Our online solar calculator can take your monthly power bill and location to work out how many solar panels you need as well.
How many solar panels to power your house.
The number of solar panels you will need to power your house will depend on two factors.
Your location as where you live determines how much electricity your solar panels can produce.
The amount of electricity you use.
The typical homeowner will need 28 34 solar panels to cover 100 of their energy usage dependent on location and roof size.
Assuming you are going to choose standard efficiency solar panels here are the most common sizes for residential solar systems and their kwh production potential to give you an idea.
Deciding how many solar panels you need to power your house.
Now you know how much energy you need it s time to think about your location.
A typical american home will need 14 36 solar panels to cover their power bill and at least 227 square feet of rooftop space to accommodate the solar panels.
If you only want your solar panels to subsidise part of your home s electricity usage you can install a smaller number of solar panels.
While many factors are involved in determining how many solar panels are needed to power your home there is a basic formula.
Gregg garrison general manager of northeast solar in hatfield ma gave some guidelines for the average homeowner regarding the number of panels to power both electrical and hot water requirements.
So how many solar panels you ll need to power your house will vary depending on the module chosen.
The exact number changes depending on the specifications of the chosen panel model as well as the sunshine available at the project site.
But if the building is a fair distance from the house so that wiring it would be a hassle or a large expense consider a solar powered system.
The amount of energy your home uses over a certain timeframe say a month is measured in kilowatt hours kwh.
Solar panels don t always work at 100 efficiency since they depend on sunlight.
Another way to gauge how big a solar energy system you ll need to power your home is to review our specials pages for your state.
Based on the example above if this household wants solar panels to cover just 70 of their home s electricity usage they d only need 6 solar panels 11 1 35 x 0 7.
To get these numbers we used high and low panel production ratios to calculate how many solar panels are needed on average.
The amount of energy that solar panels can absorb and then produce is measured in kilowatts kw.
Output of a system will also be affected by location and installation orientation.
A home that consumes 1 000 kwh per month will normally need between 20 and 30 solar panels.