Types of Solar Panel - Which one should I get?

There are 3 main type of Solar panels based on their material. They are Mono-crystalline, Poly-crystalline and Amorphous Silicon (also know as thin film).

Of the 3, Amorphous Silicon panel is the most inefficient in converting sunlight energy into electrical energy. It requires a larger area to produce the same power as a mono or poly crystalline panel. It's believe to be between 2 to 3 time the size of crystalline panel. Because of the inefficient use of space which is limited for some of us staying in HDB flat, I do not recommend you use Amorphous Silicon panel unless you can make it into window panels to replace your existing window panels. But that will cost quite a lot.



Between Mono and Poly crystalline panels, the difference is quite small. Mono crystalline panel has slightly better performance than Poly crystalline panel but it is also slightly more expensive. At the time of writing, the Mono crystalline panel costs about S$1.80 per watt while the Poly crystalline panel costs about S$1,60 per watt.

Mono crystalline panel is made up of single type of crystalline. It is therefore more expensive to produced and cost more. It can be identify by the uniform color of the solar cells throughout the panel and has a diamond shape pattern in between the solar cells.



Poly crystalline panel are made up of many crystals of various size and shape forming a large block. The solar cells are then cut and slice from the big block of crystal. They are cheaper to produce than mono-crystalline cells and thus slightly cheaper for the same wattage it produced.

So between mono and poly, it all boils down to personal preference. I personally prefer the mono crystalline panel because of the uniform look and slightly better performance. But it's all up to individual, the difference is small.

Another important factor to consider is the size of the panel. Get one that can best fit into the area you want to mount the panels.