Solar panel efficiency has grown quite a bit since the very first solar cells were created back in the 1880s. Back then, the solar cell efficiency was less than 1%, but today scientists are creating high-efficiency solar panels that can reach almost 50% efficiency.
Unfortunately, the average efficiency of solar panels that are sold on a commercial level is roughly half that. But after seeing the advances that have been made in terms of solar energy efficiency over the past couple of decades, there are high hopes that this higher-solar-efficiency technology will be available to the masses sooner rather than later.
SolarPower.Guide has put together a timeline of solar cell technology and how far it has come since the 1800’s.
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