Why is 120 Half Cell Solar Panel Kits Manufacturing Better?

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What Are Half-cut Solar Cells?

REC Solar pioneered half-cut solar photovoltaic cells in with the goal of increasing the energy production of solar panels. Implementing half-cut cells in solar panels can enhance the power output of a solar panel system just as bifacial solar panels and PERC solar cells give slight boosts in the efficiencies of silicon solar panels. Half-cut solar cells are, as the name implies, typical silicon solar cells that have been sliced in half by a laser cutter.

Half-cut cells provide a number of advantages over standard solar cells. Most notably, half-cut solar cells outperform and last longer. In terms of performance, half-cut cells can boost panel efficiencies by a few percentage points. Furthermore, half-cut cells are more physically robust than their typical counterparts, because they are smaller in size, they are more resistant to breaking.

With these benefits, solar panels constructed with half-cut solar cells have the potential to give property owners installing solar energy systems shorter solar payback periods. Half-cut cells, particularly in installations where shade and restricted space are constraints, can make a solar panel installation even more worthwhile.

How Do Half-Cut Solar Cells Work?

Half-cut solar cell technology boosts the energy production of solar panels by lowering cell size, allowing more cells to fit on the panel. The panel is then divided in half so that the top runs independently of the bottom, generating more energy even if one part is shaded.

That&#;s the general overview - below, we break the process down.

Traditional monocrystalline solar panels typically feature 60 to 72 solar cells, therefore cutting those cells in half improves the number of cells. Half-cut panels typically feature 120 to 144 cells and are built with PERC technology, which provides improved module efficiency.

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A laser is used to carefully chop the cells in half. By halving the current within the cells, resistive losses from transporting energy via current are decreased, resulting in improved performance. Because the solar cells are sliced in half and hence smaller in size, there are more cells on the panel than on regular panels. The panel is then divided in half so that the top and bottom halves act as two independent panels, producing electricity even if one half is shaded.

The key to half-cut cell design is a distinct form of panel "series wiring," or how the solar cells are linked together and send power through a bypass diode within a panel. The bypass diode, shown by the red line in the figures below, transports the power generated by the cells to the junction box.

When one cell in a conventional panel is shaded or defective and does not process energy, the entire row inside the series wiring stops providing power.

Half-Cut Solar Panel Vs Full Cell:

Traditional full cell panels (60 cells) are constructed with 60 or 72 cells per panel. A half-Cell module doubles the number of cells per panel to 120 or 144. The panel is the same size as a full cell panel but has twice the number of cells. By increasing the number of cells, this technique offers additional opportunities to capture solar energy and deliver it to the inverter.

Half-Cell technology is the technique of cutting cells in half to reduce resistance and boost efficiency. Traditional full cell panels with 60 or 72 cells generate resistance, reducing the panel's potential to generate additional power. Half-Cells with 120 or 144 cells have lower resistance, implying that more energy is collected and generated. Smaller cells on each half-cell panel lessen mechanical loads on the panel. The smaller the cell, the less likely the panel to micro fracture.

Furthermore, Half-Cell technology offers better power output ratings and is typically more dependable than regular full cell panels.

What Is A Mono PERC Half Cut Solar Panel?

Half-cut cell mono PERC solar modules feature solar cells that have been chopped in half, which increases the performance and endurance of the solar module. Traditional solar panels with 60 and 72 cells will contain 120 and 144 half-cut cells, respectively. When solar cells are cut in half, their current is likewise cut in half, lowering resistive losses and allowing the solar cells to produce more electricity.

Half-cut cells provide a number of advantages over standard solar cells. Most notably, half-cut solar cells outperform and last longer. In terms of performance, half-cut cells can boost panel efficiencies by a few percentage points. Furthermore, half-cut cells are more physically robust than their typical counterparts; because they are smaller in size, they are more resistant to breaking.

Smaller cells endure lower mechanical stresses, resulting in a lower chance of breaking. Half-cut cell PV modules outperform conventional solar panels in terms of production and dependability.

When compared to regular solar modules, new solar module generating technology has enhanced module output by up to 15 watts. With an efficiency of up to 19.79 percent.

The new solar module series, which is based on the newest trend of half cut cell technology, not only cuts the cells in half but also reduces the cost, resulting in a reduced LCOE.

What Are The Advantages Of Half-cut Solar Cells?

