Jul. 28, 2025
When you’re considering whether to get solar panels, it’s a good idea to look into all the different types, to ensure you choose the best system for your home.
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In this guide, we’ll run through all the main types of solar panels, their advantages and disadvantages, and which panels make the most sense for different purposes.
We’ll also take a look at new and developing solar panel technology, and explain which type of panel is the best overall.
To learn how much a solar & battery system could save you on your energy bills, simply answer a few quick questions below and we’ll provide an estimate.
Polycrystalline solar panels are one of the oldest types of solar panel in existence, and now account for 0% of global production, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Their cells are made by melting multiple silicon crystals and combining them in a square mould.
These blue panels are less efficient, less aesthetically pleasing, and less long-lasting than black monocrystalline panels.
And though they’re technically cheaper, this comes with a large drawback: they take up far more space, because they’re significantly less efficient.
Since , the record efficiency of polycrystalline cells has increased from 15% to 23.3%.
This is a decent level, but it’s way behind monocrystalline, which hit 24% all the way back in , according to the NREL.
Since panels always lag behind cells in efficiency terms, the average polycrystalline panel today is even less impressive, at just 14.5%. This makes it 31% worse than the average monocrystalline panel, which is 21% efficient.
To achieve a certain level of output, you'll therefore need a higher number of polycrystalline panels than you would monocrystalline panels.
When considering the lifetime cost of solar panels, it’s almost always better to cover your roof with as many panels as you can, to generate the most electricity possible.
Polycrystalline panels won’t get the best out of your roof space, since they're not particularly efficient in the first place, and they're only available second-hand – which usually means a further drop in efficiency.
Monocrystalline solar panels are the most efficient type of solar panel currently on the market.
The top monocrystalline panels now all come with 22% efficiency or higher, and manufacturers are continually raising this bar.
These sleek, black panels are made from single-crystal silicon – hence their name and dark appearance – and treated with an anti-reflective coating that removes their grey undertones, making them look even darker.
They also have a longer lifespan than any other type, on average, often outlasting their already lengthy performance warranties, which can stretch to 30 years.
Monocrystalline is currently the most cutting-edge solar material, too – bifacial solar panels are usually made with monocrystalline, for instance.
For all these reasons, 98% of global solar panel shipments in were made with monocrystalline, up from 35% in , according to the NREL.
We have Polish scientist Jan Czochralski to thank for the creation of monocrystalline panels.
In , the 31-year-old absent-mindedly dipped his pen into a crucible of molten tin instead of his inkwell, hurriedly took it out – and withdrew a narrow thread of metal at the same time.
This was the eureka moment that enabled monocrystalline silicon production.
The Czochralski method, which was modelled on this accident, was crucial in Bell Labs researcher Russell Ohl’s development of the first monocrystalline cell 25 years later, in – and that’s not all.
This method is still used in the great majority of electronic goods around the world, from mobile phones and televisions to washing machines and fridges.
On average, monocrystalline solar panels are 31% more efficient than their closest rival, last around 18% longer, and are produced by all the leading solar manufacturers.
The only major drawback when it comes to monocrystalline panels is they’re usually more expensive than other widely available types – but that's inevitable, since they're better.
After all, the most efficient and most powerful solar panels on the market are all monocrystalline. If you can afford them, they’re usually worth it.
And if you opt for Sunsave Plus, you’ll avoid paying anything upfront.
You'll also be covered by the 20-year Sunsave Guarantee, which includes 24/7 monitoring, free replacement parts (including a battery and inverter), and downtime cover – and your system will be insured by Aviva against damage, fire, and theft.
If you’re wondering how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll provide an estimate.
Thin-film solar panels are flexible sheets that can wrap around objects, making them perfect for properties with a limited amount of unobstructed roof space, or mobile homes like recreation vehicles and houseboats.
They’re thousands of times thinner than the average monocrystalline panel, which gives them their malleable nature.
Manufacturers create them by stacking several layers of solar material, like amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide.
