To provide my monthly consumption on electricity, what would be the ideal size of solar panels that I will install.
The answer depends on if you intend to be connected to the grid (power company) or not. If you are off-grid, you need to either size it for worst case of winter sun hours, or plan on a generator to help make up the difference of available sun in the winter.
On grid is much easier, because if your system is too small, or you have a stretch of bad weather, you can just buy any extra you need from the electric company.
We’ve got some calculators for both scenarios at http://www.altestore.com/howto/Calculators/c5/
If we use 5 sun hours for an example, 200kwh / month = 6.666 kwh / day. 6666 / 5 = 1333 W of PV panels. However, you also need to figure in system inefficiencies, and add about 30% to the equation, for 1700W. You can look at a package right around that size that includes the panels, inverter, mounting hardware, safety equipment and everything at http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Grid-Tied-Systems/Alt-E-Designed-Grid-Tie-Packages/AltE-Grid-Tied-Package-System-D-16-kw/p7102/.
Off grid adds complexity and expense in adding batteries to store the power. If you are looking at off-grid, there is a package that includes additional equipment needed, including batteries at http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Off-Grid-Residential-Systems/Off-Grid-Residential-Package-184-kw/p6628/.
3 responses to If I consume 200kwh power a month, what would be the ideal size of solar panels that I will install?
figure 50w/m^2 for 8 hr of sun/day = 400 w-hr/m^2-day
200 kwh/mo = 6700 w-hr/day
6700 /400 = 17 m^2
Check out what the solar panels you expect to use will provide and what you will do if you need power when the sun does not shine.
References :
Congratulations on your conservative usage.
When you use only 7 kWh of electricity a day, your bills are likely to be low, and it’s not certain that solar would pay for itself.
But to answer, try taking a look here http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/ . Enter Average, Annual, Flat Plate Tilted South at Latitude, then click View the Map. This will show you how many peak sun hours you get per day.
Example: Where I live, there are 5 peak sun hours per day, or 5 x 360 = 1800 peak sun hours per year. If my usage was like yours, it would be 200 x 12 = 2400 kWh / year. 2400/1800 = 1.3 kW of panels.
References :
The answer depends on if you intend to be connected to the grid (power company) or not. If you are off-grid, you need to either size it for worst case of winter sun hours, or plan on a generator to help make up the difference of available sun in the winter.
On grid is much easier, because if your system is too small, or you have a stretch of bad weather, you can just buy any extra you need from the electric company.
We’ve got some calculators for both scenarios at http://www.altestore.com/howto/Calculators/c5/
If we use 5 sun hours for an example, 200kwh / month = 6.666 kwh / day. 6666 / 5 = 1333 W of PV panels. However, you also need to figure in system inefficiencies, and add about 30% to the equation, for 1700W. You can look at a package right around that size that includes the panels, inverter, mounting hardware, safety equipment and everything at http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Grid-Tied-Systems/Alt-E-Designed-Grid-Tie-Packages/AltE-Grid-Tied-Package-System-D-16-kw/p7102/.
Off grid adds complexity and expense in adding batteries to store the power. If you are looking at off-grid, there is a package that includes additional equipment needed, including batteries at http://www.altestore.com/store/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Off-Grid-Residential-Systems/Off-Grid-Residential-Package-184-kw/p6628/.
References :
AltE Store – http://www.altestore.com/store/
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