The average solar panel payback period is 7 to 12 years and solar energy saves 600 to 2 000 per year on electricity costs.
Solar panels kilowatts per square foot.
The average cost to install solar panels is from 10 626 to 26 460 after tax credit for a 6kw to 12kw system to power an entire house.
Sizing a solar panel system to your home s electric usage can be done by taking look at your energy bills over a year.
The average sized solar panel takes up an area of 17 6 square feet and produces 265 watts under direct sunlight.
Given 1kw of panels produces 1642 kwh per year in ca and 1kw of panels takes up 68 42 square feet solar panels installed in california on average produce 23 99 kwh kilowatt hours per square foot per year.
This size of solar panel layout will only take about 350 400 sq.
Number of solar panels per square foot of roof space.
System size kw square footage needed for low efficiency 16 square footage needed for medium efficiency 18 square footage needed for high efficiency 22 5 kw.
For instance if the surface area is 1 500 square meters and the rating of the panel is 250 watts you would divide 250 by 1 500 and then multiply by 100 to find the percentage for this example the solar panel in question would have an efficiency rating of 16 67 250 1500 x 100 16 67.
Most u s homes have rooftops that are about 1 500 sq.
Most residential solar panel systems use between 250 325 watt solar panels.
You need to divide the number of watts at which the panel is rated by the total surface area of the panel.
Based on our calculation above we know that this same system measures at 352 square feet which works out to a weight of 2 3 pounds per square foot 800 pounds 352 sq ft.
Home the estimated electricity consumption is 700 kwh.
To produce the maximum amount of power per square foot a solar panel has to be well designed to handle temperature spectrum angle and amount of light.
Most solar panels last for 50 years have a 25 year warranty and start generating a return on investment after 8.
At this point you can use the calculation procedure described in the previous section.
Some people associate solar power with heat because heat is associated with lots of sunlight but if there s too much heat your solar panels may not work as effectively.
When dividing these values you obtain 0 35 kwh per square foot.
You can use the table of solar power production per kw for each state above to do the same math for your state.
The us census bureau determined that single family homes have an average area of 2467 square feet.
Said differently the average american household consumes just under 11 000 kwh per year.
That translates to just over 15 watts per square foot.
Ft so most homeowners will have more than enough room for solar panels.
Assuming 0 35 kwh for a 2 000 sq.
And the average solar power system needed is a 5 kilowatt system.