HOW MANY SOLAR PANELS DO I NEED?
You might not need more than one solar panel to power your home but you would be able to determine this by the end of the article.
A solar panel is an assembly of cells that can convert light directly to electricity. It helps in electricity generation from sunlight. Solar panels are rated in watts and can range from 3W to 600W.
A solar panel rated 350W generates between 1300Wh to 1600Wh per day with this variation dependent on geographical location while the average electricity consumption of a household is about 28.9KWh per day according to an article by EIA. This means that based on the article, an average home requires between 18 to 26 350W rated solar panels to be completely powered by solar energy.
The actual number of solar panels needed largely depends on three(3) factors:
- Personal energy consumption habits
- Solar panel rated power
- Geographical location.
Let’s take a look at Michael’s power consumption habit.
Michael is a developer working for a multinational company but he works from home. He requires very reliable electricity supply. He uses a laptop, phones, Mifi, Light bulbs and fan.
Since the total energy required by Michael is less than the least average power generated by a 350W solar panel daily which is 1100Wh, Michael does not need more than a single 350W solar panel to power his home.
The higher the energy requirement in a home, the higher the number of solar panels required to match the demand of the home.
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