smallest 300w solar panel on market

studdlymurphy

Hi all, I'm looking for a 300w panel but I need it as small as possible due to its location. What is the most watts per sq metre I can get from a solar panel?
Thank you for the help.

slave1

They are all pretty much the same in terms of efficiency so you will find very little difference between manufacturer A and B in terms of size if you are looking at just one panel wattage.
These days to get higher wattage panels it's not the manufacturer you look at it's the size, e.g. 410w panel is 2m x 1m.
Panels are getting bigger and bigger and the smaller wattage panels e.g. the 300w you're after are starting to become low on the ground as yesterdays product, there's no 300w panel anymore from midsummer or solartricity...

SD_DRACULA

I was also looking for the smaller panels due to space constraint and this is the smallest one I was able to find https://midsummer.ie/buy/qcell-solar/Qcell-335-G9-BLK
It's about 10cm less tall than the usual sizes.

unkel

SD_DRACULA wrote: »

I was also looking for the smaller panels due to space constraint and this is the smallest one I was able to find https://midsummer.ie/buy/qcell-solar/Qcell-335-G9-BLK
It's about 10cm less tall than the usual sizes.

Nope that's actually slightly bigger than standard size, which is roughly 165*99cm. Solartricity still stock standard size amerisolar panels, 320W and reasonably priced too. I picked one up yesterday

SD_DRACULA

I stand corrected then, would love 21 of the 450w Longis but Dublin suburb house...

slave1

SD_DRACULA wrote: »

I stand corrected then, would love 21 of the 450w Longis but Dublin suburb house...

If you have the roof space, do it

markpb

SD_DRACULA wrote: »

I stand corrected then, would love 21 of the 450w Longis but Dublin suburb house...

We managed to get 10 onto the roof of our semi-d with a hip roof, 5 on the SE-facing side roof and 5 on the SW-facing rear roof. We're considering putting some on the front too in the future. Unfortunately they only cover about 50% of the roof space but the shape of the roof and the requirement to keep an unused space at the edges limit the number we could install. If Tesla's solar roof was available here, I suspect we'd get a lot more out of our roof.

studdlymurphy

unkel wrote:

Nope that's actually slightly bigger than standard size, which is roughly 165*99cm. Solartricity still stock standard size amerisolar panels, 320W and reasonably priced too. I picked one up yesterday

Sounds good where did you get it from? Where is a good retailer? Thanks you

unkel

You can buy from solartricity.ie directly, just ring the number. Very helpful guys and an Irish owned company.

studdlymurphy

unkel wrote:

You can buy from solartricity.ie directly, just ring the number. Very helpful guys and an Irish owned company.

Nice one thank you!

air

LG Neon panels are available in a 375W panel that is 1,700 x 1,016mm, so only very slightly longer than standard.
https://www.lg.com/us/business/solar-panels/lg-lg375q1c-v5
They won't be cheap though.

unkel

21.7% efficiency, that's about the highest I've seen alright. Personally I think these panels are a bad idea, they are poor value for money. The cheapest panels you can buy now are 19.7% efficiency, so there is very little in it

air

I agree with you for normal domestic users for sure, but there are applications where efficiency is crucial.
Also, the top tier manufacturers are the ones who are pushing the technology forward and paving the way for the lower tier manufacturers to copy essentially.

unkel

air wrote: »

I agree with you for normal domestic users for sure, but there are applications where efficiency is crucial.

I find it hard to think of an example of that. Pay 100% more for 10% better efficiency?

air

unkel wrote: »

I find it hard to think of an example of that. Pay 100% more for 10% better efficiency?

Well you don't have a great imagination then, there are myriad applications where efficiency is critical - anything that moves for a start.

unkel

A solar panel on something that moves? Like a car?

Must be some idiot willing to pay 100% more for 10% extra benefit. In fact there is zero extra benefit apart from 10% less space / weight taken up.

air

Jesus I don't know why I bother wasting my time to be honest.
You should realise in life that not everyone has the same goals, priorities or requirements that you have.

If you view the world only from your own perspective then it's easy to understand how you find it difficult to understand things.

I'll provide you with an example - a remote monitoring station with limited space for panels due to property or licensing constraints, or where delivery is extremely expensive due to difficult access.
Power is provided by PV with diesel generator backup.
Here, every single watt hour can be crucial, and the cost uplift for premium panels is completely dwarfed by the benefit in reduced generator run time / diesel consumption.

I've dealt with situations like these were energy is worth euros per kWh at certain times of the year.

Now, this is a different situation to a semi D in Lucan, but not everyone that uses PV is dealing with those circumstances.

I could outline several other scenarios but hopefully one is enough to broaden your horizons.

unkel

No need to get upset. You'd almost think you're in the business of selling slightly more efficient, super expensive panels

"a remote monitoring station with limited space for panels due to property or licensing constraints, or where delivery is extremely expensive due to difficult access."

There must be lots of those around, are there? Is there even a single one in Ireland where the 10% extra efficiency would make a huge difference? I'd like to broaden my horizons, but you've yet to give me more than a blurred view beyond my semi D in Lucan and I usually have great views of Kippure from here

air

I'm not getting upset, but you're calling people idiots without any justification other than that they have different priorities than yourself.
I could call you an idiot for driving a Tesla when a Fiesta would get you from A to B and it would be no less valid than your own attitude.

