By David Fessler A construction crew arrived at our farm at the crack of dawn last Thursday. By 3 p.m., the crew was gone.
In its dust, it left a brand-new 10-kilowatt (kW) solar array…
Behind it is our 8-year-old existing 10-kW array. The old array has 48 solar panels while the new one has only 28.
Both arrays generate the same amount of solar power. So why does one have more panels than the other?
The new panels are slightly bigger, but the real difference is panel efficiency.
The old panels are 17% efficient while the new ones are 22.2% efficient. That’s 31% more power per panel.
But …read more