Partial Shade Solar Panel

What fewer people understand however is just how important it is to avoid shading as much as possible.

Partial shade solar panel.

The purpose of a bypass diode is to allow electricity in a solar panel to flow around the shaded cell. Crystalline silicon solar panels feature square compact cells whereas amorphous silicon panels feature larger area cells. But both devices can modify the characteristics of the power as it leaves a shaded panel so that it does not reduce the output of panels down the line. Although it probably goes without saying shading is not good for solar panels.

Thanks to this updated technology the amount of shade eclipsing the solar panel is now directly proportional to the amount of energy production the solar panel loses. Two devices on the market can reduce the impact of partial shade. This physical difference makes it far more difficult to shade an entire cell. A shadow cast on even just part of one solar panel in your solar array can potentially compromise the output of the whole system.

There are two approaches that manufacturers take to build solar panels that work better in partial shade conditions like this. The main reason that amorphous silicon solar panels perform much better in the shade has to do with the way cells are laid out. The first and most common is to use an electronic component called a bypass diode. Perhaps most obviously trees near your solar array can cause shading issues.

There is no way to make up the power lost to shading on a panel.