The leading installer of rooftop solar panels says it has achieved record efficiencies with its panels.
The leading installer of residential solar panels in the United States, SolarCity, boasts that the new type of modules it’s making in a small pilot plant have achieved record efficiencies of 22.04 percent, surpassing rival SunPower’s efficiencies of 21.5 percent and far exceeding the 16 percent efficiencies of commodity silicon solar panels. Though the results are impressive, the announcement also raises questions about whether SolarCity can successfully transition from being a solar panel installer to a manufacturer, especially one making a radically new type of solar technology.
