There’s no wonder that solar panels are a great ROI. Especially, for commercial projects, solar panels offer a great investment on the power production. They are a 100% clean and clear source of energy that doesn’t produce any kind of emission and carbon footprint. Moreover, they produce 100% free electricity from the sun, so they can be a 100% free source of electricity.
Investment on the Solar Panels
The initial cost of commercial solar panels per square foot investment is significant. They do require a large amount of investment and the end product you get is an expensive and over priced source of energy that powers a small portion of the building.
The main component that makes them so expensive is the PV cells which are used in the plates. The raw materials through which the PV cells are produced are very rare in nature. That’s why the production of solar panels is highly expensive and so is their installation cost.
Why are Solar Panels Great if they are so Expensive?
The thing that makes them so great is the way that they produce electricity. Being 100% solar, they produce 100% of their power through the sunlight. There are PV cells in the plates. When photons of the light hit PV cells, they go through a chemical reaction in which light energy is converted into electrical energy. It happens because of the light sensitive chemical energy which produces the electricity as a byproduct.
Note that, higher the photons, the more energy the PV cells will produce. The PV cells are photon reliant energy generators. The more light they receive, the more energy they’ll produce. In that scenario, sunlight seems to be a great source of energy.
Commercial Solar Panel Cost Per Square Foot
The cost of commercial solar panels per square foot depends on many factors that we’ll discuss later in the article. The rough estimate of the commercial solar panel is about 3 solar panels for each floor.
To give you a more clear look, an average of 3 solar panels are required to run the lightings, fans and Laptop’s. Now multiply the cost of each solar panel with 3 (number of panels). The end result you will get is the cost of one room to run on a solar panel.
If there are 5 rooms on one floor, you can do the calculation. E.g.,
One panel cost 50$, and there are 4 rooms on each floor. To get each floor cost of commercial solar panels per square foot:
50$ x 3 panels x 4 rooms = $600 to run a single floor.
Now multiply that cost with the number of floors to get the commercial cost of solar panels to run the house. However, there are factors that influence the cost. Below we’ve explained it for you:
Number of Appliances and Wattage of the Appliances
The more appliances you want to run on solar panels, the more power they’ll consume. Hence, you’ll need more solar panels to power them without energy shortage. Moreover, the power of the appliances also influences the panel’s requirement.
For example, the air conditioner will consume about 3,000-watt of power while an LED bulb will only consume 20-watts of power. Therefore, the number of appliances and their wattage matters a lot. Two different appliances will always have different wattage loads.
The wattage tells how much power you need and so solar panels.
Usage Hours
Appliances usage time impacts the cost of commercial solar panels per square foot and needs. The more you use your appliances, the more electricity you will use.
If you have a low number of appliances in your office, then it willn’t matter if they’re running longer. Because there are not many rooms or areas where they would be used at all times.
However, if you have several appliances and they are used frequently, then it will affect the solar panel performance as they have to work harder when converting energy from the sun’s rays than usual.
The usage of the appliances is proportional to the power consumption. The more longer the appliances will work, the more electricity they would need and so solar panels. If an office works 6 hours a day and the other office works 9 hours a day with the same number or electronics, the 9 hour one would have higher power consumption.
Usage hours ∝ Power consumption
That’s why the solar panel needs to be large enough to generate enough energy to power your appliances. They should be powerful enough to fulfil the usage hours.
Exposure of Sunlight
Cost of commercial solar panels per square foot is affected by a number of factors, including the amount of sunlight incident on the panel, the angle at which it’s oriented to catch that sunlight, and the amount of space between each panel.
Sunlight hits solar panels in two ways: direct and diffuse. Direct light hits all parts of the panel equally, while diffuse light varies from point to point on the surface. The more diffuse light hitting a panel, the less efficient its conversion into electricity will be.
The angle at which a solar panel is mounted also affects the cost of commercial solar panels per square foot. A diagonal mount will cause more direct light to hit each cell than an upright mount does. But it will also block some of the diffuse light that would otherwise reach that cell. This increases its efficiency somewhat, because now fewer photons are lost in transit.
What are the benefits of investing in commercial solar panels?
They are a 100% clean source of energy, don’t emit carbon footprint and offer free energy.
How much does 1 square foot of solar panel cost?
THe 1 square foot energy will cost you about 50$ in the installation phase. The energy production is free.
How much does a 1000 sq ft solar panel cost?
It’ll produce the energy of about 3,800 watts.
How much does a 100kW solar system cost?
It’ll cost around $0.5 million.
Are commercial solar panels worth it?
Yes, they are worth it in the long-run. They pay back the invested money within 5 years.
