The Home Solar Panel Guide
So What are Solar Panels?
Solar PV (photovoltaic) uses the suns energy to produce electricity which can run lighting and electrical appliances. It requires only daylight, to produce electricity and so can still generate some power on a cloudy day. PV cells are referred to in terms of the amount of energy they generate in full sunlight; known as kilowatt peak or kWp.
Is it suitable for my home?
It's best to use a solar PV system with a roof that faces within 90 degrees of south, as long as no other buildings or trees overshadow it.
If some or all of the PV surface is in shadow for some of the day then your output would decrease. The panels are quite heavy so you must make sure your roof can support this weight.
The panels are called arrays, which come in a variety of colours and shapes, you can get grey solar tiles that do indeed look like roof tiles, or even transparent ones that can be used on conservatories.
Remember you may require planning permission to allow you to install the PV system, always check out if this is needed first.
How much Solar Energy can be captured?
You would need a large amount of land to install enough solar panel arrays to power your whole home
But you can power a room in your house with a small array of panels attached to the roof of your building.
By Multiply the wattage of each electrical device you have, by the number of hours on average you would use them each day.
That number will be your benchmark (the minimum wattage your system must be able to generate).
Costs and savings of a home solar panel system
The cost of a PV System can vary depending on the size of the system, also the type of PV Cell used and the difficulty of installing it on a building, the more electricity needed to be produced the bigger the size of the system.
Prices for PV systems vary depending on the size of the system to be installed, type of PV cell used and the nature of the actual building on which the PV is mounted.
The size of the system is dictated by the amount of electricity required. For the average domestic system, costs can be around 4,000- 9,000/ $2000 - $4500 per kWp installed with most domestic systems usually between 2 and 2.5 kWp.
Solar tiles cost more than conventional panels and panels that are integrated into a roof are more expensive than those that sit on top.
for more information please visit www.thesolarpanelguide.com
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