John Fitzgerald Weaver for electrek:  Mega Sunergy released a new “multi shingled array module” 315W solar panel design that increases the efficiency of a standard solar panel by up to 17%. The company has changed how they lay out the 60 individual solar cells within the solar panel. Instead of perfectly spacing those 60 out – with small, defined areas between the cells – the company has allowed the solar cell’s borders to overlap each other while increasing the cell count to 68.

The company expects their new solar cell layout to increase solar panel output 5-17% depending on the original solar cell type. In effect, by lowering the efficiency of the average solar cell they’ve increased the solar panel efficiency.

The solar cell technology used in Mega Sunergy’s new solar panel are the standard, cheaper polysilicon solar cells. The company’s 315W solar panels use polysilicon solar cells can be purchased in volume for approximately 22.5¢/W and have a rough wattage of 4.5W per cell. The additional cost per solar panel, just for the eight solar cells, is approximately $8.10 – an increase of 2.5¢/W for the overall panel. It’s for these lower efficiency solar cells that the highest efficiency gains can be gotten.  Full Article: