Multicrystalline Solar Panels

A polycrystalline solar panel sometimes called multicrystalline is made from polycrystalline solar cells like this one.

Multicrystalline solar panels.

This is a merit in that this solar panel has a higher temperature coefficient than those panels made from mono cells. About 5 tons of polysilicon is required to manufacture 1 megawatt mw of conventional solar modules. Poly multi crystalline solar panels are slightly cheaper to manufacture than mono crystalline solar panels. Multicrystalline solar cells are the most common type of solar cells in the fast growing pv market and consume most of the worldwide produced polysilicon.

Polycrystalline solar panels are also referred to as multi crystalline or many crystal silicon. Instead of using a single crystal of silicon however multicrystalline manufacturers melt many fragments of silicon together to form the solar panel wafers. However instead of using a single crystal of silicon manufacturers melt many fragments of silicon together to form the wafers for the panel. This means that its efficiency in producing energy falls as temperatures rise.

Polysilicon is distinct from monocrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon. Polycrystalline solar cells are cheaper to make than monocrystalline cells. Due to tighter spacing of the cells on multi poly crystalline solar panels compared to mono crystalline solar panels the higher efficiency of mono crystalline solar panels is negligible.