In order to calculate how many solar panels your home will need, you must first be clear about what your goals are. For example:
- Are you looking to maximise your return on investment?
- Minimise your carbon footprint?
- Save as much money as possible?
In general, users want to save money by minimising their environmental impact.
The number of solar panels for your home depends on some technical factors related to the installation such as the size of the house, installation site, geographical location and also other factors related to energy consumption.
Let’s start with this practical guide to find out how many solar panels you need on your roof.
How big should your solar installation be?
If you want to know an estimate, think about these three factors:
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Your electricity consumption
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The money you are willing to invest
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The size of the roof (or installation area).
In addition, you should consider whether you want solar energy to meet all your electricity needs or only part of them.
How do you know how many solar panels you need?
In order to effectively calculate the number of photovoltaic panels, it is best to calculate the daily energy consumption and, at the same time, differentiate the hours of consumption. In this way, you can find out whether the consumption occurs during the hours of highest or lowest available solar radiation.The good news is that you don’t have to do all the calculations, we do it for you!
The easiest way to find out how many solar panels you need to power your home is a self-consumption tool. It also lets you know how much you can save each month on your electricity bill.
So what do you need to consider to determine how many solar panels you need?
Pay attention and don’t forget the following factors to determine the number of modules needed for your roof:
- Power: this is calculated by multiplying the number of solar panels by their power.
- Location: this is a determining factor in energy production and, although the ideal is usually south-facing in Spain, factors such as the inclination of the panels must be taken into account.
- Available space: it is important to take into account the number of panels that you will be able to place on your roof or elsewhere in your home.
- Consumption of the house: the kWh/day consumption must be calculated where the solar panels are located. It is essential to be clear about when the peaks occur.
- Check the solar radiation received: we do it ourselves, but check it if you are curious. You can obtain this information in the PVGIS(Photovoltaic Geographical Information System) application.
Need a practical example to calculate how many solar panels you need on your roof?
To get a rough idea of how many solar panels you need for your home, you can perform the following calculations:
- Obtain the Wh/day of consumption that your home will require. You can do this by entering the devices in a table, with the hours of consumption and the amount of energy consumed.
- Imagine that the data is for a weekend house, which demands a total daily energy demand of about 1,2000 kW/day.
- Obtain the solar radiation of the area from PVGIS(Photovoltaic Geographical Information System).
And how much will you be able to save?
As an example, in the case of a 3kW installation, your savings will depend on the energy produced by your solar panels and the energy consumption of your home. In Spain, depending on the region, the production of 3kW in solar panels would be as follows:
- Northern Spain (with about 1,300-1,400 HSP approx): a production of about 4,200 kWh/year.
- Central Spain (with approx. 1,500-1,600 HSP): a production of approx. 4,800 kWh/year.
- Southern Spain (with approx. 1,700-1,800 HSP): a production of approx. 5,400 kWh/year.
Look.
Here is an example of SolarMente customers who are already saving with solar panels in their homes, so that you can get an idea and apply it to your own case:
Do you need technical advice to calculate the amount of solar panels you need on your roof?
We will take care of everything for you. Feel free to call our Solar Coach Rafael directly on 611 436 604. His only job is to help families to become sustainable by opting for solar energy and to make the most of it. You will discover how easy the process is!
How can SolarMente help you with the installation of solar panels on your roof?
As we mentioned, at SolarMente we take care of the entire installation of your solar kit.
We provide you with the service you need and take care of all the paperwork so that you can enjoy self-consumption of energy through solar energy in your home. You will be in the hands of our team of experts in solar processing at all times!In addition, through our monitoring app installed on your mobile phone, you will have access to your energy consumption and the savings that your solar panels are generating.
