Determining the exact number of solar panels requires technical knowledge. Lowering CO2 emissions while trying to maintain a decent ROI is possible only when you use an appropriate number of solar panels with the necessary voltage specifications.
Cutting down power costs is your top priority and it's achievable only when you use good quality solar panels that generate the requisite amount of electricity.
Some of the factors to consider while choosing Solar panels include the following: energy requirement for your house, usable roof size, wattage, weather, peak sunlight, and efficiency of the PV panels.
How much Quantity of Solar Panels Do You Need?
If you want to know your home’s utility requirement, you need to have a look at your previous bills. The calculation is simple, just multiply the number of solar panels by your home’s energy requirement, and then divide it by the panel’s wattage. You can also use a low and high wattage for determining the range. Moreover, you also need to figure out the amount of sunlight your roof receives along with battery storage, and the size of your roof.
How many wattages you are using currently?
For calculating your current usage, just check your utility bills for average consumption per month. Check for Kilowatt Hours Used or similar like terminologies. Then you need to note down the period of consumption. If your bills do not mention any meter readings usage, find out the ending and the beginning meter readings. Then you need to subtract the earlier reading from the current one.
Even if your bill is not showcasing your average consumption, you need to divide annual consumption or monthly consumption by 365 or 30 days. This is how you can determine the hourly and daily consumption by this method.
The homes that are smaller in size use somewhere between 200 kW per month. Whereas, larger homes tend to use 2,000 kW since they run air-conditioners for longer durations. An average home uses 800-900 kWh per month.
What affects the Efficiency of the Solar Panels?
This is where you can easily differentiate the best solar panels against the bad ones. As human beings differ from each other, similarly each solar panel is different from one another. You will see photovoltaic solar panels in residential buildings. These are available in ranging from 150-370 watts per panel. Though this is dependent upon the efficiency and the panel size, and also on the technological cell inside the panel.
There is immense differentiation in solar panel quality and efficiency. This is the reason it is difficult to determine the perfect solar panel for your home or even the quantity. If your solar panels are efficient enough, they can produce more wattage, therefore you require less quantity of solar panels on your roof. Traditional solar panels produce 250 watts of energy per panel with different levels of efficiency.
What is the Cost of Solar Panels?
Installing a solar panel for your home might cost you around £350-£500, depending upon the size and system type. The average price of solar panels is around £6000 and it can cover an area of 29 meters per square. Though installation of solar panel cost has reduced dramatically quickly within few years.