• They boost the power production and performance of solar modules because of their unique wiring arrangement, which allows them to tolerate more shadow. This implies that if your house has trees that cast shade on your roof at particular times of the day, your complete solar panel will not be rendered inoperable, as would a regular solar panel.
  
• Another advantage is that they often have a greater wattage than standard panels, up to 380 watts for the REC Alpha against traditional panels, which are normally in the 250-watt range, resulting in more electricity per square foot.
  
• Furthermore, the consequences of hot spots on your solar panels with half-cut cells are less severe. Hot spots are caused by the movement of surplus heat on a panel, such as from an extremely hot portion to a shaded, cooler section. Hot spots are less destructive in a half-cut cell since there are more cells to distribute the surplus heat to.
  
• By decreasing internal resistance, half-cut cells also minimize power loss seen by standard panels. Internal series resistance develops simply as a result of the nature of the energy going through the panel through electric current. However, when solar cells are chopped in half, less current is generated from each cell, resulting in lower resistive losses.

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• Although half-cut cells have several advantages, they are more costly since they need additional soldering processes and laser cutting to create. Finally, you must consider whether the total benefits outweigh the extra expense.
  

How Do Half-Cut Solar Cells Improve Panel Performance?

Reduced resistive losses:

Resistive losses, or power lost during electrical current transit, are one form of power loss when solar cells convert sunlight into electricity. The tiny metal ribbons that traverse the surface of solar cells and connect them to nearby wires and cells transmit current, and transferring current via these ribbons results in some energy loss. Cutting solar cells in half reduces the current generated by each cell, and lesser current flowing results in fewer resistive losses when energy passes through cells and wires in a solar panel.

Higher Shade Tolerance:

Half-cut cells are more resistant to shading than regular solar cells. This is due to the wiring procedures used to link half-cut cells in a panel, rather than the cells being sliced in half. Traditional solar panels with complete cells are linked together in rows, which is known as series wiring. If one cell in a row is shaded and not producing energy, the entire row of cells will cease to produce electricity. Shade on one cell of one row would remove one-third of the power produced by a standard panel, which normally has three different rows of cells linked together.

Half-cut cells are likewise wired in series, but because panels built with half-cut cells have twice as many cells (120 instead of 60), there are twice as many independent rows of cells. Because a single shaded cell may only reduce a sixth of the total panel power output, panels made with half-cut cells lose less power when a single cell is shaded.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Half-cut Solar Cells?

High Cost of Manufacturing:

To produce the same amount of half-cut solar cell modules as whole-cell modules, producers must spend in doubling their tabber & stringers and purchasing cleaving equipment. According to studies, half-cell modules cost 0.6-1.2 percent more than whole-cell modules, however because of the increased power, their cost per watt is lowered by 0.8-1 percent.

Increased Probability of Cell-Inherent Defects:

Manufacturing half-cut solar cell modules implies twice as many soldered connections, which means twice as many faulty contacts. Cutting the solar cell in half increases the likelihood of producing faulty cells, which is a disadvantage of the technique for producers. While this is a concern, a producer with excellent quality control would not be adversely affected.

What Solar Panel Manufacturers Use Half-Cut Cells?

REC Solar introduced the first half-cut cell solar panels in , and they have subsequently shifted the majority of their module manufacturing to be geared for half-cut cell manufacture. In addition to REC, various manufacturers have released half-cell modules. Half-cell panel alternatives are available from a number of big solar panel manufacturers, including Trina Solar, Hanwha Q CELLS, JinkoSolar, and LONGi Solar.

If you're interested in half-cut cell solar panels, consult with your installer to determine the best option for solar installation on your individual roof. Regardless of the choice you pick, standard vs half-cut, working with a reputable manufacturer and dependable local installers is your best bet.

Are Half-Cut Solar Panels Worth Your Investment?

Half-cut cells are excellent for increasing the energy yield of solar panels, but they are more difficult to manufacture. This makes switching to generating half-cell solar modules difficult for typical producers; it is not as simple as just adding half-cut cells to a production line.

Traditional solar panels can still be useful in many circumstances, such as if your roof receives plenty of sunshine throughout the day.

Half-cut cells, on the other hand, make sense if you need every ounce of energy you can get because you live in a remote area or want to maximize your net metering benefits. If you have a little surface area and require as much sun energy as possible, request half-cut cells. Otherwise, conventional panels should be enough, though you may want a few more on your roof that are created and plotted using solar panel design software.

Perhaps as the manufacture of half-cut cells gets more streamlined and simple to implement, they will become less expensive and more common. Your solar installer will assist you in determining if half-cut cells are the best option for your rooftop solar installation.

