DOES TEMPERATURE AFFECT SOLAR PANELS?

As we all know, solar panels are meant to absorb the sun’s energy, as well as being subject to the elements and weather conditions regularly. Throughout this article, we will be discussing average panel temperatures, and what temperature your panels could reach before you see a noticeable output fluctuation. We’ll also talk about what you can do to combat this issue.

Your solar panels’ main job is to absorb the sun’s rays and turn them into clean and renewable DC power. But with that comes heat absorption, from both the sun and the application you choose to mount it to. The average rated peak operating temperature of a solar panel is between 59 and 95 degrees, however, in most cases, it’s not unheard of to find that a panel will operate up to 150 degrees during the summer months.

Now that we’ve established average panel temperatures throughout the year, we can answer the question in point. Temperature can absolutely affect your solar panel’s performance, but this is only the case when the panels reach extreme temperatures close to or surpassing the previously mentioned 150 degrees, causing its overall ratings to drop. As with anything, extreme heat buildup with no way of cooling will affect your system, and in this case, your panel’s output & efficiency.

This leads us to what you can do to counteract the extreme temperatures. There are measures you can take to curb the temperature increase of your panels such as adding space in between your application and your panel(s) to allow for better airflow underneath the panel. This will allow your panel to cool itself down which is highly beneficial, and it’s easy to do using panel mounts with the appropriate standoff.

As we conclude this blog, one thing we didn’t talk about is the temperature coefficient, which will be a topic for our future blogs. But in the meantime, however, extreme temperatures do affect your solar panel’s output and efficiency in large. As mentioned, there are steps you can take to combat this from happening.

We hope this article helped answer the question “Does temperature affect solar panels?”.