How many solar panels are needed to power an average house.
Average solar panel output per square foot over a year.
An array of this size can produce an average of 350 850 kwh of ac energy per month.
But solar panels aren t 100 efficient.
But every home is unique and could use more or less power than the average home.
A common size solar panel array is usually around 5kw and takes up around 400 square feet of space.
According to the u s.
Given 1kw of panels produces 1642 kwh per year in ca and 1kw of panels takes up 68 42 square feet solar panels installed in california on average produce 23 99 kwh kilowatt hours per square foot per year.
Most solar panels last for 50 years have a 25 year warranty and start generating a return on investment after 8.
To put that into perspective a typical household uses about 897 kwh per month.
For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way.
You can use the table of solar power production per kw for each state above to do the same math for your state.
The average solar panel payback period is 7 to 12 years and solar energy saves 600 to 2 000 per year on electricity costs.
Said differently the average american household consumes just under 11 000 kwh per year.
That translates to just over 15 watts per square foot.
You need to divide the number of watts at which the panel is rated by the total surface area of the panel.
5 hours x 290 watts an example wattage of a premium solar panel 1 450 watts hours or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours kwh.
The best ones on the market are around 22 efficient and an average is more like 18 7.
Sunpower solar panels are the most efficient you can buy.
How much energy does a solar panel produce.
How many solar panels do i need for 1 000 kwh per month.
Energy information administration in 2018 the average monthly electricity consumption for a home in the united states was 914 kwh per month or about 30 5 kwh per day and 11 000 kwh per year.
1 our maxeon solar cell technology combines a strong copper backing with ultra pure silicon and a light trapping glass surface that ultimately makes our panels 30.
In order to find a range for number of solar panels we compared arizona and maine s solar panel production ratios 1 31 and 1 61 the highest and lowest in the u s.
Sizing a solar panel system to your home s electric usage can be done by taking look at your energy bills over a year.
And yes if solar panels were 100 efficient they would generate this much energy per square meter.
The average cost to install solar panels is from 10 626 to 26 460 after tax credit for a 6kw to 12kw system to power an entire house.
To understand how much solar power is produced per square foot it s helpful to know what solar panels are made of.
For instance if the surface area is 1 500 square meters and the rating of the panel is 250 watts you would divide 250 by 1 500 and then multiply by 100 to find the percentage for this example the solar panel in question would have an efficiency rating of 16 67 250 1500 x 100 16 67.
