Solari Energy Sizing a PV System
Sizing A PV System
This is a frequent question that is raised by people concerned with installing a PV system. The answer to that depends on your goals. Is your goal to produce 50%, 75% or 100% of your electric needs through solar. Once you have that figure in mind the rest isn't to difficult. You will need a copy of your utility bills for the last year, each monthly bill will show you how many kilowatt hours you used each month, add up each month to get your usage for the entire year. Once you have this figure you can determine the size of the system you need in kilowatts by realizing that 1KW (kilowatt) of panels will produce around 1400 watt-hours per year. If the math seems daunting, we will be happy to do the math for you. Most people try to cover 50 to 70 percent of their utility bill, just remember you can always start small and add on as you need it, there are some things we can do to accommodate future expansion. If you are planning to go this route please let us know so we can plan for it.
Most of the time customers base their decisions more on budget. All you have to decide is how much you want to spend and we can determine from that what size system works best for you. Once you decide how large of a system you would like, all that remains is to analyze the site to see if it will support the size of the system. The maximum size of the system you can install on your home is controlled by several factors. The current rebate from Xcel only covers systems up to 10KW for residential homes. This makes systems larger that 10kw leap up quickly in price which is enough to discourage all but the most determined from going larger that 10kw for residential homes.
Other than the 10KW limit imposed by Xcel Energy, the main limit to a system size comes from the available area that is suitable for solar. All to often homeowners are limited in the size system they can install by available roof space or inconveniently places trees.
Contact Us Today To Start Generating Your Own Power
mike@esolari.com 303-465-3311
This is a frequent question that is raised by people concerned with installing a PV system. The answer to that depends on your goals. Is your goal to produce 50%, 75% or 100% of your electric needs through solar. Once you have that figure in mind the rest isn't to difficult. You will need a copy of your utility bills for the last year, each monthly bill will show you how many kilowatt hours you used each month, add up each month to get your usage for the entire year. Once you have this figure you can determine the size of the system you need in kilowatts by realizing that 1KW (kilowatt) of panels will produce around 1400 watt-hours per year. If the math seems daunting, we will be happy to do the math for you. Most people try to cover 50 to 70 percent of their utility bill, just remember you can always start small and add on as you need it, there are some things we can do to accommodate future expansion. If you are planning to go this route please let us know so we can plan for it.
Most of the time customers base their decisions more on budget. All you have to decide is how much you want to spend and we can determine from that what size system works best for you. Once you decide how large of a system you would like, all that remains is to analyze the site to see if it will support the size of the system. The maximum size of the system you can install on your home is controlled by several factors. The current rebate from Xcel only covers systems up to 10KW for residential homes. This makes systems larger that 10kw leap up quickly in price which is enough to discourage all but the most determined from going larger that 10kw for residential homes.
Other than the 10KW limit imposed by Xcel Energy, the main limit to a system size comes from the available area that is suitable for solar. All to often homeowners are limited in the size system they can install by available roof space or inconveniently places trees.
Contact Us Today To Start Generating Your Own Power
mike@esolari.com 303-465-3311
