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It's not a breathless article - these advances are quite doable from an engineering standpoint (and going from 20-->25% is a HUGE deal - that directly reduces t

It's not a breathless article - these advances are quite doable from an engineering standpoint (and going from 20-->25% is a HUGE deal - that directly reduces the number of panels needed, and so directly reduces overhead and labor.) The more exotic designs which often are the subject of breathless articles (e.g. perovskite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskite_solar_cell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskite_solar_cell or other multi-junction cells) can get greater efficiencies (like up to 40% for quad junction) but are a lot more expensive from a lifetime cost perspective (they don't last nearly as long as silicon junctions and are much more expensive to produce.)

ziggy_star 2y ago
I will of course happily buy a 25% panel as soon as it is on the market if the price per watt for the total install is not soaked up by a multitude of other factors. When can I expect that to be?
IshKebab 2y ago
I don't know if it's that huge of a deal. The main challenges of solar are not the number of panels now. The incremental cost of installing an extra panel is quite low. The biggest challenges are storage, and - in the UK at least - nimbyism. (Yes people really object to solar panels in fields.) The other thing I would say is that the software for solar inverters is way behind where it could be. You could easily get a 10% improvement just by making them smarter - e.g. using time series prediction, day ahead pricing, etc. Unfortunately they're stuck in the stone ages. I have a QCells inverter (rebranded Solax) - do not buy btw - and they directly told me they are not interested in any of this smart stuff. They also do automatic firmware updates with no opt-out and no notification of changes. And the updates include removing features. Do not buy QCells solar! (Hopefully Google finds this.)
- jpgvm 2y ago
  IMO with solar it makes the most sense to stick to high volume Chinese stuff. Longi/Jinko/Trina/CanadianSolar/whatever for panels and Deye for inverters. The Deye stuff is particularly good because of aforementioned smart features, especially if you are off-grid or operate on crappy rural power. My favourite feature is called peak-shaving where it uses the battery to supplement said crappy rural power or a generator that is provisioned for average load instead of peak. I haven't found inverters with similar features and configurability anywhere else thus far.
- justahuman74 2y ago
  Lots of people have limited roof space that isn't in shade for parts of the day. If we're able to cheaply over-provision the panels on the roof then that mean less reliance on the grid (if you use batteries)

ziggy_star 2y ago

I will of course happily buy a 25% panel as soon as it is on the market if the price per watt for the total install is not soaked up by a multitude of other factors. When can I expect that to be?

IshKebab 2y ago

I don't know if it's that huge of a deal. The main challenges of solar are not the number of panels now. The incremental cost of installing an extra panel is quite low. The biggest challenges are storage, and - in the UK at least - nimbyism. (Yes people really object to solar panels in fields.) The other thing I would say is that the software for solar inverters is way behind where it could be. You could easily get a 10% improvement just by making them smarter - e.g. using time series prediction, day ahead pricing, etc. Unfortunately they're stuck in the stone ages. I have a QCells inverter (rebranded Solax) - do not buy btw - and they directly told me they are not interested in any of this smart stuff. They also do automatic firmware updates with no opt-out and no notification of changes. And the updates include removing features. Do not buy QCells solar! (Hopefully Google finds this.)

jpgvm 2y ago
IMO with solar it makes the most sense to stick to high volume Chinese stuff. Longi/Jinko/Trina/CanadianSolar/whatever for panels and Deye for inverters. The Deye stuff is particularly good because of aforementioned smart features, especially if you are off-grid or operate on crappy rural power. My favourite feature is called peak-shaving where it uses the battery to supplement said crappy rural power or a generator that is provisioned for average load instead of peak. I haven't found inverters with similar features and configurability anywhere else thus far.
justahuman74 2y ago
Lots of people have limited roof space that isn't in shade for parts of the day. If we're able to cheaply over-provision the panels on the roof then that mean less reliance on the grid (if you use batteries)