If you’re considering installing solar photovoltaics (PV) one of the factors affecting the final price and performance of the system is which type of solar panels to choose. There are several different types of panel available, but it is worth describing some key factors first.

Polycrystalline solar panels are made up from cells which are formed from multiple silicon crystals and normally have a deep blue appearance.

Monocrystalline solar panels are made from cells using a single silicon crystal and do not have the multiple grain boundaries which you can sometimes see in polycrystalline cells. The cells are black, but have small areas of white at the corners of each cell. Monocrystalline solar pan

Amorphous or Thin Film solar panels Amorphous silicon does not contain the same structure as poly or monocrystalline silicon, with atoms forming a more random network which is less effective at absorbing energy from daylight. This means that thin film solar panels typically only have

Hybrid solar panels consist of a combination of monocrystalline cells and thin film layers. This allows more energy to be extracted from the same size of panel, with the result that hybrid panels are typically 20% smaller than mono or polycrystalline panels of the same power output. F