Solar panels are becoming large staples in a lot of communities, especially those circulating around environmental friendliness. Solar power harnesses the suns energy and converts it into energy for your home or office which saves on costs!
Learning about solar power and informing others of its benefits is great! However, actually harnessing the energy is better. If you want to learn about getting and installing solar panels then keep reading!
Solar Panel Size
Solar Panels are large. Although they are a great thing to have they will take up a lot of space on the top of your home or other building.
A generally wattage for solar panels is 350. These panels measure five foot five inches in length and 3 foot in width. This comes out to a total of sixteen and a half square feet.
This is the best size to plan for since most solar panels installed on businesses or residential homes are from 250 watts to 360 watts. That is putting this size at the higher end of the spectrum so that you overestimate rather than underestimate.
With any solar panels, you will need more than one since one is not enough to really make a noticeable difference. This means that you will have to plan for a lot of space to house six to eight or more panels that each have a size of sixteen and a half square feet.
Solar Panel Power
If you are looking at the more standard version of solar panels then they will most likely be 350 watts. Now that tells you how much power wattage you are getting but really nothing more than that.
Your location, as in climate and lot location, has a lot of influence on how much power you are able to get. If your home is under a lot of tree coverage then you will not be able to get much, if any solar energy. Obviously, the solar panels need sunshine to create the power.
If you are in certain parts of the world sunlight does not last as long or does not come out as often. This is sometimes because of the earths movement and sometimes due to time zones. Either way there is not much power to harness if the sun is not around enough to do so.
Climate is another big contender. If you live in a place like Seattle where the main climate is rainy and gloomy then there won’t be enough sunlight to harness enough power. If you are in a more desert like climate then it may be perfect to get a lot of solar energy.
Energy Amount
Depending on the factors above and the factors of how many solar panels you have will give you the amount of power that it will produce. Your system size also comes into account when looking at the annual energy amount as well.
If you want an annual average of 2,820 KWH then you will generally need 6 solar panels. IF you want an average of 7,050 then you will need around 14 solar panels. However, if you want an annual average as high as 9,900 then you will need about 20 solar panels.
There is a very easy way to calculate how many solar panels you will need to power your home or business all year. First multiply your household’s hourly energy usage by the peak sunlight hours for wherever you are located. Then divide the number you get by the amount of wattage the panel you choose has.
From there you can do multiple calculations to see what the easiest and / or most cost efficient product for your home would be.
If you would like an easier way to figure this out then go to:
https://www.gogreensolar.com/pages/how-many-solar-panels-do-i-need
and put in the information it asks for. You will get an answer in seconds!
Keeping Extra Room
After reading this some people may just want to load up their roof with solar panels but that isn’t a great option. Solar panels can be heavy and putting too many down on your roof could hurt the structure.
There are also many other reasons that no one should or can just put solar panels edge to edge on their roof. As with anything there are cords and pieces that are connected to the solar panels.
These cords and other things need room where they are not being crushed. This way there will also be room for any accessories you may want to purchase in the future. These can include specialty cords, storage facilities, etc.
Space Needed
Each home or building is different. They each have their uniquely structured roofs with different angles and abilities. Therefore, it is hard to give everyone a basic rule to go by on how much space is enough space.
Luckily there are basics on how many square feet of space would be the minimum to house a certain number of solar panels.
If you would like to fit 6 solar panels then you need about 100 square feet of space, no less, but more space is okay. If you want more like 20 solar panels on your roof then you need at least 330 square feet of space.
These guidelines will help make sure that you are not hurting your roof or the solar panels with how you are putting them in. Both things are very expensive so it is best to learn how to get them and keep them safe.
If you are convinced about solar panels and are looking at placing them on your home or other building then the best advice is to just research a lot. This will make sure that you are as prepared as possible when the time comes to introduce solar power into your home. This can make everything go a lot smoother.