You are installing solar panels, spending hundreds of dollars. It might be a wise idea to know how much power a solar panel system produces. An average power a solar panel produces is about 40-65W of power. However, when installing a solar panel system for an entire house, there are many other things to consider. In this article, we’ve written an ultimate guide on how much power a solar panel system can produce.
Formula To Calculate How Much Power A Solar Panel Produces
There’s a very simple formula to calculate how much solar panels you need for your house. We can’t give you a precise power a solar panel produces, but can offer you a formula to extract the precise number of panels for your house. Here it is:
- First calculate the number of appliances you want to use on your solar panels.
- Then find their wattage and sum the total number of wattages.
- Now get the wattage of the solar plate.
- Divide the sum of wattage with the wattage of the solar plate that you want to use.
- The result will be the total number of solar panels you will need for your house.
Here’s an example for easy understanding:
There’s a fan, motor, charger, toaster and lights are the appliances that an owner wants to use on a solar panel.
- The wattage of these appliances are 80W, 500W, 15W, 1200W, 20W
- The sum of these appliances is 1815W.
- Now, the owner is planning to use a 45W solar plate.
- We’ll divide the 1815W with 45W.
- The answer is 40.
- The owner will need about 40 solar panels to run all these appliances.
The Power Production Of The Solar Panels
The power production of the solar panels depends on various factors, e.g., number of appliances, time of usage, backup power, inverter’s capacity and type of the solar systems. Below we’ve explained it for you:
Number of Appliances
The load of your solar system is based on the number of appliances you use. The more in number or high power appliances you’ll use, the more power you would need and hence more PV panels. The more power the appliances consume, the more solar panels you would require.
Usage Timings
If you use grid electricity and that’s the main source of energy, then you might not need a powerful solar system. You can use the solar panels for your low-powered appliances like bulbs, fans and low-powered sockets.
On the other hand, the grid electricity can power your high-powered appliances, e.g., air conditioner, refrigerators and other high-powered appliances.
Solar Inverter Type
Your high powered solar panels are not useful if the inverter you use is not powerful enough to hold or supply the complete power of solar panels. The inverter must be powerful enough to process and supply the complete power from solar panels.
For example, if your inverter has the maximum load capacity of 1,000-watts and the solar panels produce the power of 1,500-watt then the remaining 500-watt of power will go to waste. Therefore, make sure to always use the inverter that is higher or at least has the same wattage as the solar panels.
Quality of Solar Panels
The power production of solar panels depends on the quality of solar panels. The higher the quality of a solar panel, the more it can generate. A high-quality solar panel is able to convert sunlight into electricity with a high efficiency rate.
The efficiency of a solar panel refers to how much electricity it can produce from each joule of sunlight falling on it. The higher its efficiency, the more electricity it can produce from every watt of sunlight received.
The main factors that affect the efficiency of solar panels are:
- Quality of solar cells (the material used to make solar panels)
- Quality of glass (used in the construction of solar panels)
- Quality of the entire assembly (the entire structure that holds up the glass and solar cells)
Components of Solar Panels
Solar panels can be made out of a number of different materials. These include:
Cells
These are made up of multiple silicon cells that are connected in parallel. The larger the number of cells, the more electricity you can produce from a given area.
Monocrystalline Cells
This type of cell consists of one large crystalline silicon panel. These are used for high-output applications like grid-tied systems and concentrating solar power (CSP) systems.
Polycrystalline
Polycrystalline panels have multiple silicon layers with varying thicknesses placed between them in order to increase the overall efficiency of the cell. The thicknesses vary based on manufacturing preference, but they generally range from 3 µm to 13 µm.
These cells have an efficiency that ranges from 16% to 21%. These types of panels are less expensive than monocrystalline ones and can be used in places where it gets very hot because they don’t require high temperatures to operate well (such as near a heat source
Photovoltaic modules
A photovoltaic module is a complete solar panel system consisting of all components needed for installation, including the solar panel itself and any other equipment required for installation such as interconnecting cables and mounting brackets or hardware
What Happens if a Solar Panel Produces More Electricity Than You Need?
If the power a solar panel produces is excess, it becomes an electric storage system. You can use the extra energy to charge your electric car, or store it for later use.
If your solar system still produces excessive energy even after charging the inverter, this is referred to as surplus power. If this happens, the excess power will be sent back to the grid. The grid is a network of electricity-generating stations and transmission lines that carry electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed. The grid can incorporate a number of different types of energy sources, including solar panels and wind turbines, as well as fossil fuel-burning power plants.
When solar panels produce more electricity than you need, they send that surplus back to the grid. The amount of excess power varies depending on how much sunlight there is and how many people are connected to your solar panel system.
Why Solar Panels are Great when they are so expensive?
The reason why solar panels are value for money even with their expensive installation, is the efficiency. As the name suggests, they create power from solar energy. They consume the sunlight and convert that sunlight into electrical energy through a chemical process called “electrolysis”.
Being a renewable source of energy, they gain all of their energy from the sun, and hence their electricity production is 100% free of cost. That’s what makes solar energy ideal and a great source of energy.
FAQ:
How do you calculate the power output of a solar panel?
Here’s the process to calculate the output of solar panels:
- First calculate the number of appliances you want to use on your solar panels.
- Then find their wattage and sum the total number of wattages.
- Now get the wattage of the solar plate.
- Divide the sum of wattage with the wattage of the solar plate that you want to use.
- The result will be the total number of solar panels you will need for your house.
How much power does 1 solar panel produce?
One solar panel produces the power of about 45W-65W.
Calculating the Kilowatt Hours Your Solar Panels Produce?
1 kW is equal to 1000 Watts of power.
How many watts does a solar panel produce?
One PV panel generates the power of about 45W-65W.
How many solar panels are needed to run a house?
Here’s a detailed answer: Solar panels are needed to run a house.
