How is solar cell efficiency calculated and what do mono and poly crystalline mean?

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The_Thinker
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Hey,
I recently read that they made a 40% efficient solar cell... what does this actually mean? How do they calculate this efficiency... and how much power do these cells actually produce? and what's with the mono and poly crystalline titles that they get? what does that mean??

Any info would be helpfull... :smile:
 
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The_Thinker said:
Hey,
I recently read that they made a 40% efficient solar cell... what does this actually mean? How do they calculate this efficiency... and how much power do these cells actually produce? and what's with the mono and poly crystalline titles that they get? what does that mean??

Any info would be helpfull... :smile:

Next time, when you "read" something interesting and wish to discuss it on here, please cite the EXACT reference. If not, words like "mono crystalline" and "poly crystalline" can have a multitude of meanings!

Zz.
 
yeah... I feel kinda stupid... should have probably tried googling first... OH well...
thx for clarifying the doubts though... :)