Are Canadian solar panels right for you?

Canadian Solar panels is one of the largest panel manufacturers in the world with 20 manufacturing facilities in Asia and the Americas.

The company was founded in the year 2001 in Canada by Dr. Shawn Qu.

And

Now it has its presence around the world in:

1. North America
2. Latin America
3. Europe
4. Middle East
5. Africa
6. Asia & Pacific

It manufactures both commercial and residential solar panels for its customers.

The list is as follows:

• All Black (Residential)
• HiDM (Residential)
• Ku (Commercial)
• BiKu (Commercial)
• HiKu (Commercial)
• BiHiKu series (Commercial)

In this post, I’ll discuss the residential solar panels (All Black and HiDM) by Canadian solar.

Metrics for reviewing Conadian solar panels (residential)

This review will cover the following aspects of the solar panels:

1. Technology (Feature and Benefits)
2. Power Rating
3. Efficiency
4. Weight-to-Power ratio
5. Temperature Coefficient of Power
6. NOCT (Nominal Operating Cell Temperature)
7. Strength of the Panel
8. Fill Factor
9. Warranties (Product and Performance)

Technology of Canadian solar panels

The residential solar panels by Canadian Solar come in two categories:

• HiDM
• ​All Black

Both are based on PERC technology.

HiDM (Hi-density mono-PERC module)

The solar modules based on PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell) technology are more efficient than the traditional solar panels.
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It is a process of adding an extra layer at the back of the solar cell that increases its overall efficiency by:

• Capturing more sunlight by increasing the light absorption area
• Reducing heat generation by minimizing the internal current within the cell.
• Limiting the electron hole recombination that acts as a barrier for free electrons to produce current.

In addition, the cells are arranged in a fashion that gives better shading tolerance and limits the cell cracking to the small region of the module.

Hence making it more reliable.

Power rating of Canadian solar panels

Canadian Solar produces residential solar panels above 300 watts.

HiDM

Under HiDM series, it offers three types of solar panels:

• 60 cells: 320 watts to 345 watts
• 72 cells: 400 W to 420 W
• 60 cells (Black): 320 W t0 340 W

Ku-Black

120 cells: 300 watts to 315 watts

(Ku-Black has 120 half-cut cells that further reduce the power loss due to heat and improve the temperature coefficient of power).

Efficiency of Canadian solar panels

The term efficiency implies that how well your solar panel captures sunlight and converts it into electricity.

It is generally represented in Percentage (%).

I can say in this way also;
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When two panels with the same cross-section area are placed under the same sunlight and similar environmental conditions, the one that produces more electricity is considered more efficient than the other.

HiDM

• 60 cells: 320 watts to 345 watts (19% to 20.4%)
• 72 cells: 400 W to 420 W (19.4% to 20.4%)
• 60 cells (Black): 320 W t0 340 W (19% to 20.2%)

Ku-Black 120 cells

Efficiency: 18.1% to 19%

Read: 7 most efficient solar panels in the world

Weight to power ratio

It is important to know this ratio as this will tell you the weight per unit of power produced by the solar panel.

If the weight per unit power is less then it means that the panel is light and it going to put less stress on your roof.

Now you can see that HiDM (under 60 cell solar cell category, the 345 watts solar panel is the lightest and it weighs 56.65 grams per watt).

While

Under a similar category of 60 cells, the 320 watts solar panel is the heaviest among all, weighing 60 grams per watt.

Therefore, the 345 watts solar panels are going to put less stress on your roof.

Similarly, we can check the weight-to-power ratio of All Black solar panels.

The temperature coefficient of power

It is the metrics that determine the loss in the power of the solar panel for every degree rise in the cell temperature beyond 25 degrees.

It is expressed as negative in percentage per degree (%/°C).

Assuming, a 400 watts solar panel with temperature coefficient of power as 0.40%/° C and its cell temperature at 45 degrees.

In this case, the power loss would be the difference in the temperature times Temperature coefficient of power.

Power Loss = (Cell Temperature – Cell temperature under STC) * Temperature coefficient of Power
= (45°C – 25° C) x (-0.40%/°C)
= -20 x 0.40% and you get -8%

The power loss in terms of watts for a 400-watts solar panel would be:
= 8% of 400
= 32 watts (The 400-watts solar panel will lose 32 watts).

HiDM Series

• 60 cells: -0.37%°C
• 72 cells: -0.37%°C
• 60 cells (Black): -0.37%°C

Ku-Black series

• 120 cells: -0.36%°C

You can see that Ku-Black (120 cells) is having the lowest temperature coefficient of power (-0.36%/° C).

It will lose the least power amongst all the 4 models.

The average temperature coefficient in the solar panel industry is around -0.04%/°C.

Nominal Operating Temperature

It the cell temperature under real conditions when

• Solar insolation is 800 W/m²
• Spectrum AM 1.5
• wind speed 1 m/sec
• Ambient temperature of 20° C

HiDM series

• 60 cells: 43 +- 3 °C
• 72 cells: 43 +- 3 °C
• 60 cells (Black): 44 +- 3 °C

Ku-Black series

• 120 cells: 43 +- 3 °C

The lower is the value, the less is the power loss.

Strenght of Canadian solar panels

It is the ability of the solar panel to withstand extreme weather conditions like high-speed wind and heavy snowfall.

If someone in the extreme type of climate then s/he should look for front load rating (snow load rating) and rear load rating (wind load) of the solar panel.

It is written in pascals (Pa).

The industry average is 2400 Pascals both for front load and rear load rating.

The higher is the value, the stronger is the panel to face extreme weather conditions.
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If you find more than this then you should go for it.

The HiDM series has snow load rating of 5400 Pa and wind load rating of 2400 Pa.

While it is 6000 Pa (snow load) and 4000 Pa (wind load) for Ku-Black series.

Fill factor od Canadian solar panels

The fill factor shows the quality of the solar cell used in the module.

It tells that how closely the solar cell is going to perform as an ideal solar cell.

This is the ratio of maximum power obtainable (Pmax) to the product of Isc (Short circuit current) and Voc (Open circuit Voltage)

It is represented as FF:

Fill Factor (FF) = Pmax/(Isc*Voc)

The more is the FF, the better is the solar cell.

And

You can see that the 420 watts solar panel under HiDM (72 cells) category has the highest FF of 80%.

Warranties of Canadian solar panels

Warranty is the assurance offered by the manufacturer to the buyer against the product purchased.

The Solar Panels come with 2 warranties (i) Product Warranty (ii) Performance Warranty.

Canadian Solar offers 15 years limited Product warranty that the solar panel shall be free from defect in material and workmanship

and

25 years limited Performance warranty that the solar panel will maintain no less than 97.5% of the labeled power in the 1st year

And
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From year 2 to the 25th year, the decline in power will not more than 0.6% every year and in the 25th year the power output will no less than 83.1% of the labeled power output.

Key takeaways

• The Mono-PERC technology is very effective in improving the efficiency of the solar cell.
• The 345-watts solar panel under HiDM (60 cells) category has the highest efficiency of 20.5%. These panels are the most suitable where you have space constraints.
• Again, the 345-watts (HiDM-60 cells) solar panel is the least stressful to your roof. It is the lightest amongst all (weighing 55.65 grams/watt). 
• The Ku-Black (120 cells) solar panels are going to perform best under hot climate as they have the least value of temperature coefficient of power (-0.36%/°C).
• Again, the Ku-Black solar panels are the best suited for extreme weather conditions with a snow load rating 6000 Pa and a wind load rating of 4000 Pa.
• Canadian Solar offers 15 year limited Product warranty and 25 years limited performance warranty for its solar panels.