The most efficient solar panels commercially available today have solar panel efficiency just under 23.
Efficiency rating solar panels.
Solar panel efficiency is a measure of how much sunlight that hits the surface area of a solar panel is converted into usable electricity.
The average efficiency of solar panels falls between the 17 to 19 percent efficiency range.
A higher solar panel efficiency rating means a panel will produce more kilowatt hours of energy per watt of power capacity.
Total panel efficiency is measured under standard test conditions stc based on a cell temperature of 25 c solar irradiance of 1000w m2 and air mass of 1 5.
If a solar panel has 20 percent efficiency that means it s capable of converting 20 percent of the sunshine hitting it into electricity.
The efficiency of a panel is calculated by the maximum power rating w at stc divided by the total panel area in meters.
The graphic below shows how dramatically solar panel performance has improved over time.
High quality solar panels can exceed 22 efficiency in some cases and almost reach 23 but the majority of photovoltaic panels available are not above 20 efficiency.
The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency.
In other words the efficiency value that we can find on the datasheet of a solar panel represents the ability of the module to convert sunlight into electricity according to its size.