Solar Power Generation
If you’re thinking about moving to a solar power generation system for your home, you’ll need to figure out how many solar panels are necessary in order to meet your needs Your monthly electricity bills will shrink regardless of how many panels you decide to install. Those who would like to eliminate their electricity bills completely, though, will want to figure out how exactly how many solar panels are necessary to do so.
The first step is calculating the amount of electricity you use in your home per day. This can be accomplished by referring to your monthly electricity bills from the recent past. (Many utility companies now give you the option of looking up previous bills online.) Use these bills to figure out how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) you use on a monthly basis. The average daily usage can then be found by dividing this figure by 30.
Another key variable is insolation. Insolation, which differs from area to area, is a measurement of the sunlight which touches a given surface area over time. Solar panels only produce power when they are struck directly by sunlight. Every solar panel has its own requirements in terms of minimum sunlight intensity in order to work. Sunlight exposure for a given surface, of course, varies over the course of a year. Even throughout a single day, the amount of sunlight present at any given time can differ. The average exposure for a given location is indicated by its insolation value. Maps displaying insolation values can be found online. You can find the amount of power you’ll require from your solar power system by dividing your daily kWh figure by the insolation value.
Power loss is the last variable to take into consideration. Although the latest systems are much more efficient than earlier ones, with any power system, there is always a certain amount of power lost during conversion. This can be difficult to measure precisely, but it’s usually safe to use the figure of 25%, so if you multiply the figure from the previous step (kWh/insolation) by 1.25, you’ll get the amount of power (including loss) that you need. This final number shows you how many kilowatt hours of power you’ll need your system to produce per day, with loss and insolation factored in.
If you divide this number by the output in kilowatt hours of your solar panel of choice, you’ll see how many of these panels will be necessary in order to generate enough power for your day to day needs.
One of the first questions a homeowner faces when deciding on whether to install a home solar power system is, “How many solar panels do I need?” If you are curious to know the answer to this important query, you can check out, How Many Solar Panels Do I Need?
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