How to Calculate the Cost of Solar Panels for Your Home
With the rising cost of energy, many people are looking to alternative sources of power, such as electric cars. You also have options when it comes to providing power for your home. One of those options is solar power. The initial cost of installing a solar system can be very expensive, but it eventually pays for itself over time. Calculate your initial cost to see if it would benefit you before considering a switch to solar power. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Calculate the average amount of electricity used each day. Look at copies of your electric bill for the past 12 months. Add up the total number of kilowatt-hours used in the past year and divide the number by 12. Take that number and divide it by 30 to get your average requirements per day.
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Divide your average Kwh per day by the number of available daytime hours available to use the sun. For example, divide the daily average by 5.5 hours of sun. Multiply that number by 1.5 for waste in the wiring and other components and you will get the total number of watts needed each day or the minimum capacity solar panels must produce.
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Multiply the total required wattage per day by the cost of solar panels. This total changes frequently. To arrive at the total watts needed, use this example calculation, 1,000 kWh per month divided by 30 gives you 33.33 kWh per day. Divide the daily average by number of sunlight hours and multiply by 1.5 to get total watts needed per day. Take the 33.33 divided by 5.5 times 1.5 = 9.09 kW or 9,900 watts needed each day. At the time of publication, installing an 80-watt panel shows a cost of $2 per watt. Multiply 9,900 watts times the cost per watt with the total cost being $19,800.
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Check with the Department of Energy to see what the current tax credits are on installing alternative sources of energy, or check with local incentives in your state.
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References
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