Enough Solar Panels To Power The World

Put another way this is the equivalent of a solar power plant that covers 115 625 square miles.

Enough solar panels to power the world.

The earth s current energy consumption rate is around 13 5 tw at any given moment including oil gas coal nuclear and hydroelectric. Solar additions last year. The current standard size of panels used in a large sized solar plant is easily over 350w. We receive a staggering 1 74 1017 watts of energy from it.

Assuming this power rating we would need to divide 2 75 tw by 350w which gives us the gigantic number of 7 85 billion 7 857 142 857 to be precise panels required. Here we are supposing a panel size of 350w for the calculated size of 18tw of solar plants. Now if we cover an area of the earth 335 kilometers by 335 kilometers with solar panels even with moderate efficiencies achievable easily today it will provide more than 17 4 tw power. It has been estimated that given current solar panel efficiency rates of about 20 it would take us covering a landmass area the size of spain with solar panels in order to power the world in.

A total of 51 42 billion solar panels would be needed to power the entire world on solar energy. Map courtesy of google maps. How do we arrive at this number. It would take 51 4 billion 350w solar panels to power the world.

For the first time ever solar and wind made up the majority of the world s new power generation marking a seismic shift in how nations get their electricity. The yellow square is approximately 21 000 square miles. By another measure the unpopulated area of the sahara desert is over 9 million km which if covered with solar panels would provide 630 terawatts total power.