When 12 is better than 16
For the domestic customer 4kWp is the goal. Most installers will need to sell you 16 panels that will require a minimum of 25sqm of roof space.
As Warwickshire’s only authorised installer of SunPower high efficiency Solar Photovoltaic panels Stratford Energy Solutions only needs to install 12 x E20 333W panels to provide a 3.99kWp system taking up less than 20sqm.
The benefits don’t end there; SunPower E20 panels have the following advantages:
- Superior light capture due to AR glass and AR coating: better low-light performance, better performance under low angle of incidence etc. (up to +5% more light)
- Lower temperature losses (not only lower temperature coefficients, but also lower operating temperatures)
- No LID effect (boron-oxygen defect in conventional p-type c-Si modules, typically degrades a panel by 3% – not os with the E20)
- Lower annual degradation rate (after 5 years Sunpower modules have actually no measurable degradation)
- Annual degradation of only 0.2% compared to average 0.7% for conventional panels – this means at 25 years the Sunpower panel has only degraded by 6% compared to 16% for conventional panels
What does this mean for the customer?
Although the initial investment for the installation is typically higher than for convential panels, over a period of 20+ years the cumulatiive extra income can be as much as 20% higher.
All this from a company that has been producing Solar panels for over 25 years.
For more information follow the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESttwuKlBmE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lTotfOgLWs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KvLhNOy5KU&feature=related
The above additional performance advantages can be observed for example in the results of the following independent studies:
• Solar Energy Research, University of Arizona – www.UAPV.org
• http://www.ipv.uni-stuttgart.de/forschung/pvsystem/index.html
• http://us.sunpowercorp.com/solar-resources/performance-reliability/
