How Much Power Does A Solar Panel Produce?

How Much Power Does A Solar Panel Produce?

By Renogy marketing team
Renogy marketing team
renogys blog Dec 15th 2022

How Much Power Does A Solar Panel Produce?

Most people struggle to find the right combination of solar panels that will produce enough power for their needs. So if you find yourself stumped, you are not alone.

Selecting the right solar panels is not easy. You need to know some technical terms and calculations that can confuse even the best of us.

Luckily, this article will show you, step-by-step, how to do all the calculations. And by the end of the article, you should be able to follow the steps in our calculations to work out how much power any solar panel will produce.

Bookmark this page, so you can easily find it the next time you need it. Maybe you can even help your friends by sharing this page with them.

So without further ado, let’s begin.

In this article, we look at:

 

If you are interested in how do solar panels work in Canada, check out here.

How much power does a solar panel produce?

Two key factors affect how much power a solar panel will produce:

1. The amount of sunlight: This refers to the number of hours when the sun’s out and shining at its best. This period of high-intensity sunlight is often called the ‘peak sun hours.' For the best results, ensure that your solar panels will not fall under any shade as the sun travels across the sky.

2. The wattage of the solar panel: This is the power output of the solar panel when it’s tested under standard test conditions (STC). In reality, the power output of the panel will change throughout the day. So the following calculations are nothing but an estimate to guide us through solar sizing and installation.

Let’s suppose you have a 150W solar panel and your region gets about 5 peak sun hours each day.

Here’s a step-by-step demonstration of how you should go about finding the amount of power that a 150W solar panel will produce in a day, month, and year.

Step 1: Calculating the power produced by a solar panel in a day

To calculate how much electricity or power your panel will produce in your area, you must multiply the wattage (power output) of the panel by the number of peak sun hours in your region.

The result, measured in Watt-hours(Wh), is an estimate of the amount of power generated by your panel daily.

Power produced in a day = Wattage of the panel * Peak sun hours

Power produced in a day = 150W * 5 hours = 750Wh

Daily Power Produced by a 150W panel = 750Wh

You can use the above formula to calculate any panel’s daily power output. Simply replace ‘150W’ with the wattage of your panel and ‘5 hours’ with the number of peak sun hours in your area. You can use this link with a chart of the peak sun hours for different Canadian regions.

Step 2: Calculating the power produced by a solar panel in a month

To find the monthly power produced by a panel, we multiply the panel’s daily power production by the number of days in a month.

Power produced in a month = Daily Power * Number of days in a month

Power produced in a month = 750Wh * 30 days = 22500Wh = 22.5kWh.

Monthly Power Produced by a 150W panel = 22500Wh = 22.5kWh

NOTE

When an answer is a big number, we divide it by 1000 and add a ‘k’ to the result. For example, if the result is 10000Wh, we divide 10000Wh by 1000 to get 10kWh. This process helps make large numbers manageable.

We can divide an even larger number with 1,000,000 and add an ‘M’ for the same reason, e.g., 1000000Wh = 1MWh.

Step 3: Calculating the power produced by a solar panel in a year

There are two ways to find the amount of power a solar panel will produce in a year.

The first method multiplies the panel’s daily power with the number of days in a year. The second method multiplies the panel’s monthly power with the number of months in a year.

We are going to use the first method since it produces a more accurate estimate.

Power produced in a year = Daily Power * Number of days in a year

Power produced in a year = 750Wh * 365 days = 273750Wh = 273.75kWh.

 

Annual Power Produced by a 150W panel = 273750Wh

How much power does a 100w solar panel produce?

To find out how much power a 100 watt solar panel will produce in a day, month, or year, we use the same steps in the example above:

● Step 1: Calculate the power produced by a solar panel each day.

● Step 2: Calculate the power produced by a solar panel each month.

● Step 3: Calculate the power produced by a solar panel each year.

You use these same steps to calculate any panel’s power production.

The only changes we are going to make are substituting ‘150W’ with ‘100W’. We will keep using the same 5 peak sun hours.

Daily Power Produced by a 100Wpanel= 100W * 5 hours = 500Wh

Monthly Power Produced by a 100Wpanel= 500Wh * 30 days = 15000Wh

Annual Power Produced by a 100W panel = 500Wh * 365 days = 182500Wh = 182.5kWh.

Therefore, a 100W panel will generate 500Wh of daily power, 15000Wh of monthly power, and 182500Wh of yearly power.

 

The Canada Energy Regulator says t he average household uses 900kWh of power each month. This roughly translates to an annual power usage of 11000kWh and a daily power usage of 30kWh or 30000Wh.

Using these figures, if you want to power an average home using 100W solar panels, you need at least sixty 100W panels.

PRO TIP!

Once you know the monthly or yearly power produced by the panel, you can find out how many solar panels you would need to completely power your house and break away from the grid. How? By dividing the number of watt-hours on your utility bill by the number of watt-hours produced by the panel.

Number of Panels = Utility Bill Usage / Panel Production

How much power does a 300 watt solar panel produce?

By now you should be familiar with the steps involved when calculating the power produced by a solar panel.

