For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way.
Energy to produce a solar panel.
It takes energy.
Although pennsylvania ranks low nationally in terms of both sunny days per year and hours of peak sunlight per day the state s solar policies continue to make going solar in state a.
A common size solar panel array is usually around 5kw and takes up around 400 square feet of space.
To put that into perspective a typical household uses about 897 kwh per month.
Not just the panels that make solar energy but the turbines and power stations and gas pipelines and railroads and railcars that make dirty energy they all take energy to make.
A common size solar panel array is usually around 5kw and takes up around 400 square feet of space.
An array of this size can produce an average of 350 850 kwh of ac energy per month.
Aside from the power output of the solar equipment you choose to install the amount of energy you generate with solar panels in pennsylvania is directly related to the amount of sunlight that hits your panels.
In 2018 pennsylvania has over 354 megawatts of solar power generation installed at nearly 19 000 homes farms and businesses and nearly 5 000 people employed in the solar energy field.
After reviewing several websites with very alarmist data i started looking around some more and found two great resources.
That energy that went into making the panels is called embodied energy.
The solar industry is growing at an unprecedented rate providing emissions free power opportunities for all sectors.
Furthermore you have to think about the energy debt involved in acquiring raw materials and converting them into the parts used to make solar panels.
An array of this size can produce an average of 350 850 kwh of ac energy per month.
Solar panels no longer require more energy to produce than they produce on their own.
That all these 50 ton coal trucks these railroads these coal hauling railroad cars these coal power stations these turbines that turn coal into electricity are all somehow built by fairies.
5 hours x 290 watts an example wattage of a premium solar panel 1 450 watts hours or roughly 1 5 kilowatt hours kwh.
Therefore it is very possible to generate enough energy to cover 100 of your needs.
That can add up fast and a lot of solar plants are using fuels like coal to generate the energy they need for activities like melting silicon.
And it takes energy to make them.
How much energy does a solar panel produce.
Recently a customer of ours raised the concern that he had heard.