Austin Solar Panels-Cost And Size
In this article we will go through the process of determining the size and cost of a photovoltaic (PV) system for a home located in Austin, Texas. The same method can be used in other locations with minimal adjustments.
A professional evaluation is needed to get an accurate estimate of the size and cost required but this is a good starting point.
Most utility companies use the kilo watt hour (kWh) as the unit of billing for electricity. An appliance rated at 1000 watts (1 kilo watt) will consume 1 kWh when operated for one hour.
There are a number of things that influence what size PV system you will require and therefore the cost of the system. Location, electric consumption, shading, and the direction of the panels will all need to be considered when you size your system.
It is necessary for you to determine your average daily electricity consumption. You can do this from your utility bill. Normally, you are charged per kWh consumed per billing cycle. The billing cycle is generally one month. Divide the total kWh used during the cycle by the number of days in the cycle to get the average kWh use per day. You should do this for 12 or preferably more cycles and find the average. In the US, the average daily residential usage is around 34 kWh per day. You can find estimates online if you do not have your own data.
Then you will decide how much of your current usage you will be replacing with solar generated electric. In the case of the example above, if we choose to replace 50%, we will need to generate, on average 15.37 kWh/day (30.74 kWh x 0.5).
PV systems are measured in generating capacity in watts or kilowatts and not by square feet. A 1 kW system will produce 1 kW of DC electricity with one hour of direct sunlight (if all parameters are ideal). The DC electric must be converted to AC electricity to be used in your home. This process results in a total power loss of 7-10 percent. Therefore a 1 kW system will actually produce around 900 watt hours (0.9 kWh)per hour of sunlight, of AC electricity.
The next piece of information need is the average daily hours of direct sunlight in your area. Austin, Texas receive an average of 5.4 hours of direct sun daily. Therefore you can expect a 1 kW PV system to produce 4.86 kWh daily (5.4 X 0.9 =4.86). In our example we want to generate 15 kWh per day. We divide 15 by 4.86 and get 3.09. Therefore we will need approximately a 3 kW PV system to generate 15 kWh per day.
In the US, the current average for an installed PV system is about $10,000 pew kW of system. We multiply our 3 kW of system times 10,000 and see that our 3 kW system will be about $30,000 installed. That is a considerable amount but the good news is that there are significant tax credits and rebates to off set this cost. Also, PV panels are continuing to become more affordable as more are produced more efficiently.
You can receive free reports detailing tax credits and rebates by going to http://austin-solar-panels.com. There is also a solar calculator that will easily perform all the above calculation for you.
Visit Austin Solar Solutions and you can receive answers to FAQ’s, Federal tax credit reports, a solar calculator and more.
