On average, a solar panel will produce about 2 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity daily. That&#;s worth an average of $0.36. Most homes install around 15 solar panels, producing an average of 30 kWh of solar energy daily. That&#;s enough to cover most, if not all, of a typical home&#;s energy consumption.
There are a few factors that will impact how much energy a solar panel can generate, including available sunlight, the panel&#;s characteristics, where it&#;s installed, and its age. You can watch solar expert Ben Zientara break down how much electricity solar panels produce in this video:
Calculate how quickly solar panels on your home would pay for themselves
Most solar panels installed today have an output of 370 to 400 watts of power per hour in ideal conditions. Commercial and utility-scale solar installations use more powerful 500-watt solar panels. The output of a solar panel is often referred to as the solar panel&#;s size.
Here are the power ratings offered by the best solar panel brands on the market:
Brand
Model
Max. output
Qcells
Q.TRON BLK M-G2+ SERIES
430 W
Silfab Solar
SIL-430 QD
430 W
JA Solar
JAM54S30 LR
440 W
Jinko Solar
Eagle 54 G6R
440 W
Unfortunately, your roof isn&#;t a lab, so the solar panels will likely produce less power than they&#;re rated for in the real world. But solar systems are designed with this in mind, so they will produce the amount of power your home needs!
Time
1 day
1 week
1 month
1 year
Energy produced
2 kWh
14 kWh
60 kWh
730 kWh
Energy is the amount of power a solar panel produces over time. On average, a solar panel will generate about 2 kWh of energy each day.
One solar panel produces enough energy to run a few small appliances. To put it in perspective, energy generated by one panel in one day could run your TV for 24 straight hours!
Chances are you&#;re not going to install just one solar panel. Most homeowners install between 15 and 19 solar panels to cover their electricity needs. An average 6 kW solar installation will generate 915 kWh of electricity per month.
How much energy will solar panels generate on your roof?
We want to be totally honest with you: most of the time, solar panels won&#;t produce the maximum amount of energy possible. Solar panel specifications, like power output ratings, are determined by testing the panels in a laboratory under Standard Test Conditions.
Four main things will impact how much energy your solar panels will produce:
The amount of sunlight
Panel and system characteristics
Your roof
The panel&#;s age
The amount of sunlight that hits a solar panel is one of the biggest factors in how much electricity it will generate. The more sunlight available to the panel, the more electricity it can produce.
Solar panels installed in sunnier states will generate more electricity than those in more overcast areas. But, solar panels do still generate electricity in cloudy weather, just not as much!
We use peak sun hours to measure how much direct sunlight a location gets per day. Arizona, for example, receives 7.5 peak sun hours each day, while Alaska only gets 2.5. So, a 400-watt panel in Arizona can generate 3 kWh in a day versus just 1 kWh in Alaska.
The panel itself also affects how much energy it can produce. Solar panels are made up of solar cells, which are what actually turn sunlight into electricity.
There are different types of solar panels: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and thin-film. Monocrystalline are the most popular because they can generate electricity more efficiently than other types.
The physical size of the solar panel can impact its power generation, too. Solar panels are made up of solar cells. Most residential solar panels have between 60 and 66 cells, while most commercial panels have at least 72 cells. 72-cell panels have more cells, so there is more surface area to turn sunlight into electricity.
How the solar cell is constructed will make a difference, too. Solar panel efficiency has changed over time as new technologies have become commercially viable. Solar cells using PERC technology can generate more energy than traditional cells. There are also half-cut solar cells, where the solar cell is cut in half using a high-precision laser to decrease resistive losses, which increases how much energy the panel can make.
The characteristics of your roof are a major player in how much energy solar panels can produce for your home. The truth is not all roofs are good for solar. Solar panels should be installed on unshaded roofs and cleared of debris to maximize solar production.
The number one thing you need to consider is the direction of your roof. Solar panels produce the most energy installed on south-facing roofs.
Don&#;t worry; solar panels can be installed on roofs facing any direction. The panels will just generate less electricity because they get less sunlight.
The following table outlines how much electricity a solar panel will generate facing different directions if all other factors are the same:
Solar panel direction
Estimated output*
South
2 kWh
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit GECONA SOLAR.
