The national average cost of a solar panel is around 2 98 watt.
Average kwh per square foot solar panel.
Ft so most homeowners will have more than enough room for solar panels.
The amount of energy your home uses over a certain timeframe say a month is measured in kilowatt hours kwh.
That translates to just over 15 watts per square foot.
But at 20 watts per square foot a system rated to produce 2 kilowatts would cover roughly 150 square feet while a 3kw system would take up about 225 square feet.
In order to find a range for number of solar panels we compared arizona and maine s solar panel production ratios 1 31 and 1 61 the highest and lowest in the u s.
How many solar panels are needed to power an average house.
However most installers estimate solar costs by the amount of energy needed at 2 53 to 3 15 per watt before any tax credits or incentives.
Given 1kw of panels produces 1642 kwh per year in ca and 1kw of panels takes up 68 42 square feet solar panels installed in california on average produce 23 99 kwh kilowatt hours per square foot per year.
You can use the table of solar power production per kw for each state above to do the same math for your state.
A typical american home will need 14 36 solar panels to cover their power bill and at least 227 square feet of rooftop space to accommodate the solar panels.
The cost of solar panels to power your house are 4 to 10 per square foot.
Said differently the average american household consumes just under 11 000 kwh per year.
And the average solar power system needed is a 5 kilowatt system.
5 hours x 290 watts an example wattage of a premium solar panel 1 450 watts hours or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours kwh.
For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way.
On average a normal household will use around 37 kwh per day.
This size of solar panel layout will only take about 350 400 sq.
So if you have solar panels that each produce 1 kwh of power per day you would need a full 37 solar panels to fully power your home.
Sizing a solar panel system to your home s electric usage can be done by taking look at your energy bills over a year.
Below are cost estimates based on home size.