The creation of thin-film panels was kick-started by NASA in , when the Photovoltaic Fundamentals Section at its Ohio research centre started developing the technology.
They’ve since been used in space, with their flexibility and resilience proving an advantage over other types of panels when it comes to extraterrestrial uses.
ARCO Solar released the first commercial thin-film solar panel, the G-, in , and they’ve been on the market ever since.
Thin-film efficiency levels are usually lower than those of monocrystalline panels, but they tend to still be pretty decent.
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) panels, one of the most popular thin-film varieties, are around 17-19% efficient.
The average for installed CdTe panels in the US in was 18.6%, according to the NREL, up massively from 11% in .
There are other thin-film types – the main one being copper indium selenide (CIS) and its related variation, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) – but CdTe is far and away the most popular.
Kesterite is another thin-film technology that's starting to make waves in the industry, and we'll go into more detail about it below.
Thin-film efficiency is substantially lower than most other types of solar panels, though this is usually reflected in their relatively low prices.
However, since demand isn’t particularly high for thin-film panels, the amount you pay will mostly come down to who your local supplier is.
If they reach their final form, transparent solar panels could be efficient, fully see-through sheets of solar material, mostly made of glass, that replace windows, roofs, and screens all over the world.
Right now, if we focus on fully transparent panels, they’re behind other models in the industry, with an efficiency of just 1%.
However, semi-transparent panels – which are just 40-50% see-through – are around 20% efficient.
In , a team of researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) created a 100% transparent cell, but with an efficiency of around 1%.
This cell was a transparent luminescent solar concentrator (TLSC) – a small, specially treated panel of glass surrounded by a narrow frame of solar material.
There are other transparent cells made with monocrystalline or CdTe, but since the solar material involved is encased in glass, they’ll never be more than about 50% transparent.
In the years since, the industry hasn’t managed to turn MSU's breakthrough into a commercially viable TLSC panel with a higher efficiency rating than 1%.
And unless their efficiency rises dramatically, 100% transparent panels won’t be suitable for domestic properties.
A handful of locations around the UK have used semi-transparent panels, such as Gloucestershire County's Council Hall, Bournemouth University, and the Barbican Theatre in London.
These systems are made with monocrystalline or CdTe cells, and are about 20% transparent.
Semi-transparent panels like these are good for large buildings, including office blocks and skyscrapers, where they can make enormous energy savings across the hundreds of windows they replace.
Solar tiles produce electricity in the same way as monocrystalline or polycrystalline panels, but they’re built to replace all your roof tiles.
They're made by incorporating solar material – usually monocrystalline, but sometimes thin-film – into a normal roof tile of any style during the manufacturing process.
For people who are worried that panels will look unsightly on their roof, or who are struggling to get planning permission in a conservation area, solar tiles might be a solution – but they come at a price.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Types Of Solar Panels.
The process of replacing every tile with a solar one is typically around 50% more expensive than a monocrystalline solar panel system, roughly 30% less efficient, and takes about three times longer.
It's also a common misconception that solar tiles are always an alternative for listed buildings.
In July , Historic England advised that though solar tiles are "acceptable in some cases", they "would not be suitable for prominent roof slopes where panels would also be unacceptable."
Solar tiles should last 25-30 years, which is decent, but since they were only introduced to the UK market in the decade or two, there are no guarantees.
They first became commercially available in the US in , but progress since then has been slow, and they haven’t proved popular in the UK.
The product has been beset by false starts. American multinational company Dow unveiled its solar tile to great fanfare in , leading Time Magazine to call it “one of the 50 best inventions” of the year.
But Dow scrapped its solar tile product line in , and its most famous successor, Tesla’s Solar Roof, still isn’t available in the UK. That’s despite Elon Musk announcing in spring that it’d be launching in summer .
To learn more, check out our full guide to solar roof tiles.
These panels are at the forefront of solar innovation.
They’re made with perovskite, a synthetic material based on the crystal structure of a mineral that’s (confusingly) also called perovskite.
