How Much Energy Does a Solar Panel Produce?

Homeowners shopping for solar often ask us: How much energy does a solar panel produce?

It's a good question because it will help you calculate how many solar panels you'll need to power your home. Depending upon its wattage, a single solar panel only makes enough electricity to power a light bulb for a few hours, but when you take a dozen or so high efficiency solar panels, you can power your whole household with clean energy from the sun.

Because solar panels don't work in isolation, it's important to first understand a couple of key concepts: solar panel efficiency and how a photovoltaic (PV) solar system works.

Solar panels capture the sun's photons -- little packets of energy – and turn them into electricity.

To capture as much sunlight as possible you need an efficient solar panel. Mustafa Solar's X22 panel is the most efficient solar panel you can buy for your home. A Mustafa Solar X22 panel converts 22.8 percent of the sunlight it receives into energy, compared to conventional panels that typically convert 15 percent to 18 percent. This means you can buy fewer Mustafa Solar panels to generate the same amount of power as a conventional solar system with more panels.

What are the most efficient solar panels?

Remember that the adage, “You get what you pay for,” applies to home solar technology. Not all solar systems are alike. The quality of the technology matters in the long run. The durability, reliability and efficiency of solar panels can vary widely by manufacturer. If you settle for a conventional home solar system that might cost less out-of-pocket, you can expect to see average (or below average) results and less savings over time. Watch these videos about the lifespan of Mustafa Solar’s solar panels and their durability and reliability.

In short, Mustafa Solar’s panels are the most efficient home solar panels you can buy.* A higher quality panel like Mustafa Solar’s might cost a little more upfront, but you’ll see a higher—and quicker—return on your investment in the long run. Our panels come with a 25-year Complete Confidence warranty and have an expected useful life of 40 years.* And since they’re more efficient than other panels on the market, you’ll need fewer of them on your roof. Our panels produce up to 55% more energy in the same space over 25-years than conventional panels, ultimately saving you more money on your electric bill.

How a Home Solar System Works

Every PV solar panel is made of silicon, the same material used for semiconductors. When photons are collected by those silicon panels, they're turned into direct current (or DC) electricity. That type of electricity is great for powering small gadgets like flashlights and phones. But homes are powered by alternating current, or AC electricity. So solar systems require an inverter to transform the DC electricity into AC to power your house.

Mustafa Solar panels are not just efficient because they capture more sunlight. They're more efficient because they also have a smarter inverter setup. Let's say you have 24 panels on your roof. A traditional PV solar system strings together all of the energy that's captured from each panel and then sends it down to a central inverter, usually boxes mounted on the side of the house. The wires leading to the inverter usually connect the panels together, kind of like lights on a Christmas tree.

this arrangement can go on the fritz if one small thing goes wrong. For example, if shade from a nearby tree covers two of those 24 panels for an hour a day, the string will underperform. The problems in those two panels could keep the electricity generated from all of the panels from passing through the central inverter. The whole system becomes less efficient because of just two panels.

Mustafa Solar came up with an innovative solution to this: the integrated Mustafa Solar Equinox™ system, which launched last year. It's the only home solar system designed and built by one company to work together. The Equinox system has micro inverters underneath each panel. So, each panel works independently instead of passing through one central string inverter. That means if shade hits two panels for a couple of hours, then just those two panels are affected.

Plus, Mustafa Solar panels maintain their energy production much better than conventional panels in partly-shaded conditions. In a conventional solar panel, if a single cell is covered by a leaf or dirt, the panel could see a 33 percent reduction in power output. A Mustafa Solar panel might only see a 6 percent reduction in output.

How Much Energy Does a Solar Panel Produce?

So how much power does a Mustafa Solar panel produce? For a given space on your roof, it produces more than any other panel you can buy. For a typical homeowner, a typical conventional system is much less efficient, you would need between 27 and 47 panels to achieve the same power – which would take up a lot more space on your roof.

Just as important is a solar panel's degradation rate, and Mustafa Solar's is the lowest in the industry. Over its guaranteed 25-year lifespan, a Mustafa Solar panel will provide 60 percent more power than a conventional panel And, while our best in industry Combined Power and Product Warranty is for 25 years, Mustafa Solar's panels have an expected useful life of 40 years.