So a wafer of natural silicon, the single piece that has been cut from it, is called a mono cell.
So these were the two basic technologies, in which 72 cells were poly.
Half Cut
After that came the mono half cut, now what was done in half cut. The cells that are connected to each other, all the cells. The current that goes from one cell to another, the wires that are connected, are called busbars. o the normal poly panel, or the mono panel that we were talking about, it used to have 3 wires, then 5 wires started coming.
We also call it busbars, we call it busbars technically, that this is a 5 busbar panel. So the 350, 360 panels, used to have 5 busbars, so what the companies did, the 72 cells that were connected. They cut one cell in half, that is, they made two parts of the same cell, so inside a panel, 72 cells were put up, and 72 cells were put down.
CUT
The panel was divided from the middle, so what happened with that, the 72 cells. They made a separate series, and a separate series for the lower one. So half the panel is working separately, and half is working separately. And the other thing they did, they increased the 5 busbars to 9 busbars, that is, the area. The current that used to go to collect the wires, that increased, and the cells were divided in two places.
Benefits
By doing this, the load on the busbar also reduced. The panel could work in more heat, and its efficiency also increased. And by increasing efficiency, in less heat, efficiency means, in more heat, how much more electricity the panel is emitting. So if a panel has 16% efficiency, that means, it is converting 16% of the heat into electricity. This is seen as lab testing, that if a 2000 watt light falls on a panel. How much electricity is it able to generate, so its efficiency increased. This is a 144 cell panel, so its name was mono half cut panel.
PERC
The panel that was our cell, when sunlight used to fall inside the cell. It used to absorb some of the light, the rest used to go ahead, used to cross it. Now what happened by crossing it, the energy was being wasted, so efficiency was still low, so a technology called PERC was invented.
PERC stands for Passive Emitter and Rear Contact, that means, a layer was placed behind the cell. A sheet, a layer, you can call it anything, so a thing was placed, the light that used to pass through it, it used to help the cell, so that it doesn’t go ahead. It gets absorbed more by the solar cell, so that panel was called mono PERC panel.
MONO PERC HALF CUT
now there are 2-3 other technologies there is PERC, instead of C it becomes T, and there is one more. The most popular one was MONO PERC, so when MONO PERC panel was made. The wattage of that panel increased to 405, 450, 450, 460 watts, and the efficiency of the panel also increased with the technology.
So if we talk about the latest, 4-5 months back, the most famous one was this panel, MONO HALF CUT, MONO PERC, now MONO HALF CUT and MONO PERC are the same thing, that panel is made of MONO cell, it has PERC sheet, PERC technology has been used, and it is in HALF CUT, that’s why it is MONO PERC HALF CUT module.
BIFACIAL
Next one is BIFACIAL, what companies have done in BIFACIAL, the cell, the sheet of the back side, the panel is of white color, that means it doesn’t absorb the energy from the bottom, so after that, they started putting glass on the bottom, or made the back sheet transparent, instead of putting white sheet, they put transparent sheet like lamination, so the cells start absorbing energy from the bottom also, so it is called BIFACIAL.
BIFACIAL means, it works from both the sides, BIFACIAL module also comes in two types, one is GLASS TO GLASS, G2G, or GLASS TO TRANSPARENT BACK SHEET.
TOPCON & HJT
TOPCON and HJT, you must have heard TOPCON name, because it is getting famous, and before this, there is a technology HJT. TOPCON stands for TUNNEL OXIDE PASSIVATED CONTACT, and HJT stands for HETROJUCTION TECHNOLOGY, both are different technologies.
Lets understand about TOPCON, when PERC TECHNOLOGY was added, PERC was added behind the cell, instead of that, TOPCON was added, TOPCON is TUNNEL OXIDE, in simple language, the energy going ahead, was going behind the cell, and PERC was helping it, to absorb it, there also efficiency was not gained, so there, companies made a new technology, that if this is added, energy will be absorbed more, and panel will work in more heat.
HJT
In HJT, is more than TOPCON and PERC, efficiency is more than both, but the problem is, in PERC, there are 8 processes, and in TOPCON, there are 10 processes, but in HJT, there are only 4 processes, to make a panel, but the machinery, the PERC panel, the PERC panel machine, companies had already, installed factories, to shift it to TOPCON, they had to add only 2 more processes, means only 2 more machines, and from those machines, they can make TOPCON panels.
But if we talk about HJT, the process of making, is simple, but it is totally different, from PERC and TOPCON, to make that, for TOPCON, they have to remove all the machinery, and replace it with new machines, and to install new machines, that is why, companies have not adopted HJT, because PERC line is already installed.
Conclusion
In today’s date, both are latest technologies, monoperc is not old, if you have taken that, there is no problem, and if you want to install it today, it is not necessary to install TOPCON, there is not much difference in both, as in mono and poly, like we shifted from poly to mono, from poly panel to monoperc half cut, that was a big difference, that was a good thing, that we left poly and adopted monoperc half cut.
