There is no obvious type of panel to choose. It all comes down to your preferences on design and need of power.
Start by making an analysis of your requirements regarding power. It normally results in a narrowing of the number of panels fulfilling those requirements. The effect per panel gives the number of panels required and hereby the surface needs. If the space is of less concern, cheaper panels may be used. But, more panels mean more fastening materials, giving a smaller gap in the Wp (Watt photovoltaic) / Pound ratio.
The design of the panels may play a major role. How you perceive them, is actually up to theviewer. Basically, there are two major types to choos from, the blue polycrystalline and the black monocrystalline.
The panels come with a variety of visible amount of contacts and collectors visible. Commonly divided into “black” and “full black”.
Monocrystalline panels have black cells and the rest of the assembly in various amount in a different colour, usually white. You may find the rear panel to be white, contacts in silver and the frame in aluminium.
A full black panel consists of all components in black, including black painted contacts. Basically it is only the tiny collectors on each cell that are in silver. These panels are much appreciated and appeal to those interested in good design.
We provide panels in three physical dimensions, equipped with 54, 60 or 72 cells respectively. Each panel has a width of 99 cm. The length is 148, 164 or 196 cm. Which one to use is basically either a matter of design or of power requirements.
Panels of other dimensions may be ordered. They will be object to other delivery terms and costs.
Controlling/monitoring the panels? What for? Don’t they produce on their own – if just the is some sunshine?!
Just so! As soon as the sun rises above the horizon, they start generating voltage and current. From this moment, the plant is electrically enabled and insecure to work with, e.g. for the fire department. Without a shut-down functionality on panel level, they need to be thoroughly covered to stop generation hazardous electricity!
Fire security is the lowest level we deliver. A simple push on the emergency button, or lost power grid supply, each panel is shut down to zero Volt. The plant will hence become secure to access, no matter what reason.
The more advanced panels are equipped with optimizers. They will make each panel independent of the performance of the other panels on the same string. Without optimizers, the lowest producing panel will set the maximum performance of the entire string.
Just so! As soon as the sun rises above the horizon, they start generating voltage and current. From this moment, the plant is electrically enabled and insecure to work with, e.g. for the fire department. Without a shut-down functionality on panel level, they need to be thoroughly covered to stop generation hazardous electricity!
Our smart panels additionally gives you the ability to monitor the plant functionality over time. Monitor your entire plant, down to panel level. You may even get the information on a per-minute level!
BB?
In some contexts the term Baseband is used. It is those bands crossing the cell surface to gather the electricity generated. 2BB means that 2 bands are implemented, 4BB that 4 bands are used. The more bands, the better efficiency (up to a certain level). The panels we supply are equipped with 5BB cells.
There are more types of panels/cells. Thin-film based panels are on the market. They appear more as a solid panel, often thinner in thickness of the panels. Some of these are also more flexible, making them well adaptable to curved shapes such as a boat hull. As they have a slightly lower performance, the a more expensive per Wp.