East
1.7 kWh
West
1.7 kWh
North
1.4 kWh
*Assumes 400-watt solar panel and 5 peak sun hours
The panel&#;s age is often forgotten, but it&#;s important to remember that your solar panels won&#;t produce the same amount of energy for their whole life. As solar panels age, they lose a bit of their ability to generate power. You can think of it as any other electronic you have - your laptop probably doesn&#;t work as well as it did the day you bought it.
Solar panels, on average, degrade at a rate of about 0.5% per year. So, by the end of a panel&#;s typical 25-year warranty period, they usually operate at about 85% of what it was initially. Don&#;t worry &#; your solar panels will still generate enough electricity to help lower your utility bills.
See how much it would cost to power your home with solar panels
So, now that we&#;ve covered what impacts a solar panel&#;s ability to produce electricity, we can get into the good stuff - figuring out how much power solar panels will produce for your home.
We&#;ve already established that there are a number of factors that are going to impact how your solar panels generate electricity. So, for the sake of simplicity, we&#;re only going to take a couple of things into account for the below example, including:
The wattage of the panel
The peak sun hours in your area
All you need to do is multiply the wattage of your panel by the number of daily peak sun hours.
A homeowner installs a 400-watt solar panel and expects about four peak sun hours in a day. That means this panel would produce 1,600 watt-hours of electricity per day. Electricity is usually measured in kilowatt-hours, so you simply divide your 1,600 watt-hours by 1,000 to get 1.6 kilowatt-hours.
400 watts x 4 peak sun hours = 1,600 watt-hours per day 1,600 watt-hours /1,000 = 1.6 kWh per day 1.6 kWh x 30 days = 48 kWh per month 1.3 kWh x 365 days = 584 kWh per year
Bear in mind this is a simplified way of calculating how much electricity a solar panel produces. The actual amount will fluctuate daily, even hour by hour, based on all the factors mentioned earlier.
Get an accurate estimate of how much energy solar panels will produce on your roof
Now you know how much solar electricity you can expect one solar panel to produce and how much a whole system can, too.
But the best part is that installing solar does way more than just let you power your home with renewable energy - it helps you save money. By using the electricity generated by solar panels on your roof, you don&#;t have to take electricity from your utility, which means they don&#;t have to charge you.
Most of the time, you can install enough solar panels to cover all of your electricity costs. In fact, that 6 kW solar system we discussed earlier could save the average American homeowner around $130 a month!
But of course, this is just an estimate. Just like with how much electricity a panel produces, how much solar panels can save you depends on many factors. The easiest way to determine how much solar panels can save you is by using our solar panel savings calculator below. Not only will you get a free solar savings estimate, but you can also choose to get in contact with vetted local solar installers to start getting real solar quotes for your specific home.
Find trusted solar companies in your area for free quotes
In today&#;s market, the vast majority of solar panels produce between 250 and 400 watts of clean energy. On your solar installation quote, you might see a number like 245W, 300W or 345W next to the name of each panel. They all refer to a solar panel&#;s capacity, power output and wattage.
All solar panels are rated according to how much DC (direct current) power they produce when tested under standard conditions.
The output of a solar panel is expressed in units of watts (W) and represents the theoretical power production of the panel under ideal sunlight and temperature conditions. The wattage of a panel is calculated by multiplying volts x amps. Volts refer to the force of electricity and amperes (amps) determine how much energy is being used over time.
Most home solar panels have power output ratings ranging from 250 to 400 watts, with higher power ratings generally considered better than lower ones. Pricing in solar is usually expressed as dollars per watt ($/W) and the overall cost of your solar system depends on the total watts generated by those panels.
For instance, if you&#;re a California homeowner who gets 5 hours of direct sunlight per day, you could calculate your solar panel output like this:
5 hours x 290 watts (an example wattage of a premium solar panel) = 1,450 watts-hours, or roughly 1.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh)
So, the output for each solar panel in your array will be about 500-550 kWh of energy per year.
The amount of energy a solar panel can produce depends on two key factors: cell efficiency and solar panel size.
Let&#;s take a closer look at each one of these factors.
Today, most solar cells are made of silicon and can convert 20 percent or more of the sunlight that hits them into usable energy. This has led to solar panels that are able to generate more than 400 watts of power.
