Selecting panels for very hot climate: how useful is NMOT?

[missingegg]

Hey all, I'm preparing to select solar panels for a hot desert climate with a pretty consistent daytime air temperature of 40C. I see that a lot of vendors are now making all black panels, and I'm trying to understand how that negatively impacts the power production of the panel when it's hot. I understand the temperature coefficient that can be found in a panel's spec sheet. But I'm a bit confused about how to evaluate how much hotter a panel might be because it's all black. Concretely, would I be better off with something like an LG NeON R that has obvious silver stripes between the cells, versus a Rec Alpha Pure that's all black? I assume that a black panel will be hotter, but I have no idea how much hotter. Is the NMOT stat the way to evaluate that? I see that the Rec Alpha Pure has a NMOT of 44C, which is exactly the same as the NeON R at 44C. Does that mean that I'd expect these two panels to reach essentially the same operating temperature, or is this not the right way to evaluate a panel's spec sheet? For complete context: I'm space constrained, so I cannot compensate for lower panel efficiency by just buying more panels.

Spec sheets for the two panels I'm talking about:

https://usa.recgroup.com/sites/default/files/documents/ds_rec_alpha_pure_series_en_us.pdf?t=1669363456

https://www.lg.com/us/business/download/resources/CT00002151/LG435QAC-A6_FinalVer032422[20220406_023810].pdf

 

[Mattb4]

If you do a search on best solar panels to be used in hot climate the majority of the results indicate monocrystalline. Since those are black it must not be a big factor in regards to suitability.

Google Search used, "hot climate rated solar panels"

 

[missingegg]

I agree, monocrystaline is the way to go. I'm just trying to figure out if the aesthetically pleasing all black frames around the cells is actually causing a performance degradation from increased heat, or if it doesn't really matter.

 

[robby]

At the time when I bought my LG panels I was wondering the same thing!
I figured they must get hotter and therefore suffer from more heat derating.
With so many things to plan and buy I just went with the regular Neon panels.
I am looking forward to hearing about any real world testing that has been done.

 

[missingegg]

The engineer in me would love to buy two different panels and test. But I'm probably just going to make a single selection and hope for the best.

 

[GregTR]

Finding the "best" solar panel for "hot climate" is a fool's errand. If you have the real estate (roof or ground) you're best served with the cheapest per kW panel. All else being equal you may find a panel that has marginally better temp coefficient than another but in the grand scheme of things most panels will perform very similarly. There is no revolutionary design or manufacturing process that makes one panel perform significantly better than another on the market. Most of the price difference comes from economics of scale, marketing, reputation and the perceived warranty resiliency of any given company. Solar panels are a commodity item where one is just like the other for the most part. Trying to buy one based on hot climate efficiency is the wrong way to go about it.