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Maxeon 7 445-watt Most efficient overall: 24.1% efficiency Canadian Solar TOPHiKu6 470-watt 23% efficiency Maxeon 6 440-watt 22.8% efficient Maxeon 3 430-watt 22.7% efficient REC Alpha Pure RX 470-watt 22.6% efficient Qcells Q.Tron BLK M-G2+ 440-Watt 22.5% efficient Tiger Neo N-Type 54HL4R-(V) 450-watt 22.5% efficient The companies providing quotes may differ from those described in our independent reviews.

As energy bills climb, tax incentives become more generous and environmental concerns grow, more homeowners are turning to solar power. Spring brings longer days and more sunshine, so you might want to harness this increased solar potential. A recent CNET survey found that 78% of US adults are concerned about rising energy costs. If you're considering solar panels for your home, you might be wondering which solar panels have the best efficiency ratings. Our CNET experts have found the market's top performers with the highest efficiency ratings.

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Best overall: Maxeon 7

The most efficient residential solar panel right now is the Maxeon 7, which dethroned the older Maxeon and Canadian Solar panels when it launched in February . Maxeon has consistently remained ahead of its peers in the industry when it comes to solar panel efficiency for some time, and its newest offering had its record-setting efficiency metrics confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The 24.9% efficiency mark recorded in lab settings translates to about 24.1% in more realistic settings -- essentially, what would be recorded if they were on your rooftop. 

There's one catch for American solar shoppers: The Maxeon 7 isn't widely available in the US market yet, which means that it likely won't be part of any rooftop solar system you might be installing right now. It was expected to have wide availability by the end of , but the panels aren't available just yet. It's also worth noting that Maxeon announced a restructuring of its business portfolio in November. "The Company intends to focus exclusively on the US market where its market presence and planned local manufacturing footprint create a strong platform to drive growth and profitability," per George Guo, Maxeon's CEO.

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Guo also said the company would focus its US strategy on creating a domestic solar panel supply chain. Reading between the lines here, Maxeon is on-shoring US manufacturing to get around potential tariffs and customs problems that may result from the election, though currently, it's unclear if and how this will impact the availability of the Maxeon 7. 

Nearly 25% is an eye-catching number, experts have told us that fixating on efficiency isn't always the way to go, especially for someone looking into a residential installation. You'll want to consider the whole output of a solar panel system and its total cost, not just the specs of an individual panel. Small jumps in efficiency might not be worth major leaps in your project costs, especially considering your price will be multiplying based on your solar panel system size. You may not want to wait for better or cheaper options, although solar tech keeps improving and installation costs are trending down. Still, if you have limited space -- such as a small roof or a lot of shading -- highly efficient panels could make sense. Maxeon 7 aside, here are the solar panels that perform the best.

New developments: JinkSolar, Longi Green and Trina Solar

Maxeon is no longer the sole manufacturer of more efficient residential solar panels. In a recent development, Jinko Solar's new Tiger Neo 3.0 panels have reached a 24.8% efficiency, just 0.1% shy of the Maxeon 7's lab results. It remains to be seen how that translates to real life, but the company is taking advantage of tunnel oxide passivated contact modules (TOPCon), which offer higher voltages and fill factors than cells with front-collecting emitters. The Tiger Neo 3.0 is available in two versions -- a 495-watt panel for residential systems and a 670-watt panel for utility-scale projects.  

Another Chinese company, Longi Green Energy, set a world record for an independently developed hybrid passivated back contact 2.0 module with a 25.4% conversion efficiency, significantly beating out both the Maxeon 7 and Tiger Neo 3.0, but it's currently only being produced for commercial shipment. 

Neither has anything for Trina Solar, which has set a world record for the 27th time, with an N-type TOPCon cell achieving 25.9% efficiency. This is the highest we've seen outside of lab tests from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, which achieved a 26.1% efficiency for a TOPCore solar cell, although this is more a proof of concept. Both sides-contacted solar cells may have the potential to reach efficiencies of up to 27%, although no results have been published yet. 

What is solar panel efficiency? 

Solar panels may all seem basically the same, but they're different in at least a few key ways. One of those ways is the efficiency rating, which measures how much of the sun's energy a panel's solar cells turn into usable electricity. More efficient solar panels will generate more electricity than less efficient ones given the same amount of sunlight. Getting more electricity from the same amount of sunshine means you can further tamp down some of your energy costs over time.

"If something is 20% efficient, that means that 20% of the energy in that sunlight reaching the solar panel gets turned into moving electrons," Daniel Ciolkosz, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Pennsylvania State University, told CNET.

The 20% efficiency of some panels is much different than the nearly 25% efficiency of the Maxeon 7, for example. That means an extra 5% of the energy from the sunlight hitting the panel is getting turned into moving electrons -- producing electricity.

Choosing the best solar panels for your home is a game of balancing solar panel cost, function (like efficiency) and perhaps even aesthetics, if that's a variable that matters to you. Your choice is also limited by what solar equipment your chosen installer actually has available.

I've read dozens of spec sheets and talked to numerous industry experts about what matters for home installations. Ranking panels by their efficiency rating is a relatively straightforward task, I've also created the scoring methodology for the best solar panels and ranked them.

This list ranks the most efficient solar panels as identified by our mid-April survey of the specifications solar companies have publicly available. We'll tell you which panels get top marks for turning sunlight into the most energy, and we'll explain how much solar panel efficiency actually matters when it comes to residential rooftop solar.

