How Much Solar Power Do I Need to Power My Home?

As people are switching to a “greener” household solar panels are growing among homes. You may be ready to make that move to lower your electric bill, but are unsure of how much you’ll be needing. That’s where we come in— we’ll help direct you with all your solar panel needs. This can be challenging to figure out without first going over what factors into it.

We will turn your question of “How much solar power do need?” into “I need XX number of panels.” Follow along closely and you will have your answers soon.

The number of solar panels needed to run a house depends on 4 important things:

1. How much energy you consume

You need to average your daily use of electricity. To do so you’ll need to check your electric bill, which is usually done by the year so you’ll need to divide the total by 365 to arrive at this number. For example, if you used 8,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in a year your daily average would be 22 kWh.

2. Efficiency of the solar cells

Solar panels can experience intermittent problems and will not always perform at their highest potential, which results in loss of stored power. With these insufficient periods about 25 percent should be added for cushion room. That is: 22 x 1.25, which is 27.5 kWh.

3. Sunlight available and usable

Solar panels run off of sunlight to produce electricity, so your location in relation to the sun will determine the amount your panels will yield. The more sunlight there is available, the more energy each panel will generate. National Renewable Energy Laboratory provides a calculator to estimate how much electricity your roof can generate. From there you divide your current daily average by the number of peak sunlight hours your area receives. For example, if I use Orlando, FL as the location it yields 5.3 daily peak sunlight hours. That is: 27.5 / 5.3, which correlates to 5.2 kWh per hour. Then multiply this number by 1,000 to convert to watts, which is 5,200 W.

4. Number of panels

Solar panels vary in wattage from 100-W to 200-W systems. The wattage decides the amount of panels you’ll need. So from here you’ll divide the hourly usage by the panels’ wattage to arrive at the total number of panels needed to power your house. For example, 5,200 / 200-W panel is approximately 26 panels needed to power your house.

If you want to inquire more about how much solar power you’ll need to sustain your home you can contact us today for a free quote from a Superior Solar Energy Specialist. We’ll help assist you with your decision so you can become greener sooner. If solar panels will be a good addition to your home or business contact us to get started!