A layer of this material is placed on a layer of silicon to create a ‘tandem’ panel – the advantage being that silicon can absorb light from the red part of the spectrum, and perovskite can absorb light from the blue end.
The perovskite mineral was first discovered by German scientist Gustav Rose in , in Russia’s Ural Mountains. He named it after Lev Perovski, a fellow mineralogist who was serving as a minister under Russian Emperor Nicholas I.
Researchers have attempted to use its structure for electronic purposes since the s, but it was only successfully incorporated into a solar cell in , when University of Tokyo scientists made a perovskite cell with 3.8% efficiency.
Since then, progress has been rapid. In June , researchers at Chinese solar company LONGi created a perovskite-silicon cell with a record-breaking 34.6% efficiency.
In June , China's GCL broke the record for a whole panel, achieving a 29.51% efficiency rating – and just a few days later, rival firm Trina Solar went one better with a panel that's 30.6% efficient.
These panels aren’t currently commercially available though, and if they do arrive on the market, they’ll likely be very expensive.
To learn more, check out our full guide to perovskite solar panels.
The best type of solar panel is monocrystalline.
They’re more efficient than any other panel currently on the market, meaning you’ll be making the best use of your roof space.
And they have longer lifespans than all their competitors, which boosts their return on investment beyond that of polycrystalline panels or solar tiles.
At some point in the long-term future, perovskite panels may take over as the best type, but even at that point, they're likely to start off on solar farms. They'll also be extremely expensive, at least at first.
Quantum dots are tiny balls made from semiconducting nanocrystals that could replace all the relatively bulkier semiconducting material that goes into modern solar panels.
They’re also known as artificial atoms because of their size, which is just a few nanometres – or roughly 338 million times smaller than the average Brit.
These nanoscopic dots absorb much more of the light the sun sends – including ultraviolet light – which could massively expand a solar panel’s efficiency, all the way up to 66%.
As a result, they could be the driving force behind considerably lighter, more effective solar technology at some point in the future. Currently, the efficiency record of a quantum dot solar cell is 18.1% – so there’s a way to go.
Kesterite solar cells are a type of thin-film technology with a promising set of attributes.
Also known as sulfide kesterite cells, this product has a similar structure to the most popular type of thin-film cell – CIGS – but with a couple of key advantages.
Firstly, this new thin-film technology is made from abundant, non-toxic, and relatively cheap raw materials including copper, sulfur, tin, and zinc.
This sets it apart from CIGS cells – which require a rare, expensive element called indium – and CdTe cells, which include a toxic element called cadmium.
It can also absorb a different part of the light spectrum to silicon cells, so using it in a tandem cell with silicon could be extremely effective.
And its close structural resemblance to CIGS means that manufacturing facilities set up to put together CIGS cells could also produce kesterite cells.
The main challenge at the moment for kesterite researchers is to make solar cells that are commercially viable, which means creating a cell that's around 20% efficient.
Kesterite cells have quickly reached 13.2% efficiency, but the next step up could take a while.
Zombie solar cells came from the realisation that a burgeoning solar technology called dye-sensitised solar cells can continue functioning after their assumed death – and even better than they did before.
Normally, these cells use a dye compound that absorbs light and sends electrons to be gathered by a liquid electrolyte and turned into electric current.
But when scientists replaced the liquid electrolyte with a dry version, it produced more electricity, to the extent that zombie cells have reached 30-34% efficiency.
Smart zombie solar cells are also in development, which can absorb indoor light and turn it into electricity.
Organic solar cells generate electricity in the same way as standard panels, but they use organic semiconductors instead of silicon.
Panels using this organic material, which usually consists of carbon-based polymers, have reached 19.3% efficiency so far, but are still near the start of their development process.
Using organic semiconductors would make panels lighter, more flexible, able to absorb a larger part of the electromagnetic light spectrum, and more sustainable.
The cost of residential solar installation has dropped by around 70 percent in the past 10 years. On average, homeowners in the U.S. break even on the cost of the system after around eight years, and from that point on, the lower cost of powering the home directly benefits your bottom line.