We are going to repeat the same procedure we did for the 100W panel for the 300W panel.

Daily Power Produced by a 300W panel = 300W * 5 hours = 1500Wh

Monthly Power Produced by a 300W panel= 1500Wh * 30 days = 45000Wh

Annual Power Produced by a 300W panel = 1500Wh * 365 days = 547500Wh = 547.5kWh.

 

In an area with 5 peak sun hours, a 300W solar panel will produce 1500Wh of power each day, 45000Wh each month, and 547500Wh each year.

If we divide the average energy used by a household (11000kWh per year, 900kWh per month, and 30000Wh per day) by the above figures. You need at least twenty 300W solar panels to completely power a home using solar energy.

How much power does a 400 watt solar panel produce?

We will once again repeat the same process we did for the 100W and 300W panels for the 400 watt panel. We will use 5 peak sun hours during all our calculations.

Daily Power Produced by a 400W panel = 400W * 5 hours = 2000Wh

 

Monthly Power Produced by a 400W panel= 2000Wh * 30 days = 60000Wh

Annual Power Produced by a 400W panel = 2000Wh * 365 days = 730000Wh = 730kWh.

Therefore, a 400 watt panel will generate 2000Wh of daily power, 60000Wh of monthly power, and 730000Wh each year. Accordingly, you would need a minimum of 15 (fifteen) 400W solar panels to power an average household.

How much power do solar panels produce?

Now you know how to calculate the amount of power produced by any solar panel. But it’s unlikely you will use only one solar panel. So how do you calculate the amount of power produced by many solar panels?

The calculations for many panels are kind of similar to the calculations we did for a single solar panel. We follow the same three stepsexcept this time we multiply the panel's daily power by the number of panels in the system.

Let’s show you what we mean.

Suppose we have eight 150W solar panels and we get 5 peak sun hours, here’s how you calculate the amount of power produced:

Step 1: Calculating the power produced by solar panels in a day

As previously mentioned, the only difference between the power calculations for a single solar panel and many solar panels is the inclusion of the number of solar panels during the calculation of the daily power like this:

Power produced in a day = Panel Wattage * Peak sun hours * Number of Panels

Power produced in a day = 150W * 5 hours * 8 panels = 6000Wh = 6kWh

Daily Power Produced by eight 150W panels = 6000Wh

Step 2: Calculating the power produced by solar panels in a month

After finding the daily power for several panels, the following stages are similar to the ones before.

Power produced in a month = Daily Power * Number of days in a month

Power produced in a month = 6000Wh * 30 days = 180000Wh = 180kWh.

Monthly Power Produced by eight 150W panels = 180000Wh

Step 3: Calculating the power produced by several solar panels in a year

Power produced in a year = Daily Power * Number of days in a year

Power produced in a year = 6000Wh * 365 days = 2190000Wh = 2190kWh = 2,19MWh

Annual Power Produced by eight 150W panels = 2190000Wh

Eight 150W solar panels will produce 6000Wh of power daily, 180000Wh monthly, and 2190000Wh annually.

 

By now, you should be able to calculate the amount of power produced by any number or type of solar panels. However, if you want to put your skills to the test, calculate the daily, monthly, and yearly power produced by seven 320W solar panels at 4 peak sun hours.

Congratulations, If you got 8960Wh as the daily power produced, 268800Wh as the monthly power, and 3171840Wh as the annual power. If not, don’t sweat it, you can either revisit the above material or use the tool we will introduce in the last section.

Average energy produced by solar panels

The most common panels on the market today are 100W, 200W, 300W, and 400W. If we take an average of all these common solar panel power wattages, we get an average power output of 250W.

After calculations, we also find that five (5) is the average peak sun hours.

Let’s use the average panel wattage and peak sun hours to determine the average energy or power produced by solar panels.

Therefore, the average daily energy produced by a solar panel is 1250Wh, the average monthly energy is 37500Wh and the average annual energy produced by solar panels is 456250Wh.

The range of daily power produced by solar panels in a range of 100W to 400W is 500Wh to 2000Wh.

Solar Panel Calculator Canada

We prepared a nice table for you that you can use to find the amount of power produced by a solar panel and how many solar panels you would need to power an average household that’s off the grid.

We’ve got other good news for you. You actually don’t have to manually compute how much power any solar panel will produce. You can use our online solar calculator to find out how much energy a panel will produce and lots of other things, like the most suitable inverter for your solar installation and more.

So if you still have problems with the calculations or need an easier solution, we highly recommend you try out our solar panel calculator that’s super simple, quick, and easy to use.

Once you’ve everything prepared and ready to invest in a solar panel system for your property, check out Renogy store and you will find everything needed.

Related article:

https://ca.renogy.com/blog/exploring-the-advent-of-solar-panels-in-ontario/

https://ca.renogy.com/blog/solar-panels-for-home-are-solar-panels-worth-it-in-canada/

https://ca.renogy.com/blog/how-to-make-a-solar-panel-in-canada-and-abroad/

https://ca.renogy.com/blog/should-i-add-solar-panels-to-my-rv/

https://ca.renogy.com/blog/will-my-solar-installation-work-during-a-power-outage/

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