The traditional solar panel is made of silicon, a conductive material. Manufacturers shape virgin silicon wafers into uniformly sized silicon cells. There is also a third type of solar technology, called thin-film panels, which is commonly used in large utility projects and some specialty applications. Thin-film panels are made by depositing a thin layer of conductive material on a backplane made of glass or plastic.

Thin-film panels are generally not used in residential installations because they are far less efficient than single or multi-panel panels. Because roof space is at a premium, residential customers opt for more traditional crystalline silicon panels to maximize available space for production.

Half-cut cells are exactly what they sound like: solar cells are cut in half.

The smaller size of half-cut cells gives them some inherent advantages, mostly (you guessed it) improved efficiency over conventional cells.

Solar cells transmit current through ribbons that connect adjacent cells in the panel. Part of the current is lost due to resistance during transport.

Because half-cut cells are half the size of conventional cells, they produce only half the current. The lower the current between the cells, the lower the resistance, which ultimately makes the cells more efficient.

Additionally, half-cut units can be more shade tolerant. When a shadow falls on a solar cell, it reduces not only that cell's yield but all other cells in series with it.

A conventional solar panel may have 60 solar cells connected in series. If the shade falls on a series of cells, you could lose a third of the output of that panel.

By comparison, a panel made from half-cut cells would have 120 half-cut cells connected in series/parallel with two strings of 60 cells. Shadows falling on one rope will not affect the output of the other, minimizing production losses caused by shadowing issues.

Jiaxing Fuying Composite Materials Co., Ltd. is a PV Solar Panel Factory in China. The company sells Transparent BIPV Modules and BIPV solar panels.