But there s an interesting twist.
Do solar panels work better in hot weather.
Panasonic s efficiency rate is 21 6.
Although they work better on sunny versus cloudy days solar panels don t work best in particularly hot climates.
Time to do some math.
In fact overly hot climates can cause solar panels to overheat.
Cells work because of electrical processes but those processes can become sluggish or inefficient when the panels get hot.
So very hot weather isn t the best condition for them.
This reduces the voltage that the panel can generate and lowers its efficiency.
This is a well known phenomenon and you will see it listed in the specifications on your solar panel datasheet.
On the other hand if the weather is pleasant the run will be more effective.
It turns out that you might get your best solar energy output in the spring and not the summer as you might think.
This is because that solar panels produce less electricity when it s hot.
Most likely the person will end up sweaty tired and dehydrated.
Solar panels work by using incoming photons to excite electrons in a semiconductor to a higher energy level.
Impact of different weather on solar panels most solar panels are built to handle a wide range of climates and conditions including heavy rain hail wind heat and cold.
In fact many solar panels demonstrate better output when the weather is a little chilly outside.
It s almost like asking a person to run 5 miles in hot weather conditions.
Generally solar panels don t begin to lose efficiency until their temperature rises to 77 degrees.
Surprisingly they perform worse as the temperature rises.
The energy production efficiency of solar panels drops when the panel reaches hot temperatures.
This is good news for areas that are impacted by storms rain and snow.
Because of this solar panels work better in certain areas than others.
It may seem counter intuitive but solar panel efficiency is affected negatively by temperature increases.
But the hotter the panel is the greater the number of electrons that are already in the excited state.
At that point for every degree increase in temperature above 77 degrees a solar panel loses efficiency by the rate of its temperature coefficient.