How Much Electricity Does A Solar Panel Produce A Day, Month & Year?
When you plan to install the solar power system in your home or commercial space, an obvious, important & common question frequently peeks into your mind: how much electricity does a solar panel produce a day, month & year?
In today’s blog, I am going to answer all of these questions by showing you watt-hour charge load calculation in the very simplest way. And you don’t have be a solar expert to understand this calculation.
So let’s jump into the watt-hour charge load calculation of solar panels.
How much electricity does a solar panel produce a day:
If you are living in a sunny place like New South Wales or Victoria in Australia, you will easily get 12–14 hours of sunlight. Let’s consider, you will get an average of 11 hours of sunlight to power-up your solar panels. Also, consider we have a 300 watts solar panel.
Now we will get total watts from a single panel daily:
Total Watts = Average time of sunlight x Solar Panels watts x Number of Panels
= 11 x 300 x 1
= 3300 Watts Hour or 33KWH Daily
But there is a secret behind solar panel efficiency. A solar is a maximum of 15–22% efficient.
Now Calculate total watts from a single panel daily with 20% efficiency:
Total Watts with 20 % efficiency = 3300 watts x 20%
= 660 Watts Hour or 0.66KWH Daily
We know that 1 KWH= 1 Unit. Now we can say we will get 0.66 KWH or 0.66 Unit Daily from a single 300 watts solar panel by seeing the above calculation.
How much electricity does a solar panel produce a month?
If you are thinking of monthly output from a solar panel, you have to acknowledge that not every day you will get the same sunlight. Some days can be less sunny or cloudy. For this reason, let’s consider that you will get an average of 10 hours of sunlight to power-up your solar panels. Also, consider we have a 300 watts solar panel.
Now we will get total watts from a single panel monthly with 20% efficiency:
Monthly total Watts with 20 % efficiency = Average time of sunlight x Solar Panels watts x Days
= 10 x (300 x 20%) x 28
= 10 x 60 x 28
= 16800 Watts Hour or 16.8 KWH Monthly
Now, we can say that we will get 16.8 kWh or 16.8 Unit Monthly from a single 300 watts solar panel by seeing the above calculation.
But a common question in people’s minds is that How many solar panels I need for 1000 kWh per month. Let’s answer this question.
How many solar panels do I need for 1000 kWh per month?
Total Number of Solar Panel = Power we need monthly / Power we get from a single panel
= 1000 kWh / 16.8 kWh
= 59.22 or 60
You will need to install 60 solar panels for 1000 kWh monthly if you want to use the on-grid system and you do not want to take any power from your grid. If you want to take 50% power from your grid, you need to install 30 solar panels. Also, if you want to use the off-grid system, you need two 6.6 kWh with 43–45 solar panels.
How much electricity does a solar panel produce a year?:
If you want to know the near-accurate yearly electricity output from a solar panel, you need to calculate every month’s average solar electricity output and sum of them. Because every month has different timing of sunlight due to their weather and geographical locations. Most commonly from April to October is the winter season in Victoria. During this time, you can get a maximum of 8 hours of sunlight. Let’s suppose, we will get an average of 6 hours of sunlight to power-up our solar panel. Also, suppose, in the summer season, we will get an average of 11 hours of sunlight.
Now we will get total watts from a single panel yearly with 20% efficiency:
From a solar panel April to October we will get a total = 6 x (300 x 20%) x 28 x 7
= 70560 Watts or 70.56 kWh
From a solar panel November to March we will get a total = 11 x (300 x 20%) x 28 x 5
= 92400 Watts or 92.4 kWh
Total yearly output with 20% efficiency = (70.56 + 92.4) kWh
= 162.96 kWh
Now we can say we will get 162.96 kWh or 162.96 Units Yearly from a single 300 watts solar panel by seeing the above calculation.
