The changes in December’s Top 10 Solar panels are brought about by two giant PV module manufacturers Jinko Solar and Trina Solar. These PV module producers released these high-efficiency solar panels thanks to utilizing TOPCon technology at the cell-level and the big wafer size at the module-level. So let’s go through the most recent updates of the most efficient solar panels of this month. Please bear in mind that the list in our website is very detailed and contains more than top 10 solar panels.
Jinko Solar’s Tiger Series with a New Variant: Tiger Neo
First of all, Jinko Solar has reached an all time high rank since we started this article back in 2019. With their newest launch, Tiger Neo 78HL 4, they are now placed second at December’s Top 10 Solar panels list. Tiger Neo 78HL 4, with 22% efficiency and 615 W in its power output, has now grabbed and pushed other rivels one step down. This efficiency level was reached by employing two high-efficient technologies at the cell-level which are TOPCon and half-cut cells. In addition, this new variant of the Tiger series was released with 78 solar cells that were embedded in a single module in contrast to the 60-cell mainstream in the market.
Tunnel oxide passivated contacts (TOPCon)
TOPCon solar cell architecture is basically considered as the forthcoming and alternative technology to the current state-of-the-art passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cell design. Because the PERC technology has almost approached its efficiency threshold around 25-26% and TOPCon technology surpassed this efficiency threshold by adding a minimum number of process steps to the existing PERC facilities.
TOPCon cell architecture is based on the concept of ‘passivating and carrier selective contacts’, where the recombination of minority charge carriers, electrons or holes for instance, is suppressed by a stack of thin tunnel oxide and heavily-doped polysilicon (poly-Si) layers. The power conversion efficiency potential of this cell technology is over 26%.
Trina Solar, A New Version of its well-known Vertex Model
One of the trending topics in 2020 which is a matter of debate in 2021 as well, is utilizing a bigger wafer format in PV modules in order to increase in power output. Back in 2020, Trina Solar released its Vertex series in order to enter the “500+ PV Module Producer Club” with their 515.8 W module.
The firm reached this record by using G12 solar cells or solar cells with 210 mm side length. Now, Trina Solar as another unconventional and maybe pioneer product produced a new version of its distinguished model which is called Vertes S. This model allocated 21.6% efficiency and 670 W, by using G12 wafer format. It stood at the seventh rank of our December’s Top 10 Solar panels list with these features.
Here’s the full list with links to the product data sheets
| Rank | Manufacturer | Model | Cell Type | Technology | Efficiency | Power Density | Power |
| 1 |  | Maxeon X series | n-type | IBC | 22.7% | 226.9 W/m2 | 370 W |
| 2 |  | Tiger Neo78HL 4 | n-type | TOPCon | 22% | 220 W/m2 | 615 W |
| 3 |  | NeoN R ACe | n-type | MBB | 22% | 220 W/m2 | 380 W |
| 4 |  | Alpha | n-type | HJT- Half Cell | 21.7% | 217.5 W/m2 | 380 W |
| 5 |  | EverVolt | n-type | Half cellHJT | 21.7% | 217.4 W/m2 | 380 W |
| 6 | | NeoN R | n-type | IBC | 21.7% | 191.3 W/m2 | 375 W |
| 7 |  | Vertex S | n-type | PERCHalf Cell | 21.6% | 215.7W/m2 | 670 W |
| 8 |  | Meyer Burger Black | n-type | HJT | 21.5% | 214.6 W/m2 | 395 W |
| 9 | | Tiger pro | n-type | Half cell MBB | 21.4% | – | 585 W |
| 10 |  | SIL-380 BK | n-type | Back Contact | 21.4% | 213.8 W/m2 | 380 W |
| 11 | | NeoN R | n-type | IBC | 21.4% | 188.7 W/m2 | 370 W |
| 12 | | Tiger pro | n-type | Half cell MBB | 21.3% | 221.9 W/m2 | 415 W |
| 13 |  | FU M Zebra | n-type | IBC | 21.2% | 212.9 W/m2 | 360 W |
| 14 |  | Ultra X | n-type | Half cell MBB | 21.2 % | 212 W/m2 | 600 W |
| 15 | | Vertex | n-type | Half cell MBB | 21.2% | – | 600 W |
| 16 |  | HiKu7 | n-type | Half Cell | 21.2% | 212 W/m2 | 600 W |
| 17 |  | S4 | n-type | Half cell MBB | 21.1% | – | 540 W |
| 18 | | Vertex | n-type | 1/3 cut cells | 21.1% | 212 W/m2 | 505 W |
| 19 |  | Deep Blue 3.0 | n-type | PERCMBB | 21% | 214.5 W/m2 | 545 W |
| 20 |  | Hi-MO 5 | P-type | PERC | 21% | 211.7W/m2 | 540 W |
| 21 | | JKM 470N- 7RL3 | n-type | Half cell MBB | 20.93% | 209.8 W/m2 | 470 W |
| 22 | | LR4-72 HPH-455 | n-type | PERC Half Cell | 20.9% | 209.9 W/m2 | 455 W |
| 23 |  | HiE-S410VG | n-type | ShinglePERC | 20.9% | 209.3 W/m2 | 410 W |
| 24 |  | JW-I 60N | n-type | IBC | 20.9% | 209.1 W/m2 | 340 W |
| 25 |  | PS 380M4-20/UH | n-type | MonoPERC | 20.71 | 207.6 W/m2 | 380 W |
| 26 | | NeoN 2 | n-type | MBB | 20.6% | 206.4 W/m2 | 355 W |
| 27 | | HiE-S480VI | n-type | ShinglePERC | 20.5% | 205 W/m2 | 480 W |
| 28 |  | PowerXT 430R-PL | n-type | IBC | 20.4% | 204.2 W/m2 | 430 W |
Moreover, the December’s Top 10 Solar panels list is finalized with 28 entries from a wide variety of PV module manufacturers / brands such as SunPower, Jinko Solar, LG, REC Group, Panasonic, Meyer Burger, Canadian Solar, Trina Solar, JA Solar, Silfab Solar, FuturaSun, Suntech, LONGi Solar, Jolywood, Phono Solar, Hyundai and last but not least Solaria.
Solar Edition publishes this trending article with new top 10 PV solar panels monthly since 2019. We publish two Top 10 Solar Panels lists, a general top 10 solar panels for commercial and small-scale are published monthly and a top 72 cells solar panels for industrial-scale every quarterly (Q1,2,3,4).
Authors: Hesam-Edin Hayati Soloot & Shahab Moghadam
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Source:@Solar_Edition
Photo:@Solar_Edition
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