Solar panels are an extremely efficient and reliable equipment, with a lifespan of over two decades.
That’s why investing in a solar energy system for your home is guaranteed to continue to provide energy for many years after you reach your payback period – the point at which the initial investment you made will be paid for in savings.
Powering your home with renewable solar energy has a number of advantages, such as protection from the ever-increasing price of electricity, allowing you to benefit from a series of incentives and discount programs that will further reduce the price of your solar system and they will leave more money in their pocket to save for retirement.There is also an increase in the value of your home and little upkeep and maintenance once the panels go up on your roof.
When you decide to go solar, your installer will perform an analysis of your energy needs so that he can recommend the right amount of solar panels to offset those needs.It is extremely important to correctly analyze this figure, thinking about current and future needs, so that you can continue to reap the benefits of renewable energy for many years to come.
Analysis
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2017, the average annual electricity consumption for a US residential utility customer was 10,399 kWh – an average of 867 kWh per month.
When you switch to solar energy, you must add up your annual electricity bills, which will include how many kWh of energy you use in each billing cycle.This will help you determine what your individual usage is.
But, based on the figure above, you can figure out how many panels an average American house needs.
For this, you need to find out how many peak solar hours your region receives.This is the average number of hours in a day when the sun is at its highest, when your panels will generate maximum electricity.
Let’s do some math
Armed with these numbers, you can begin the process of determining how many panels are needed for a 5 kW solar system.First, you multiply 5.5 x 30 (the number of days in a month) = 165
If an average house uses 867 kWh per month and you divide it by 165, you will get a solar system of 5.2 kW needed to power that residence.
Now comes the complicated part, because the number of panels will fluctuate depending on how powerful the photovoltaic modules you choose are.Average solar panels today oscillate between 280 and 450 watts.
If you chose the 280-watt panels, you would divide the 5,000 (5.2 kW solar system) by that figure = 17.8 (or approximately 18 solar panels).
But if you chose the panels with higher power, you would get 14.7 (about 15 solar panels).
The right decision here is important and could be based on how much space you have on your roof and your budget. If your roof is small, then there will be a limit to the amount of energy you can generate. You can extract more of this available roof space by installing more expensive, higher-powered panels that generate more energy per square meter. The best option for this array might be to use a string inverter that connects all the solar modules to a single inverter that converts DC (direct current) electricity into AC (alternating current) power.
You can also opt for microinverters that go directly to each solar panel, but you would have to buy one for each module and the costs can multiply, but they offer even more efficiency.
If space on the roof is not a problem, you can opt for the lower power option.
An easier way to do these calculations is to let the price checker provide you with this information in a few seconds, simply using the address and the average monthly electricity bill.They will recommend the right solar energy system for your home to offset those electricity costs, the total cost of the equipment, and even an estimated cost to install the solar panels. They can also help the installer or you in designing the layout of the system.
Remember that, although you install what is recommended to cover 100% of your energy needs, this does not mean that all the electricity will be completely covered by the solar panels.
That’s why almost (if not) all residential solar energy systems are still connected to the grid.This is so that you can have power when the panels are not producing it (such as during the night).This way, you only pay the utility company for the small amount of energy you use from the grid, instead of needing 100% of it.
But that’s not all.If your utility allows net metering and you produce more solar energy than you can consume in a certain day, that surplus is returned to the grid and the utility company will give you credit or money for this electricity.If what you return to the network is greater than the amount you take from it, you can still come with an energy bill of 0.
