Electric Solar Panels | Tips for Calculating the Capacity of Your Solar Power System

Solar Energy Systems in the United States

These days, making use of safe, sustainable, non-polluting, and renewable energy through electric solar panels is widely encouraged. In fact, the state and federal governments offer incentives to residents who buy and install solar energy systems. These incentives for solar systems are usually in the form of tax credits, deductions, exemptions, rebates, and loans. However, even though solar energy systems are good and cost-efficient in the long run, their initial costs can be quite large. The average system costs approximately $6,000; and the more electric solar panels that are needed, the higher the cost of the system.

Factors that Determine the Number of Electric Solar Panels Needed

If you do not want to spend more than you actually need, you have to determine the number of electric solar panels that you will use in your system. This usually depends on several factors such as your typical electrical usage, the voltage of your batteries, the amp capacity of the electric solar panels, and the amount of sunlight in your area. Ask yourself how much electricity you want or need to produce and how the solar panels are going to be positioned.

Ways on How to Calculate Electric Usage

There are various ways you can calculate your electrical usage. For instance, you can try listing all electrical appliances in your house such as lights, computer, television, stereo, vacuum cleaner, etc. Then, see how much wattage each of them requires. Multiply the wattage by the amount of time you spend using them each day; and multiply the result by 7 to compute your average weekly energy consumption. Another option is to gather your electric bills for the past few months and compare them. If you have already lost or thrown them away, you can ask for new copies or check out the electric company’s website. You may also get the average kWh in your summer and winter electric bills if you are a power-grid customer. You may also use a national average.

Sunforce 60 Watt Solar Kit

How to Determine the Amount of Sunlight Your Electric Solar Panels will receive

The amount of solar energy that your electric solar panels can obtain depends on your location. If you want to find out how much sunlight you can get in a year, check available resources and meteorology statistics. Ask the people from the weather services department or look up a website that provides average sun hour figures based on the earth’s tilt at your location’s latitude. Rainy days and sunny days greatly affect the amount of sunlight that your system can absorb. Also, there is the angle of the sun as the seasons change. You can register at the NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy website to know the average solar energy your system can receive each day. It takes seasons and weather changes into account and provides the average number of solar energy kWh falling on one square meter per day.

Positions, Sizes, and Wattages of the Solar Panels

You should know that the output current from an electric solar panels is at the highest when its surface is perpendicular with the sun’s rays. However, the angle of the sun changes constantly and installing a lot of electric solar panels can be very costly. Fortunately, you can reduce the number of electric solar panels you need by doubling the insolation value. Insolation refers to the solar energy that falls on a flat surface. Furthermore, the sizes and wattages of solar panels these days vary. Hence, you need to make sure that the electric solar panels you get fits your physical space dimensions. You may also compare different brands to see which electric solar panels meet your voltage and wattage requirements as well as your budget. One not of caution is to not try to use electric solar panels with different electrical characteristics together if you want your system to function well.

You should also browse our archives as there several other articles that provide information and great tips on electric solar panels and solar power houses.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 7th, 2011 at 6:18 am and is filed under DIY Solar Panels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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