Solar panels last around 25 to 30 years and can provide some or all of the electricity you use. The benefits of going solar include lower energy bills and a lower carbon footprint. Learn how solar panels work and determine if this eco-friendly energy option is a good fit for your home. In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of solar panels for the home, including how they work and how much you can save by going solar.
Solar panels capture the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity for your home. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are chained together to form the solar panels you see on rooftops. As the sun shines on the solar panel, each photovoltaic cell absorbs photons from the sunlight, producing an electrical current across the solar panel layers. Solar panels can be used individually, or you can link several together into a solar array, depending on your energy needs.
A solar panel is made up of numerous photovoltaic cells linked together. The panel is encased in glass with an anti-reflective coating that ensures that the solar panels get the most sun exposure possible. Under the glass, there is insulation that protects the components from humidity and regulates the temperature inside the panel to keep it operating efficiently.
Photovoltaic cells are made of two layers of silicone. The top layer is treated with phosphorus to create a negative charge, while the bottom layer is treated with boron to create a positive charge. When the two layers are placed together, an electric field is created in the space between the positive and negative layers.
Light strikes the panel, causing energy to be transferred to the semi-conductor material which releases electrons.
The electric field in the cell forces the electrons to flow in one direction, creating an electrical current. Thin metal plates on the sides of each cell collect the energy and transfers it to wiring which feeds the DC current into a power inverter.
There are three types of solar cells: monocrystalline, polycrystalline or amorphous.
A residential solar array requires a solar power inverter to convert the DC electricity (direct current) produced by the solar energy from the panels into AC electricity (alternating current) used by the electrical grid. The two different types of solar inverters for a residential solar energy system are string and microinverters.
Many variables affect how much solar energy your solar panel system collects and uses each day. Temperature, light wavelength and reflection all affect the ability of a photovoltaic cell to absorb solar energy. If your solar panel system is not producing as much solar energy as your home is using, a solar battery will make up the difference.
If you tie your system to the local utility grid, then the local utility acts as your solar PV system battery storage. But even those who are connected to the local grid may choose to use batteries, too. Here are some of the most common reasons homeowners want a solar battery bank:
Many people question how solar panels work at night, since they obviously no longer have light to generate power. In reality, solar panels don’t work at night. In order to work at night, they must utilize solar batteries to store energy. Or, if your home is tied into the local utility electrical grid, you’ll use that energy to power your home when the sun sets.
Solar battery backups allow you to use solar energy even at night. The solar batteries charge during peak solar times, when the sun is at its highest. Once the sun sets, the electricity in the battery storage will power your home until the sun rises and you can draw electricity from the solar panels again.
The home electrical panel is fed by the energy converted by the inverter. However, neither the solar panels nor the inverter have an inherent means of storage. This is why it is necessary to utilize high-capacity, deep-cycle solar batteries as a part of an effective solar energy system.
Deep-cycle batteries are used to store power from the solar panels. During the day, any extra power produced is used to charge the solar battery. Most solar batteries have their own inverters and can store the DC power as AC. At night, the battery sends the stored energy back into your electrical system to power the home electrical panel while the solar panels are not generating energy.
The type of battery you need for your home solar system depends on a wide range of factors, including how much you want to invest, how much electricity you need to store, how important green factors are to you, and how much space you have to store the batteries. The five most common types of batteries for residential solar panels are:
It’s no surprise that the long-term savings of a solar panel system outweighs the initial cost. How much you enjoy in solar savings may vary from $10,000 to $30,000 over 20 years. Some of the most important factors that determine how much you’ll save include:
A solar-powered home is usually still connected to the municipal power grid. Net meters send any excess energy that your solar panels produce – after your solar batteries are fully charged – back into the municipal electrical system. The power company then issues you credit on your electric bill. In effect, they are paying you for the extra power your solar panels generate. In times of low production from your solar panels – night time or extended periods of inclement weather – you can use energy from the municipal grid; your credits offset your energy costs.
For more information, please visit N-Type Solar Panel.
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