The summer season means warm weather and plenty of sunny days across the United States. It is also the best time of year to install a solar array on your residential or commercial property. With the huge leaps in technology and subsequent decrease in overall production costs, there are many deals to take advantage of this summer season.

Solar Panels

In terms of trends in solar panel technology this summer season has introduced high watt, high efficiency and high performance at low irradiance modules. These solar panels provide highly efficient energy that are compatible with almost any climate. Their specifications alone make them a great fit for areas with low sun hours. Home and business owners can enjoy the same efficiency and power output no matter where they live with the low irradiance feature that has taken the industry by storm.

We compiled a list of panels and measured them by their cost per watt, efficiency rating and irradiance and selected our top three modules for the summer season.

Canadian Solar MaxPower CS6U-345M

Cost per Watt: $0.68/watt

Efficiency: 17.49%

Low Irradiance Performance: 96.5%

Hanwha Q Cells Q.PLUS L-G4.2 325

Cost per Watt: $0.62/watt

Efficiency: Up to 17.40%

Low Irradiance Performance: Innovative All-Weather Technology – Optimal yields, whatever the weather with excellent low-light and temperature behavior.

SolarWorld Sunmodlue SW345 XL Mono

Cost per Watt: $0.79/watt

Efficiency: 17.29%

Low Irradiance Performance: High efficiency monocrystalline cells, with anti-reflective glass technology.

Inverters

Inverters have continued their technological advancements to meet the high expectation set by the higher watt modules. Though many of the solar panels have met the input expectations to inverters that have been on the market for years, the technology could only last so long as advancements in watt performance continued to grow.

SolarEdge HD Wave

The SolarEdge HD Wave is currently available in 3Kw AND 3.8 Kw with higher kilowatt inverters to hit the market in coming months. The new technology has already generated a great deal of interest as they are more efficient and lightweight than SolarEdge’s other modules. Already a customer favorite, the new series is sure to take the solar industry by storm.

Enphase IQ Microinverters

Enphase microinverters were set at 60 cell module compatibility for a number of years, however the new M250 and IQ series is compatible with both 60 and 72 cell modules. The IQ series is slightly different than their other series with the installation process being set to have one module per every two solar panels. While this certainly drives down cost in both materials and installation, project managers should keep careful accounting of input voltages to ensure that the system is working at its maximum capacity.

Ginlong Technologies Inverters

Ginlong Technologies inverters are high efficiency and available for a fairly low cost to customers. They also have integrated monitoring and users need to only install a wi-fi stick or ethernet cable to hook up their inverter to the internet to access their monitoring system. This saves a great deal of time, and cost and provides an added benefit to users. Though they are less well known, they are worth taking a look at if you are on a tight budget and don’t want to compensate on quality.

Racking

Racking has come a long way in the last few years as well. Less materials are needed today than they were even five years ago, and grounding technologies are now built in or require less components. This saves a great deal of time in the installation process and is very friendly to do it yourself installers who have no previous experience.

IronRidge

The new IronRidge UFO series comes with integrated grounding and requires far less components than their previous series. They also offer some of the most versatile and strong components in the business and are compatible with all roof types. The racking is compatible with most other manufacturer parts such as S-5!, which is used for metal roof applications.

SnapNrack

SnapNrack offers some of the lowest cost components in the industry. There can be a slight learning curve in ordering system components as the rails come in packs and users need to plan accordingly with their pack size. That being said however, this unique method in bill of materials can save users on materials which was the primary motivation behind the packaging.

DPW Solar

DPW Solar offers industry leading top of pole mount systems that are custom made. Users should be aware that the custom-made mounts take between 4-6 weeks to complete and, like ground mount systems, poles need to be sourced locally. However, the mounts are meant to work in a number of environmental conditions and have one of the highest ratings for high wind and heavy snow loads.

With the growing technology in solar and manufacturers across the board improving their items to work together systems are becoming more efficient in both energy production and cost. With a little bit of research home and business owners can benefit a great deal from the industry’s leading solar manufacturers.