The article question and answer says this:

You might have heard a capacity factor of 25% mentioned for solar panels. The 25% factor essentially means that a two hundred Watt panel only produces fifty Watts when averaged over twenty-four hours.

Huh? Either this is completely wrong or I was taught something completely wrong about solar efficiency.

As I understand, 25% efficiency means that the panel will convert 25% of the solar irradiance to energy. The assumption is that one square meter of land will get 1000 watts of solar irradiance under a full sun. A panel with 25% efficiency will convert 25% of those watts to electricity.

So, if the panel is one square meter in size, it will produce 250 watts. Said another way, after an hour of full sunlight, the panel will produce 250 watt hours (assuming no other losses).

However, panels are not exactly 1 square meter in size, so production varies. Also, efficiency and "averaged over a 24 hour time period" are two mostly unrelated measurements.

Does the quote make sense to anyone? I'm confused.