Support Centre for Installers

There are a variety of key technical differences between SunPower Performance solar panels and Conventional Panels, including the design and layout of the solar cells and the electric architecture—which combine to enhance the reliability, performance and aesthetics of Performance panels.

To go into a bit more technical detail, first, we laser cut each SunPower Performance cell into strips and layer them in a shingled configuration to create a ‘hypercell’. This shingled hypercell allows us to fit more active cell area into each panel, boosting power and efficiency. Second, Performance cells are connected with a flexible joint interconnection to offer multiple and redundant paths for energy flow. This allows us to remove the front contact conductive ribbons and solder bonds found in conventional cells that can block active cell area and deteriorate over time, leading to cell failures and power deficits. Finally, SunPower Performance panels feature a unique parallel circuit architecture that significantly limits power loss in shade and soiling. The result is a superior shingled panel constructed with commodity cells, outperforming conventional panels in efficiency, performance and reliability.

AC solutions are compatible with AC energy storage solutions. When using Enphase Storage, you can see the energy flows on Enlighten, Enphase’s system monitoring application. If you choose a different storage solution provider, you will need to use their monitoring application to see the energy flows of the battery.​

All AC module installations must be Internet connected for the monitoring to receive the 25-year microinverter warranty. This Internet connection reports data to the Enphase monitoring platform, Enlighten on a per microinverter/module basis. The performance of each microinverter and module is visible to the installer via Enlighten and alerts are provided for any faulty equipment, such as an under-performing PV module or a faulty microinverter.

Costs vary from project to project. Performance panels generally have a price point that is competitive with Conventional Panels.

This will depend on your panel wattage, your battery watt-hour (Wh) capacity (a measurement of storage capacity) and the weather. A 150 Wh battery will charge faster than a 500 Wh battery because the 500 Wh battery has more storage capacity, therefore requiring more time to fully charge. In addition, a 100-watt panel will charge a battery faster than a 50-watt panel exposed to the same amount of sunlight.

Charging time will be affected by weather, shade, time-of-day, age and use of battery, efficiency of the charge controller, placement of the solar panels, and other operational factors. Be sure to look on your solar-compatible battery for an estimate of charging times as well as panel-wattage compatibility, and always check the charging characteristics of the battery to ensure it’s compatible with the wattage of the panel.

For higher battery capacity (greater than 150 Wh) we recommend using a 100-watt panel. Before doing this, however, please ensure that the battery you are charging is compatible with this wattage and use a compatible charge controller.

We built the Performance solar panels for high reliability, high efficiency and low degradation—driving an estimated 8% more energy yield in a fixed space over the first 30 years of operation when compared to Conventional mono PERC Panels1.