Most efficient solar panels of

Determining the highest solar panel efficiency is a pretty simple matter of tracking down manufacturer-provided data sheets and locating the efficiency numbers. Those numbers today are higher than in the not-too-distant past and keep creeping upward.

According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Tracking the Sun report, was the first year more than half the residential solar panels installed in the US had efficiency ratings above 20%. Ten years ago only 0.6% of those installed reached that mark.

Other solar panels we evaluated

If you're looking for the most efficient solar panel for your roof, here's how the most widely used brands on the market stack up.

Data collected in April .

How efficient are solar panels?

It depends on the solar panel. The most efficient solar panels on our list top 24%, meaning they convert more than 24% of the available energy from sunlight into usable electricity. Not all solar panels hit that figure, and the ones you buy might fall below it. Be sure to examine not just efficiency, but the whole expected output of your solar panel system for the price.

These are just the most efficient residential solar panels. Experimental technology and panels designed for commercial and utility-scale applications can be even more efficient.

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What affects solar panel efficiency?

The numbers listed above are obtained under controlled conditions in laboratory tests. In the real world, plenty of factors might cause you to receive less energy than a panel's efficiency rating would suggest. 

Sunlight: If the skies are hazy or cloudy, less sunlight will reach your panels and they'll produce less electricity than expected. 

Solar panel angle: Solar panels will work facing in most directions, but there's an optimal angle and placement for your panels that depends largely on where you live.

Other electrical components: Power doesn't flow straight from the panels into your toaster. Some will be lost along the way through the inverter and other electrical devices. 

Temperature: Another factor affecting solar panels' efficiency is their temperature. As solar panels get hot, they start to produce less energy, although not at the same rate. A solar panel's temperature coefficient measures how much worse its production gets for every degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) it gets above 25C (77F).

For example, at 26C (79F) a REC Alpha Pure would produce 0.24% less energy than at 25 degrees. At 29C (84F), it would lose just shy of 1% of its production.

Solar panel efficiency by type

There are three main types of solar panels, and each converts sunlight into power at a different rate. Here's a look at the three types:

• Monocrystalline solar panels: Monocrystalline panels, which are made from a single silicon ingot sliced into thin wafers, are the most efficient, at 17% to 22%. They're also fairly pricey, generally around $1 to $1.50 per watt. Almost all residential solar panels installed today are monocrystalline.
• Polycrystalline solar panels: Polycrystalline panels generally range from 15% to 17%. They're more affordable, usually between 90 cents and $1 per watt.
• Thin-film solar panels: These panels are less expensive but also relatively inefficient. They're typically used in commercial installations. They tend to be 10% to 13% efficient and cost between $1 and $1.50 per watt.

Is solar panel efficiency important?

All things being equal, it would make sense to choose a higher-efficiency solar panel over one with a lower rating. High-efficiency solar panels typically cost more than lower-rated ones, so making the best choice becomes a matter of balancing your financial goals with what your preferred installer offers and other considerations like brand and aesthetics.

"It's just one part of the equation," said Ciolkosz. "The bigger question for the end user is the economics and how it's paying off."

Is there a case where efficiency might be a worthwhile consideration?

"If you have one of those tiny homes on HGTV," said Tom Beresnyak, a Pennsylvania State University extension educator. 

If you're limited by available space for solar panels, you might want to squeeze out as much solar energy as possible from that space, although if your state allows it, a community solar subscription still might be a better choice financially, Beresnyak said.

Can solar panels be 100% efficient?

No, but the panels listed here aren't the most efficient solar panels ever made -- just commercially available ones marketed for homes. 

Research into solar cells (the energy-producing components that make up solar panels) has produced much higher efficiencies in the lab. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory tracks the highest efficiencies achieved in standardized lab conditions. The highest-ever solar cell efficiency was 47.6%, recorded in June .

What should I consider when choosing a solar panel company?

Because there's no one-size-fits-all solar setup, there's no one-size-fits-all advice for choosing a solar company. The best approach is to get quotes from multiple installers before deciding. You should be aiming for at least three to five quotes from different companies before contracting with anyone. Choose the company that has offered you the best fit for your needs, you trust to do the work and has answered all your questions.

You should understand your energy usage before going solar and decide whether your goals are to completely replace that energy, save as much money as possible or achieve something else. From there, it's a matter of measuring competing quotes against your goals.

The Department of Energy recommends that you choose an installer with credentials from a respected third party, like the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, which operates an online directory of certified installers that you can filter by state and certification.

Installers should definitely assess your roof condition because removing panels at a later date to replace a roof will be an additional cost. They should also be able to transparently answer questions about the system's design and why they're making their specific proposal.

"The installer can make a huge difference because the angle and the mount [are important for] maximizing what you have at that location -- a skilled installer is still going to be the real key in your long term production," Beresnyak said.

Read more: See our picks for the best portable solar panels and solar backup generators.

How we chose and ranked the most efficient solar panels

The panels on this list were chosen because they're some of the most commonly installed panels and are likely to appear on quotes for solar installations. If you're quoted for panels that don't appear on this list, you can check their efficiency rating and other specifications in the same way I did. Here's how.

Solar panel manufacturers publish data sheets for solar panels, which detail their dimensions, performance metrics and internal chemistry. If your solar company doesn't provide you with them, you can access them by clicking on the company name in the table above. (Many of the links lead to PDFs.) From there, it's a simple matter of comparing statistics.

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