Carter offered:
And I'd also consider going with rigid framed monocrystalline solar panels. You typically get 3 times more power per unit area and amorphous has a bad habit of going soft over time. The manufacturer's have been claiming they've solved this problem for years and maybe they finally have but my experience is that after a few years the amorphous technology starts to degrade. I've got some old Sovonics panels that don't even work anymore. It's great technology when you have plenty of space, want to mount it on a curve or you're dealing with partial shading issues but you have non of this on your dream boat. With some 15% efficient mono panels you might be able to push that boat 3 mph on a sunny day strictly off solar. Not so much with 6-8% eff. flexible amorphous.
Good News Carter: There are now “semi-flexible” panel options that offer 20% efficiency (the formerly unobtainable Sunpower cells), super light weight (unframed) & relatively affordable (~$2.50/watt). Check this nom. ½ sq-meter, 100watt panel now on Ebay:
While you can certainly get panels these days near the $1/watt cost target, with space limitations on boats, it may well be worthwhile to pay 2.5x for greater efficiency---and in this case, light weight, bendable, etc.
I’m tempted to start picking up the right size ones for my boat…
In case this helps-
-Myles
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