Use This Formula To Calculate Your Solar Panel

Power Needs And Costs

By Tim McDonald
Apr 24, 2009

With green living becoming more and more important, many people are starting to install home solar
power to supplement their power, and reduce their electric expenses.
But when you install solar power, how much do you actually have to generate to say cut your bills by
50%? And what kind of costs will you be looking at?
Here is a simple 4-step formula to help you calculate your home's solar panel watt requirements and
costs:
1 - What Is Your Daily Power Consumption?:
To work out how much power you use on an average daily basis, this is what you have to do: First
go back and look at your past 12 months electricity bills. Then work out the average kilowatt hours
(kWh) used per month. The reason we do this is because we use different amounts of power
throughout the year. The calculation is month 1 + month 2 + month 3 etc... then divide that by 12. If
you do not have all the statements, just use last month's bill.
Now take your average kwH per month and divide that by 30 to get your average kWh per day.
- Let's use an example: If our monthly energy usage is 800kWh, then the average daily power used
is: 800/30 = 26.7 kWh a day.
- So to reduce your electricity bill to half, 26.7/2 = 13.4 kWh of solar power per day is needed.
2 - Work Out Your Solar Panel Watt Requirements:
Before you can work this out, you need to find out how many usable hours of sunlight your region
gets per day. A simple way to find that out is to have a look at an insolation map - there is one
available on our website, where the original article was posted.
Your next step is to take the daily kilowatt hours needed and divide it by the average usable sunlight
hours, then multiply that by 1.25 (this is used to take into account the inefficiencies in the solar
power system from wiring, charge controllers, batteries, and inverters).
- From the previous example, if you live near California where the average daily usable hours of
sunlight is 5.5 hrs, the solar wattage needed is:
13.4 kWh required / 5.5hrs of insolation x 1.25 = 3.045 kW or 3045 Watts daily.

This indicates that our home solar power system must have the minimum capacity to produce 3045
Watts of power.
3 - Calculate Solar Panel Watt Costs:
This step will help you work out the cost of the solar panels needed to make 3045 Watts of power. At
the moment the highest average cost for solar panels in the US is $4.85 per Watt.
- Following on from our example, the solar panels will cost 3045 x 4.85 = $14,768 to only halve our
monthly power costs. This excludes the cost of wiring, charge controllers, batteries, inverters, and
installation fees.
4 - Take Government Rebates and Credits Into Account:
Before you think you are going to have to fork out at least $14,768 for only 3045 Watt of solar panel
power, you need to consider the effect of government subsidies and incentives.
2009's Federal renewable energy tax credits came into effect from the beginning of the year, and
coupled with the state-side incentives in places like Connecticut, California, New York and New
Jersey, the cost of the solar power system will be much less.
- Using the same example: For a Californian to buy the solar panels, they would receive a state tax
rebate of 20% of the cost, and a federal tax subsidy of 40% of the remainder. So, the investment in
the solar panels would only be:
$14,768 - $14,768 x (20%) - $14,768 x (1 - 20%) x 40% = $7,089.
A word of warning: The formula outlined here will give a rough estimate of what you can expect to
pay for your solar panel watt needs. Obviously the costs will differ with regard to special offers, the
state you reside in and the contractor you use to install the system.
However, from the example, you can see that for Californian to reduce their power bill by half, they
would have to buy $14,768 worth of solar panels, costing them $7089 after rebates. A cheaper
option would be to learn to source affordable and even free solar cells, and build your own solar
panels. This can be done by following a relatively inexpensive step-by-step solar power manual,
such as Earth4Energy.
About the Author
If you are keen on building your own solar panels for under $200 and slashing your power bill by as
much as 80%, then why don't you Try Earth4Energy for FREE before wasting your money on the
wrong advice?!

Key Features of Sonali Solar 10 Watt Solar Panel

10 Watts- 12V Solar Panel PV Cell. Free electricity, No Bill. 25yrs life. Application
Scope l Courtyard lighting. l Small household lighting system. l Street lighting. l Portable
solar power. l All small power electrical device

Sonali Solar 10 Watt Solar Panel Price: Rs. 1,200

Mechanical Characteristics Made from high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. Cells
encapsulated in low iron, high transmission, toughened glass using UV stable ethylene vinyl
acetate (EVA) sheets. Premium quality back sheet protect
Was this product information helpful?
Yes
No

Specifications of Sonali Solar 10 Watt Solar Panel

IN THE BOX
Number of Solar Panels

Sales Package

1 Solar Panels

GENERAL
Brand

Sonali Solar

Number of Cells

36

Output Voltage

12

Model Number

10 Watt

Type

Polycrystalline

Material

Silicone, Aluminium

Solar Power

10

WARRANTY
Warranty Summary

Limited extended performance warranty up to 10 years minimum 90%, power

output After 10 years and upto 25 years minimum 80% power output 10-years
Product & Workmanship warranty

Not Covered in
Warranty

This elaborates on the things that, if damaged, will not be repaired/covered

under warranty.

DIMENSIONS
Weight

1.5 kg

Length

350 mm

Width

350 mm

ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Application Scope l Courtyard lighting. l Small household lighting system. l Street lighting. l Portable solar
power. l All small power electrical devices & small PV system.