I am trying to work out how many solar panels I require to power my shed and am unsure how to work it out.
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Hi there,
I actually covered this subject in depth to allow people to grasp the concept of powering a building (Off-Grid)
Hope you enjoy the information.
You need to work out first how much power you will need in your shed. So add up the power ratings on all the appliances you will want on together. Including lights, heating, tools etc. You wont need everything on at once so look to decide you maximum power requirement.
Next you need to set an amount of hours per day you will want to run the power. So power (in KW- 1000 watts) X hours per day = total KW/H needed. That tells you what you need.
You will need to know the power rating for your solar panels i.e 50W and multiply that by the average hours of daily sunlight for your area. i.e. (50W X 4hrs Sun)/1000 = panel KW/H. Remember sunlight hours can dramatically vary depending on winter/summer so make sensible allowance for your needs in estimating the daily hours of sun.
Finally all you need to do is divide the KW/H needed by the solar panel KW/H to get the number of panels you need. i.e. NEED 2KW/H by PANEL 0.2KW/H = 10 solar panels.
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Firs you must know how many kWhr/day do you plan on using in the shed.
This info can be found on your power bill, or by multiplying each power device’s Watts x Hours of use per day, then dividing by 1000 to get kWhr. The sum of all the devices kWhr/day is your useage.
(ex. 800W device x 2hr/day /1000 = 1.6kWhr/day + 900W device x 6hr/day /1000 = 5.4kWhr/day = 7kWhr/day)
Take your usage and divide by 5 sun hrs /day. This the annual average in the mid latitude united states. Latitude: 43.6
(ex 7kWhr/day / 5hr/day = 1.4kW)
The number you get is the solar panel array size that is required to meet you demand.
Since the calculation is base on an average, this array size will work when grid tied. However, if you are off grid you will require batteries and twice as many panels. (ex 1.4kW x 2 = 2.8kW)
Hope that helps!
For more information:
http://www.aurorapower.net/alternative-energy/solar-electric.aspx