How Many Solar Panels Per Square Foot

Cost of solar panels per square foot.

How many solar panels per square foot.

Roof size 1 500 square feet system size 5. You might know the square footage of your house but that doesn t tell you the area of roof that s available to fit solar panels. A 10kw solar system which consists of 40 panels can produce an average of 14 000 kwh per year. How many solar panels do you need for a 2000 sq.

Many homeowners want to know how many solar panels they can fit on their rooftops. Simply enough you can look up your area s solar cost per watt to gauge the price of a solar panel. Let s answer the question with three different scenarios and at the same time show why it is the wrong question to be asking 1. The cost of solar panels to power your house are 4 to 10 per square foot.

However average values can be calculated from official data. 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. On average solar panels run between 2 50 and 3 98 per watt. Below are cost estimates based on home size.

We also assumed that the average household consumes about 10 400 kwh per year and the panels we re using are 250 watt solar panels. Some homes have more efficient appliances and habits also influence electricity usage. The first is to look at the peak possible instantaneous solar power production per square foot for a particular solar panel. 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.

This is an understandable initial reaction when first considering solar power. A 5kw solar system which consists of 20 panels can produce an average of 7 000 kwh per year. Number of solar panels per square foot of roof space. However most installers estimate solar costs by the amount of energy needed at 2 53 to 3 15 per watt before any tax credits or incentives.

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. For a 300 watt solar panel with dimensions 64 inches x 39 inches 1 61 meters squared or 17 31 square feet the peak instantaneous electricity production per square foot at stc is 14 58 watts per square foot. To get these numbers we used high and low panel production ratios to calculate how many solar panels are needed on average. Estimating the number of panels based on home area is an indirect approach since you must assume the kwh consumption.

The national average cost of a solar panel is around 2 98 watt. You will need a roof space of about 680 sq ft for a 10kw system. Will that many panels actually fit on your roof.