Feb 8, 20233 min read

Comparing Solar Panels: What to Look Out for & Our Top Panel

From both a technical and financial perspective, there are many factors to consider when choosing the right panel for your solar project. Compromising on quality can in turn compromise your project's ROI factor down the line. It is important to choose equipment that will meet your solar needs, and give you peace of mind for years to come!

Here are the most important factors to look out for when comparing different solar panels:

Power output per panel - Every solar panel has a maximum wattage output rating. Most residential panels in today's market range between 365-400w.

Temperature coefficient - This is a measure of how well a solar panel performs in high heat conditions.

Degradation rate - Solar panels are made of cells which retain sunlight. The cells of all solar panels will naturally degrade over time due to exposure to UV light and the natural elements. Taking the degradation rate of a solar panel into account is key to ensuring that your system performance needs will be met not only now, but over the entire lifetime of your system.

Panel efficiency rating - This refers to how much sunlight a solar panel can convert to usable electricity. The intricacies of a solar panel's technology, cellular composition, and manufacturing process play a role in the ultimate efficiency rating. While the efficiency rating of a solar panel is important, a holistic approach taking the panel's other technical specs into account along with the efficiency rating should be considered.

Manufacturer's Warranty - Different solar panels come with different product warranties, and choosing a reliable product that is fully backed by its manufacturer is extremely valuable.

OneSun offers all kinds of solar panels, but our most popular and premium panel is REC's award-winning Alpha Pure Series 400 watt panel. It has an all-black design, and it checks off all the boxes for having industry-leading specs, with a degradation rate of only .25% per year! This means that in the 25th year after it is installed, the Alpha Pure panel will produce 92% of its original power output. Most standard panels will meet only 80-85% of their original power output in year 25.

REC's solar panels hold the perfect combination of industry-leading performance and sleek aesthetics, making it a highly reliable and exquisite solution. Here's why we love the Alpha Pure Series:

1) Aside from its phenomenal degradation rate, the REC Alpha Pure panel is also known for performing very well in high heat conditions. It has one of the best temperature coefficients on the market, at -0.24% per degree Celsius. It also has a robust efficiency rating of 21.6%! The combination of these factors allow the Alpha Pures to consistently outperform other panels on the market.

2) The Alpha Pure panels are manufactured with a heterojunction (HJT) gapless + solder-free cell layout. Another reason these panels are so powerful is because this durable cell chemistry enables the entire solar panel's surface to produce power.

3) More environmental benefits: The Alpha Pure panels are completely lead-free! You will already make a positive impact on the environment by producing clean energy, and even more so by choosing a sustainable product.

4) As an additional bonus, OneSun is an REC-certified installer - we provide the ProTrust Warranty which covers the panels, performance, and labor for 25 years directly from REC. It is rare to receive labor coverage from manufacturers, but we are able to provide a 25 Year Workmanship Warranty directly to you as your contractor, as well as the ProTrust Warranty!