Why Are Solar Panels Less Efficient With Heat

A cold solar panel.

Why are solar panels less efficient with heat.

Although solar panels use sunlight to produce energy they do not require heat in any way. Install factors like how close the panels are installed. The final main category is solar thermal which uses lenses and mirrors and solar tracking to heat something really hot and then use that to run a heat engine the highest efficiency solar thermal. Photovoltaic modules are tested at a temperature of 25 degrees c stc about 77 degrees f and depending on their installed location heat can reduce output efficiency by 10 25.

Inside a hot solar cell atoms vibrate at a faster rate than when the solar cell is cool. Solar power works best when the sun s shining of course. It may seem counter intuitive but solar panel efficiency is affected negatively by temperature increases. The hotter the ambient air becomes the less efficient your solar panels will be.

What might be somewhat surprising though is that solar panels actually seem to be able to handle a bit more cold than a bit too much heat. There s a complex relationship at work between photovoltaics pv heat and sunlight. Pv semiconductors offer more resistance in extreme heat making them less efficient when the modules should be most efficient. A hot solar panel vs.

Home solar panels are tested at 25 c 77 f and thus solar panel temperature will generally range between 15 c and 35 c during which solar cells will produce at maximum efficiency however solar panels can get as hot as 65 c 149 f at which point solar cell efficiency will be hindered.