Half-cut solar cell technology is a new and improved design applied to the traditional crystalline silicon solar cells. This promising technology reduces some of the most important power losses in standard PV modules, allowing the solar panels and a PV system, in general, to perform better.

The advantages of half-cut solar cells are great and there are no remarkable disadvantages to this technology when compared to traditional modules. In this article, we will provide a detailed explanation of half-cut solar cell technology, how it works, its advantages & disadvantages, and even compare it against traditional and PERC technology.

Novergy Solar, Half-cut solar panels, Cropping and Redesigning, CC BY-SA 4.0

What is a half-cut solar panel?

Half-cell modules or commonly known as half-cut solar panels are the new trend in manufacturing technology. If you are wondering what is a half-cut solar panel? Here we explain it in detail:

Components and materials of the half-cut solar cell

Half-cut solar cell modules are not a technology developed with new and innovative chemical components added to the cell. Actually, the half-cut solar cell technology is based on the traditional crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. This means that the components and materials used to manufacture a half-cut solar cell are the same as the ones for c-Si solar cells, which are the following:

• Printed silver paste (front contact).
• Anti-reflective coating or anti-reflective glass.
• A doped semiconductor made with c-Si (P-N junction).
• Back Surface Field
• Print aluminum paste (rear contact).

While the half-cut solar cell itself shares the same technology as the traditional ones, the fact that sets them apart is a change in the design, which focuses on improving performance and reducing electrical losses from traditional panels.

Cutting in half of the solar cell

Half-cut solar cells start to differ from regular cells because they are cut in half with a process called cleaving, applied to monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar cells. The cleaving process uses high-tech laser technology to cut the cell in half, with the cell delivering the same voltage but half the current.

Since this technology is based on cutting a traditional crystalline silicon solar cell, this means that the conversion efficiency for the half-cut solar cell is theoretically the same as the traditional c-Si cell. Other types of solar cells like PERC and bifacial can be used to manufacture half-cut solar cells.

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Structure of half-cut solar panel

A half-cut solar cell panel allocates twice the cells in the same area of a regular module. This means two times the arrays of solar cells within one module, with half-cut solar cells having half the width, keeping the area of the panel the same.

Whole-cell vs. Half-cell solar panel | Source: GSES Global Sustainable Energy Solutions

Generally, modules with 60 solar cells include three substrings of 20 cells in series. The equivalent half-cut solar cell modules have 120 solar cells, divided into six substrings of 20 cells. Each side of the half-cut solar panel has three substrings in parallel, with both sides also connected in parallel. Besides, there is one bypass diode per substring pair. The same case is analog for panels with 72 solar cells or more.

Working mechanism

A half-cut solar panel works the same way a whole-cell one, but it has a few more substrings. Arrays of half-cut solar panels can be connected as well in series or parallel, replacing traditional whole-cell modules, with the voltage being the same in both cases.

Major differences from halving solar cells and increasing the substrings are the production of less current per cell which translates in reduced losses, and the increased tolerance against partial shading.

Advantages of half-cut solar panels

Are you wondering what are the benefits of half-cut solar panels? Here we will list and explain the benefits achieved by implementing half-cut solar cell technology:

Reduced power losses

The main improvement of half-cut solar cell modules is the reduction of electrical losses caused by Joule's Law, which is based on the following equation:

Since half-cut solar cell produces half (1/2) the current per cell, and Joule&#;s Law considers the square current to calculate losses, these cells produce one-fourth (1/4) the power losses, or about 75% less electrical losses. On the other hand, when evaluated at the module level, there is an increased overall current output of 2-4%, which also increases the power output by that same percentage.

Increased partial shading tolerance

Standard vs. Half-cut solar cell module with shade covering 1/3 of the panel | Source: GSES Global Sustainable Energy Solutions

When a PV module is partially shaded, this causes major power losses for the module and the array. Half-cut solar cells include twice the substrings, meaning that shading a single area of a panel will cause reduced losses. Studies show that half-cut solar cell panels produce up to 50% fewer power losses in an array.

Reduced hot spots and temperature in general

Hot spots are a consequence of partial shading in solar panels. When some cells are shaded, instead of producing power they act as resistances, consuming electricity and therefore increasing their temperature. Half-cut solar cells reduce the current per substring, which in turn reduces the temperature of hot spots, this technology can reduce the peak temperature of hot spots by up to 20ºC.

