Calculate Your Solar Panel Needs

Calculating the number of solar panels needed to power your entire home involves determining your daily energy requirements finding the daily peak sunlight hours for your location and then dividing your overall needed watts by the watt rating for the solar panels you choose.

Calculate your solar panel needs.

If you re following along at home here s the calculation so far so you can plug your own numbers in. The first step is calculating the kilowatts needed. You probably consume more electricity during certain months of the. You calculate how many solar panels you may need by dividing the maximum hourly solar energy system output by the wattage output of one single panel.

For now calculate 30 of your homemade solar panel s rating. 12 month usage map area number 0 85 system size. You must simply divide the average daily kwh by the peak sun hours assuming a 30 day month an electricity generation of 1 000 kwh is equivalent to 33 33 kwh per day. Next you can estimate your average daily kwh usage by dividing your monthly usage by 30.

The number of solar panels of the size used in the calculation will theoretically meet that energy demand during a sunny day. For example if your solar panel is rated at 100 watts figure on about 30 watts output. That gives you 6 62 kw and some change. So the average american home in the average american city needs 6 62 kw of solar panels installed.

Calculate solar panel costs for your home determine your average monthly electricity usage. Calculate your daily kwh usage.