I have been asked several times what is the energy produced by a 1 kW panel in a day or how many units of energy are produced over 24 hours. Let me first state that the product of power and time gives you the energy produced. So for a 24-hour period, we have 24 kWhr of energy produced, if the solar panel was producing peak power throughout the day. But we know that that is not the case. So for the time component of the above equation, we can use 5 hours, also called peak sun hours. This gives a total of 5 kWhr (1kW x 5 hours) of energy produced over a 24-hour period i.e. 5 units of energy are produced. In a month you can possibly produce 150 units. If the per unit rate is Rs.10, you can produce Rs.1500 worth of electricity with a 1 kW panel in a month.
Continue reading Energy Produced by 1kWatt Solar PanelTag Archives: Solar Panel
Calculate Solar Panel Tilt
1. Find the direction of magnetic North and consequently magnetic South.
2. Adjust for magnetic declination to find exact true South.
3. Point solar panels towards true South.
4. Find optimum tilt angle based on the latitude and the season.
Enter the value of latitude below to find the panel tilt in degrees.
Winter
Latitude
Spring and Fall
Latitude
Summer
Latitude
Note:
1. The result above is the angle in degrees from the horizontal.
2. If you do not know the latitude of your city you can look it up here.
How to Calculate the Surface Area Required by Solar Panels
You have estimated the size of the solar system that you need and are ready to get the equipment from the market to install it. But wait, are you sure you have enough space in your garden or your backyard or your rooftop to install the solar panels? How can you do a rough estimate of the area required by the solar panels? Here is a quick and easy way to go about it.
Lets assume that you want to install 10 solar panels rated at 100 Watts each and having a conversion efficiency of 18%. The total power output of the solar system can be calculated as:
Total Power Output = Total Area x Solar Irradiance x Conversion Efficiency
We know the required Total Output Power is 1000 Watts (10 panels x 100 Watts), the Solar Irradiance for a surface perpendicular to the sun’s rays at sea level on a clear day is about 1000 Watt/m2 and the Conversion Efficiency is 18%. Plugging these number in the above equation we get:
1000 Watts = Total Area x 1000 Watts/m2 x 0.18
or
Total Area = 1000/180 = 5.56 m2
I you are going to install all the panels in one line you would need a space of approximately 1 m x 5.56 m (each panel having a size of 1 m x 0.556 m) on your rooftop. There you go. You have a rough estimate of the space required by the solar panels of your system.
Note:
1. Do remember that solar panels are usually installed at an angle to the earth’s surface and this may change the results somewhat. For an example of detailed calculation see the following post.
2. Appliances typically operate on AC voltage, whereas, solar panel produces DC voltage and battery also operates on DC. Therefore an inverter is needed to convert DC to AC and there can be substantial losses in conversion.
3. Imagine a solar panel has a conversion efficiency of 100% i.e. it converts all the solar energy into electrical energy then all you would need is a 1 m2 solar panel to produce 1000 Watts of electrical energy :).