The X-Series - SunPower's Elite Panel

SunPower manufactures the most efficient solar panels in the industry. It is a local business success story and in the 1970’s began as the vision of a Stanford University professor to make more cost-effective solar cells. In Silicon Valley, SunPower was born and during the course of four decades has become the largest residential installed base in the U.S. with more than 200 industry patents.

The newest SunPower panels, the X-Series, convert more sunlight to electricity, delivering 44% more power per panel than conventional panels. This means the X-Series can produce the same amount of energy as competitive panels, but in a smaller amount of space. Fewer panels means the X-Series will take up less space on your roof. Alternatively, in the same amount of space, the panels will produce much more power than conventional panels. Efficiency should be taken into consideration especially when a roof has limited area or shade concerns.

The SunPower X-Series has zero light-degradation unlike conventional panels that have an initial power loss of 2-3%. The X-Series panels will perform at nearly 90% of their original performance in 25 years. This means that they will produce 21% more energy over the first 25 years than the conventional panel.

Aesthetics may be important as well if you are considering going solar. SunPower’s Signature Black X-Series panels easily blend into any roof and any architectural style. In order to reduce how much they block sunlight, the standard white gridlines are no longer on the surface. This allows more sunlight to hit the panels and the white wires to be nearly invisible from the surface. Along with anti-reflective glass reducing glare from the sun, their presence will be minimal.

New solar panel restrictions in California, effective January 2014, mandate more stringent guidelines regarding the placement of panels on your roof. Fire Marshall Code requires a 36 inch setback from the ridgeline. This is often the optimal placement for panels and the restrictions provide less space in general for solar panels. The X-Series are more efficient, so it takes up less space, meaning you can still utilize valuable space not affected by the restrictions. When potential expansion is necessary, possibly for electric car charging, you can simply add more panels onto the free space left available without having to upgrade panels or finding more room elsewhere.

At Clean Solar, we are a SunPower Elite Dealer. This means we install locally for Silicon Valley-based SunPower.