Solar technology is evolving across all facets of installation, seeking better efficiency, reliability and costs to compete with the more conventional sources of energy. While PERC full cell remains the prevalent cell technology in commercial applications, a certain half-cut cell has started to make deep inroads into the commercial realms of the solar ecosystem.
What are half-cut solar panels?
Actually, half-cut cells are exactly what the name suggests. In half-cut solar panels, half-cut cells are used while building solar panels to address certain intrinsic shortcomings of traditional cells like stray currents, lower shade tolerance and vulnerability to cracks in the long run.
Half-cut cells have been found to increase the performance of the solar panels, while adding to its durability. They are physically more robust and resistant to cracking in the long run. Due to these advantages, solar panels built with half-cut solar cells have the potential to provide faster paybacks for property owners installing solar systems. Especially in complex urban settings where shading and space limitations are constraining factors, half-cut cells are particularly important.
How are half-cut solar panels more efficient than traditional solar panels?
i. Decreased Resistive Power Losses
If a solar cell is cut into half, it will produce half the total current and a fourth of the total resistance. When wired in an electric circuit, the current would be same while the resistance would be half. This is the overall idea behind the half-cut cell technology. This decreased resistance improves the overall efficiency of half-cut solar panels.
ii. Better Shade Tolerance
Half-cut solar panels provide better shade loss tolerance as compared to traditional solar panels. This can be attributed to wiring methods. In traditional solar panels the cells are wired together in a series connection. So if one row of the panel is exposed to shade, the entire row of cells will become dormant, effecting the overall power producing capacity of the solar panel.
Half-cut cells are also wired in series connections, but as there are double the number of cell rows, the overall loss due to partial shading is much less.
iii. Less Hot-Spots
In a traditional solar panel, when a part of the solar panel is shaded, power from the preceding row of solar cells is dumped onto the cells in the shaded part. This power load manifests in the form of heating leading to what is known as a hotspot. As panels built using half-cut cells have double the cells, the power dumped on shaded cells is half, hence the heat load is half. Thus the shaded cells in a half-cut solar panel is exposed to lower heat, hence there is less chance of damage in the long run. This improves the module longevity.
540-550 Wp Half-Cut Solar Panels by LUBI Electronics
LUBI Electronics has introduced its range of half-cut solar panels with power output ranging from 530-550Wp.The solar panels are designed for excellent performance in low light conditions, with rigorous quality tests to withstand snow load upto 5400 Pa and a wind load of 2400 Pa.
About LUBI Electronics
LUBI Electronics is a leading company in India, exhibiting expertise in the automation, solar, and control panel industry.
Our solar offerings include best-in-class solar modules, solar pumps, solar pump controllers and solar inverters.
For more information on our offerings, please reach out to us at lubi@lubielectronics.com.