Mono-Crystalline Vs Poly-Crystalline Solar Panels

Comparison between Mono-crystalline and Multi-crystalline Solar Panels:-

Both types of solar panels use Silicon crystalline panels. Only difference is the purity of silicon used during manufacturing process. More purity of silicon we use better will be the efficiency of solar panels, but more purity we achieve is at the expense of more cost.

Mono-Crystalline Solar panels

Typical Mono-Crystalline solar panels are typically dark black in colour. Also corners are missing in these types of solar panels. They have uniform look which indicates that they have high purity of silicon. Mono-crystalline solar cells are usually made out of silicon blocks which are cylindrical in shape.

Poly-crystalline Solar Panels:-

Pole crystalline solar panels are usually light or dark blue colour, some patches are lighter than others. Poly-crystalline solar panels are usually perfect rectangular and these don’t have round edges. Raw silicon is melted and poured into a square mold, which is cooled and cut into perfectly square wafers.

Mono-Crystalline solar cells have slighter higher efficiency than poly-crystalline solar cells. But Poly-crystalline solar panels are slightly cheaper to manufacture than mono-crystalline panels. Also there is tighter spacing of cells in poly-crystalline solar panels than mono-crystalline panels which will defeat the higher efficiency of mono-crystalline solar panels. Also poly-crystalline solar panels have better performance at higher temperature than mono-crystalline solar panels have better performance at higher temperature than mono-crystalline solar panels.

There is effective utilization of space in Poly-crystalline solar panels than mono-crystalline solar panels as there is wastage of space in mono-crystalline solar panels due to shape of single crystals, So slighter lower efficiency will get offset by better utilization of space, Which will leads to higher efficiency per m2 in case of Poly-crystalline solar panels.

Mono-crystalline Vs Poly-Crystalline Solar Panels

1.     Mono-Crystalline solar panels have the highest efficiency rates as these are made out of the highest-grade silicon. Typical efficiency of these panels is 15-20% as compared to poly-crystalline solar panels which have efficiency range of 13-15%. This is due to lower silicon purity.

2. Mono-Crystalline solar panels have long life usually these solar panels manufacturer’s will give 25-year warranty.
3. Mono-Crystalline solar panels have better performance than poly-crystalline panels at low light conditions.
4. Process of Manufacturing Poly-crystalline solar panels is simpler and less costly than mono-crystalline. Also wastage of silicon during manufacturing is lower in poly-crystalline solar panels.
5. Poly-crystalline solar panels have better performance than mono-crystalline solar panels.
6. Mono-crystalline solar panels have thin-films which will tend to be more aesthetically pleasing since they have a more uniform look compared to the stippled blue color of polycrystalline silicon.