According to the average monthly electricity consumption of 893 kilowatt hours (KWH), American households need an average of 16 to 20 solar panels. After the federal solar tax credit, it would cost $12000 to $17000 to install so many solar panels.
Factors that influence the solar panel calculation at your home.
You may think that the size of your house determines how many solar panels you need, but that’s not the case! To truly understand how to do this solar panel calculation, you need to determine the following:
Your energy use: the more electricity you use, the more solar panels you need to pay your electricity bill.
Sunshine in your area: compared with sunny States, households in less sunny areas will need more solar panels to eliminate electricity bills. According to experience, the southwest of the United States has the most sunshine, while the Northeast has the least.
Panel wattage: the wattage of the solar panel you choose, also known as the rated power, determines the solar panel calculation. The rated power of most solar panels installed today is about 370 watts per panel; When you install a panel with a high power rating, fewer panels are required.
How to figure out the solar panel calculation？
Our solar panel cost and Savings Calculator is the fastest, easiest and most accurate way to find out how many solar panels your home needs – you don’t need to do any math. In addition, we will provide you with the average cost of a solar installation in a specific home and how much electricity it will save you.
However, if you want to do the solar panel calculation by yourself, please follow these four simple steps to find out how many solar panels you need.
Step 1: determine your energy use
Check your latest electricity bill to understand your monthly electricity consumption. In most cases, the total electricity consumption will be displayed at the bottom of the bill in kilowatt hours (KWH).Your annual energy use will provide you with the best estimate of how many solar panels you need, because energy use will fluctuate in different seasons (think about how much electricity you use for air conditioning in summer!).As the monthly energy use varies greatly, it may be helpful to dig up the monthly electricity bill of the past year, add the electricity consumption together, and then divide it by 12.However, using only one utility bill to calculate your energy consumption is still enough to make a rough estimate.
Step 2: understand how much energy is generated by solar panels in your area
Now that you know how much electricity your home uses in a month, you need to find out how much sunlight your area receives. This is usually measured by the so-called “peak sunshine hours”, which is essentially the sunshine intensity in your area.
Step 3: calculate the required solar system size
Since you now know how much 1 kW of solar energy will be generated in your area, you can determine the scale of the solar system needed to meet the power demand.
Step 4: figure out how many solar panels you need
Therefore, you know the size of the solar system needed to meet energy use.
