How many solar panels do you need to power a house?

The goal for any solar project should be 100% electricity offset and maximum savings — not necessarily to cram as many panels on a roof as possible. So, the number of panels you need to power a house varies based on three main factors: In this article, we’ll show you how to manually calculate how many panels you’ll need to power your home.

How many kW solar panels do I Need?

As we calculated earlier, the California household needs a 7.2 kW system to cover its electricity needs. A comparable household in Massachusetts needs a 9.9 kW system. So, in less sunny areas like Massachusetts, you might consider choosing highly efficient solar panels to maximize your energy output per square foot.

How much power does a solar panel use?

Solar panel power ratings range from 250W to 450W. Based on solar.com sales data, 400W is the most popular power rating and provides a great balance of output and Price Per Watt (PPW). If you have limited roof space, you may consider a higher power rating to use fewer panels. If you want to spend less per panel, you may consider a lower wattage.

Do you need more solar panels?

For instance, a household using 900 kWh per month with an average of five peak sunlight hours per day would need a larger solar setup than a home that only consumes 400 kWh monthly. The more energy your household consumes, the more solar power you’ll need to generate, which means the installation of more solar panels.

How many solar panels are in a solar system?

Plugging our numbers in from above, we get: Number of panels = 10,791 kWh / 1.1 or 1.7 / 450 W which gives us between 15 and 22 panels in a solar panel system, depending on which production ratio we use (15 for a 1.7 ratio and 22 for a 1.1 ratio).

How many kilowatts of solar power does a house use?

The size of a house plays a major role in knowing how many kilowatts of solar power your panels will consume. A 1,500-square-foot home would use an estimate of 630 kWh, whereas a 3,000-square-foot house would consume 1,200 kWh per month, twice as much. The national average for solar panels costs around $16,000.