Solar energy is an eco-friendly and affordable substitute for your regular energy. To use this energy, you need to install solar panels at home. Depending on your requirement, you can install the panels and minimize your carbon footprint. If you are not sure how many solar panels you need, then read this article.
We will discuss the factors that will help you learn your requirements.
Look at Your Past Utility Bills
To find your energy requirement for solar panels for your home, you should refer to your earlier utility bills. To calculate the number of solar panels, you will need to multiply the hourly energy requirement by the peak sunlight hours and divide it by the wattage of the panel.
Look at Your Existent Usage of Watts
Your electricity bill will help you find your watt consumption. Refer to any of your past bills and find “Kilowatt Hours” or something similar to it. Now note the duration. In most cases, it is for one month.
If you do not see any such mention of “kW hours used”, then check the starting and ending meter readings. Deduct the previous meter reading from the recent one to get the existing watt usage. To get the daily watt usage, divide the annual watt usage by 365 or monthly watt usage by 30.
Note: Due to weather conditions, solar panels can’t operate at the highest efficiency at all times. Due to which experts recommend adding a 25% “cushion” to the target daily average to make sure you generate clean energy for your use every single time. You can even take the assistance of a solar panel installer to perform this computation.
How Many Peak Sunlight Hours Do Expect at Your Place?
Another important consideration is to find out the duration for which the sun shines brightly in your area. This is important to know as this duration will directly impact the energy you can get from your home solar system. Areas that experience less sunlight, need more solar panels than the areas that receive a good amount of sunshine.
What Impacts the Efficiency of a Solar Panel Output?
Certain things can impact the amount of solar energy produced by the solar panel. To determine the right number of solar panels, it is important to consider these factors:
- The wattage: Photovoltaic solar panels come in different wattages that range from around 150 W to 370 watts per solar panel,
- the size of solar panel,
- the efficiency of solar panel, and
- the cell technology
Due to the variations in the solar panels, it is a little tricky to generalize the correct number of solar panels suitable for your use. Based on these factors, you can experience a broad variation in terms of efficiency and quality of solar power produced in your house.
Conclusion
More and more people are using solar power for their benefit in terms of environmental impact and money. With the right knowledge of solar panels, you can maximize your return on investment.