The high end panels are available and sell well because there are people with priorities that differ to your own that value their performance.
If LG or Sunpower had a 500W panel of standard size available for €1000 each today, they would sell, and not to idiots.

unkel

Give me an eletric Fiesta that can seat 5 adults, a dog and can take a dozen solar panels or a bike whole, while having 600NM instant torque and able to do 0-60 in 3.9s and I might consider it

Not so sure why you are making this all personal. About me, my house, where I live, what car I drive, what solar install I have. Perhaps you ran out of arguments or examples showing where in this country it makes sense to have a panel with 10% higher efficiency for double the price.

air

It's called an analogy, I resorted to that as you seemed to be unable to grasp the fact that efficiency matters in many applications.
It's hardly a personal intrusion as you never stop posting about your car, house etc as per the above.

Cost per annual kWh is not the critical factor for every application, premium panels make sense in very many applications, that is why there is a market for them.

unkel

So no examples then?

air

I already provided you with an example.
If you have no appreciation for the specifics of it then I can't help you any further.
Not everyone that buys solar panels is doing a mickey mouse DIY installation at the back of their house.

For a small installation in a commercial environment the panels themselves will make up a small proportion of the overall project cost, even a doubling of panel costs has a small impact on total costs.
It's a no brainer then to use the best ones available if the space available is limited, as it often is.

con747

I'm getting my popcorn.

unkel

Sure a no brainer in your hypothetical installation that you can't give me a single example of

air

You're just reinforcing my long held opinion of you unkel, fair play.
I feel sorry for you.

unkel

air wrote: »

You're just reinforcing my long held opinion of you unkel, fair play.
I feel sorry for you.

Playing the man instead of the ball again, I see.

air

I only see a troll here and not a man. You have been incredibly rude throughout.

I've provided a comprehensive answer to your question, I'm not going to quote commercial terms on projects that I've worked on to provide further detail to support my argument.

Since you seem to lack any vision or imagination though, I'll post an example of a similar application with physical space limitations with which I have no involvement.
Lateral marker boys


There are hundreds of them around the coast maintained by Irish lights, those in the Shannon estuary are much larger than the one pictured and solely powered by PV.
You can read more about them here, however on past evidence you might be best to stick to the pictures.
https://www.irishlights.ie/safety-navigation/cil-aids-to-navigation.aspx

Lenar3556

You also have a significant market in industry and pharmaceutical sectors for businesses wishing to lower carbon dependency, and become closer to grid independent.

Many of these types of projects don’t currently offer a return on investment - that’s not the key driver. Increased panel efficiency is likely to be worth a lot more to this type of customer. And it’s a rapidly growing market.

Panels for our the back of my house are a different story entirety - the key driver for most is a ROI

unkel

air wrote: »

I'll post an example of a similar application with physical space limitations with which I have no involvement.
Lateral marker boys


There are hundreds of them around the coast maintained by Irish lights, those in the Shannon estuary are much larger than the one pictured and solely powered by PV.
You can read more about them here, however on past evidence you might be best to stick to the pictures.
https://www.irishlights.ie/safety-navigation/cil-aids-to-navigation.aspx

Thanks for coming up with an example. I struggle to see how it is demonstrated at all here though how a 21.7% efficiency standard size panel (320W) would make a crucial difference over a 19.7% efficiency standard size panel (just over 350W)?

So much so the higher price of the latter (double, triple?) makes no difference and buying the more efficient panel is a no brainer

That was your argument. Not build quality, longevity, lack of maintenance or anything else. Just the extra efficiency.

air

The build quality, longevity etc are given further of course, and generally all better on the premium panels.
However the extra efficiency alone still justifies the premium in many cases.
I stand by my point and it's patently obvious to anyone that extra efficiency is a no brainer when cost is not a factor - as it often is not.
The additional efficiency could easily make the difference in whether or not a particular load can be supported reliably or not.

unkel

air wrote: »

However the extra efficiency alone still justifies the premium in many cases.

That indeed is your original point. That a 350W standard panel is a no brainer to buy over a 320W standard panel. At a premium.

Yet you haven't shown any example of any single case - let alone many cases.

air

It's not my job to teach you basic maths, if you can't appreciate that 350W > 320W I can't do anything further to help you.

The marker buoys I've shown are a perfect example of an application where every bit of energy available is critical.
In winter time when days are short and dark and nights (when navigation lights are needed) are long, PV is always going to struggle and every possible way to boost output has to be taken.

Swapping out those panels would likely cost thousands per buoy, if you were a designer on the job and were found to have skimped on €100 per buoy for a 10% loss in performance you wouldn't be too long in a job.

That extra 30W of capacity would be very welcome in January in December.
Per PV GIS with a 120Wh daily load, moving from a 320W panel to a 350Wh one, reduces the days when a 600Wh battery would run out from 1.34% to 0.27% - which is a 5 fold improvement in reliability.

But only an idiot would pay an extra €100 for that on a probable €3000 job I guess.