Higher efficiency = more energy produced. As a result, high-efficiency solar panels convert more of the sun&#;s energy into electricity to produce more power for your home.
To simplify, we can divide solar panels into two groups based on their size: 60-cell and 72-cell. Most 60-cell solar panels are roughly 5.4 feet tall by 3.25 feet wide and can generate 270 to 300 watts of electricity per panel.
On the other hand, 72-cell panels are larger than 60-cell panels because they have an extra row of cells. They&#;re able to produce an average of 350&#;400 watts. Because of their large size and weight, 72-cell panels are typically used on commercial solar projects, not on residential homes.
The efficiency of a solar panel and the number/size of its individual solar cells directly impact its rated power output.
In the real world however, other factors affect how much power a solar panel will actually produce:
Shading will produce less electricity from your solar panels. Though a solar panel&#;s wattage rating indicates the amount of energy it can produce when in full sunlight, other factors&#;such as shade from trees or buildings&#;can lower that output.
Your panel&#;s orientation can impact your solar panel&#;s output production, but a panel&#;s output rating doesn&#;t take this into account. Ideally, your panels should be positioned so that they face directly towards the sun. In reality, roof planes are rarely made at maximum efficiency angles.
Hours of sunlight refers to the amount of time during a day or year that your panels are exposed to the sun&#;s rays. More hours of sunlight for your solar panel means higher energy output.
In the above example, the solar panel produces 1.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, or about 45 kilowatt-hours per month. That&#;s enough energy to power a handful of small appliances. In order to produce enough energy to offset usage of your AC unit, refrigerator, cooking appliances, etc.&#;you&#;ll need more panels.
How Much Energy Will an Entire Solar Panel System Produce?
The amount of solar energy produced by a single panel is important, but it&#;s also necessary to know how much power you can generate on your roof. Let&#;s do the math:
Using the example above, let&#;s say you get an average of five hours of sunlight daily (this is an average amount for most California homeowners) and your solar panels are rated at 290 W. If you install 30 of those premium solar panels on your roof&#;which would be an 8.7 kW system&#;you could net an 8,700 watt, or 8.7 kW solar panel system.
When you multiply the five hours of direct sunlight estimated above by 8.7 kW, you get approximately 43.5 kWh of electricity produced daily. A final conversion will tell us how many kWh the solar panels produce in a year: multiply 43.5 by 365 days, and you get 15,800 kWh of electricity produced annually by 30 premium, 290 W panels. Since the average American family uses about 10,600 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, that would be more than enough energy to run your home on solar power. Again, that&#;s if your usage is within the 10,600 kilowatt hour average.
Power output is one of the most important measurements for your home or commercial solar energy system. Solar photovoltaic energy systems are typically priced by the amount of electricity they can produce (expressed in watts or kilowatts).
Solar panel wattage refers to a panels&#; ideal power production under perfect sunlight and temperature conditions. The wattage is calculated by multiplying volts x amps, where volts represent the force of electricity and amperes (amps) refer to how much energy that current draws.
For grid-tied systems, open-circuit voltage and the voltage of your system are less significant factors. For homeowners who want to go off-grid or install a home battery storage solution, it&#;s an important part of a PV system. The savings from your solar energy system come from the electricity it generates over time (expressed in kilowatt-hours).
It is important for consumers to consider the overall quality and performance of a solar panel, not just its power output.
Some panels have a higher power output rating because they are physically larger, rather than more efficient or technologically superior.
If two solar panels both have 15 percent efficiency ratings, but one has a power output rating of 250 watts and the other is rated at 300 watts, it means that the 300-watt panel is about 20 percent physically larger. This is why measuring a panel&#;s efficiency&#;as opposed to simply its capacity&#;better reflects how well it performs.
Practically speaking, a 5kW (kilowatt) solar panel system could consist of either 20 250-watt panels or 16 300-watt panels. Both systems will generate the same amount of power in the same location. While a 5kW system may produce 6,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year in Boston, that same system is expected to produce 8,000 kWh yearly in Los Angeles due to the amount of sun.
If you&#;re ready to save money and power your home with clean, reliable energy, contact us today for a free customized solar quote.
The company is the world’s best 550W Mono Solar Panels supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.