How many hours of sunlight can you expect in your area? – The peak sunlight hours for your particular location will have a direct impact on the energy you can expect your home solar system to produce. For example, if you live in Phoenix you can expect to have a greater number of peak sunlight hours than if you lived in Seattle.
- That doesn’t mean a Seattle homeowner can’t go solar; it just means the homeowner would need more panels.
- The Renewable Resource Data Center provides sunlight information by state and for major cities.
- Now multiply your hourly usage (see question No.1) by 1,000 to convert your hourly power generation need to watts.
Divide your average hourly wattage requirement by the number of daily peak sunlight hours for your area. This gives you the amount of energy your panels need to produce every hour. So the average U.S. home (900 kWh/month) in an area that gets five peak sunlight hours per day would need 6,000 watts.
Can you power your house entirely on solar?
Powering your entire home with solar – If you want to power your home with only solar panels, you need to plan it through. Do a power audit for your home to determine your consumption. Once you have an idea of your usage, find the best solar power system, and invest in a solar battery.
How many solar panels do I need to run a 3 bed house?
How many solar panels are needed for a house? – The average one-bedroom house needs six solar panels, a typical three-bedroom house requires 10 panels, and a five-bedroom house will usually need 14 panels. Want to see how much this would cost you? Head to our solar panel cost page.
| Household Size | Annual Electricity Usage | Number of Solar Panels | Size of Solar Panel System |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 1,800 kWh | 6 | 2.1 kW |
| 3 bedrooms | 2,900 kWh | 10 | 3.5 kW |
| 5 bedrooms | 4,300 kWh | 14 | 4.9 kW |
In each case, the panels will produce enough electricity to cover around 50% of a household’s annual usage – or more, if you don’t leave the house very often. Without a solar battery, around half of this energy will go unused by your home, because you won’t always be there to use it when it’s generated.
