How Many Solar Panels Do I Need?

How Many Solar Panels Do I Need?

The average Residential solar array in California is approx 6kW (6000 Watts)- or 19X320 watt solar panels.

The solar array that we recommend will depend on the amount of electricity that each household or business uses per year. We can see from a recent utility bill the approx annual consumption, and based on that, we can make a solid recommendation on how many solar panels are needed to zero out the electrical draw from a utility, like SDGE, or SCE.

How Much Power Do You Need?

We start by looking at how many kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity your household uses in a year. You can find your last 12 months of energy consumption on your SDGE bill. One kWh is 1,000 watts of power being used in the period of an hour. So, if you have 20 lights in your home and they all use 50-watt bulbs, having every light on in your house for one hour would use up one kWh of electricity. In 2018, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,972 kilowatt hours (kWh), an average of about 914 kWh per month. (This seems high to me and I think we can delete this sentence)

Also, the number of panels you need for your house depends on orientation and tilt, and we calculate in all these factors before we send a quote. The amount of power (kWh) your solar energy system produces will depend on how much sunlight exposure (solar irradiance) the roof of your house or business receives. In California, we are fortunate to live where there is an abundance of sun, so going solar really makes sense.

Does It Matter Which Direction My Roof Faces?

While the angle of your solar panels is important, a more important factor in your energy production is going to be the direction your panels face. For the best results, solar panels should be oriented towards the south. Solar panels facing South will produce slightly more power than solar panels facing other directions. However, only 10-15% more than panels facing east or west and so it is still fine to have panels facing other directions.