Higher Cell-to-Module power

While conversion efficiency for a single half-cut solar cell depends on the type of solar cell technology, half-cut solar cells have a higher Cell-to-Module power (CTM) which translates into higher power output. Traditional PV modules have a 94.8% CTM power while half-cut solar cells have a 99.4% CTM power before factoring laser-cut losses, or 98.4% after factoring them.

Integration with different solar cell technologies

Half-cut solar cell technology is a modification in the manufacturing process of PV modules that uses solar cells manufactured under the traditional c-Si technology. As a consequence, half-cut solar panels can be manufactured in combination with PERC and/or bifacial technologies, which can translate as PV modules with fewer power losses, a higher power output, and several other advantages.

How about their disadvantages?

Half-cut solar cell technology is quite beneficial; however, there are a couple of disadvantages to consider:

Manufacturing of Half-cut solar cells represents a large investment in manufacturing equipment

To manufacture the same number of half-cut solar cell modules compared to whole-cell modules, manufacturers need to invest in doubling their tabber & stringers and acquire a piece of equipment to cleave the solar cells. Studies show that half-cell modules cost 0.6-1.2% more than whole-cell modules, but thanks to the power increase, their cost per watt is reduced by 0.8-1%.

Increased probability of bad contacts or cell-inherent defects

Manufacturing half-cut solar cell modules means twice the soldered connections, which translates as twice the probability of bad contacts. Halving the solar cell also increases the probability of causing defective cells which is a downside to the technology for manufacturers. While this is a problem to consider, a manufacturer with proper quality control will not be greatly affected by this.

Half-cut vs. Standard solar panels (Comparison table)

To fully understand the scope of half-cut solar cell technology, it is important to compare it against the standard Al-BSF technology. In this section, we compare both technologies, considering aspects like the number of cells, voltage, current, and others.

Traditional c-Si solar panels use a simple technology that produces several losses and has poor CTM power. Since half-cut solar cell technology is an improvement of traditional crystalline silicon solar technology, reduces loses, increases CTM power, and it provides additional benefits.

Half-cut solar technology reduces electrical losses by 75%, increases CTM power by 3.6%, increases the resistance of the module against partial shading, reduces the operating temperature by handling less current per cell, and reduces hot spot by up to 20ºC. The main disadvantage of half-cut solar cell technology is the slightly higher cost and reduced aesthetics of the module (although for all-black solar panels is barely noticeable).

Half-cut vs. PERC solar panels

PERC solar technology improves the structural design of Al-BSF c-Si solar cells. This technology reduces losses due to the surface recombination process, increases the efficiency by implementing a reflecting metal at the rear surface of the cell, and reduces heat absorption. Comparing PERC against half-cut solar cell technology can provide an insight into which is the best one.

While half-cut solar panels produce 2-4% more power than standard modules, PERC solar cells increase this output by 6%. While this is an important advantage, it is its only point in favor of PERC against half-cut solar cell technology.

Even though PERC technology absorbs less heat from the sun, this technology shares the same shading intolerance and electrical losses as the standard solar panels. Half-cut solar panels might not have the same increased performance as PERC solar modules due to the surface recombination process, but they perform better when partially shaded and have an important reduction in ohmic losses. Moreover, the potential reduction in energy losses caused by shading is something that PERC technology cannot compete with, particularly for the residential sector applications where major obstructions and trees can cause high shading.

However, the good news is that there is no need to choose between PERC and half-cut cells because both technologies can be integrated. This means that a PERC mono half-cut solar panel can be manufactured, including reduction of electrical losses, a higher tolerance against partial shading, reduced heat absorption from the sun, improved efficiency due to reducing surface recombination, and an increased CTM power, all at the same time.

Are half-cut solar panels worth your investment?

Half-cut solar technology is one of the latest attempts of the solar industry to achieve higher efficiency for PV modules. The technology only costs 0.6-1.2% more than standard c-Si PV modules, but it represents a higher power output of 2-4%. This makes it better for limited spaces requiring fewer PV modules.

Implementing half-cut solar panels is not only better for locations with limited space, but also provides better performance in areas that are being frequently shaded. By including more substrings, the system can be partially shaded without causing the large losses that some regular systems have.

While you might worry that with smaller solar cells, the PV module will also be more delicate, this is not the case. Since modules are covered with protecting glass, mono half-cut solar panels will have the same durability as a regular solar panel, making it one of the best investments that can be made in the solar panel industry.

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