SOLAR POWER PANELS
The solar energy panels have different power output, here you can analyze the different powers of the solar energy panels
SOLAR POWER PANELS
All about the power of solar panels
Do you also think about peak wattage? Do not? We are But we are also very excited about solar energy.
Power is an important concept when talking about solar panels. Indicates how much energy a solar panel can produce per unit of time. Super useful to know it of course! Unfortunately, the actual power of a solar panel does not completely match the power found in the panel. How is that possible? Read all the details about the power of solar panels on this page.
Are you curious to know how you can do an indicative calculation of the performance of a solar panel based on energy? Or which power inverter fits your solar panels? We are also pleased to help you with this on this page.
How much energy do solar panels deliver?
The capacity of the solar panels is specified by the manufacturer of the solar panel in Watt peak (Wp).
This is the capacity that a solar panel can offer in ideal test conditions.
In real life, these conditions do not occur and the solar panel has a power lower than the amount of Wp indicated by the manufacturer. The most common standard format panels generally have maximum capacities between 270 and 320 Wp.
There are also high efficiency panels on the market with a maximum power of around 360 Wp, but often fall in a different price range.
Calculate the power of the solar panels.
If you know the capacity of a solar panel in Wp, you can easily convert it to kWh using a conversion factor. This conversion factor is based on the number of hours of sunlight and the intensity of the light. In the Netherlands, the conversion factor is 0.85.
So, if you have a panel with a capacity of 300 Wp, the expected yield is 300 x 0.85 = 255 kWh per year. In Dutch coastal areas, a conversion factor of 0.90 is also calculated, because the number of sunshine hours is higher than in the rest of the Netherlands. Do you want to know how much power you need? Then see our page on how many solar panels .
Power of solar panels per m2.
A 300 Wp solar panel provides around 182 Wp per square meter. If you multiply this by the conversion factor of 0.85, there is a yield of 156 kWh per year per square meter. Do you have a roof with little roof area suitable for solar panels?
Then it may be worth going for solar panels with the greatest power. These solar panels give the highest performance in kWh per square meter. These are not necessarily the solar panels with the highest yield per euro, but the panels with which you can make the best use of your roof.
Average decrease in the capacity of solar panels per year.
Solar panels wear out during their useful life. As a result, the power is slowly decreasing, on average by 0.7% per year. Therefore, an older solar panel works a little less than a new solar panel.
Manufacturers generally offer a guarantee of energy by which they guarantee that a solar panel still has some energy after an x number of years. A normal capital guarantee is 80-85% of the original capital after 25 years.
Which power inverter fits my solar panels?
Solar panels convert sunlight into direct current. Without an inverter, the devices in your home, which work with alternating current, can not use this energy.
The DC power can not be fed back into the network either. An investor is an essential part of any solar system.
The energy inverter you need depends on the maximum expected power of the solar panels on your roof. With an inverter capacity of approximately 85 to 110% of the maximum power of the solar panels, the highest performance and the longest lifetime of the inverter will be achieved.
An installer can choose over or under the dimension of an inverter. In the Netherlands, people in general are poorly sized. This means that the inverter has a smaller capacity than solar panels. There are many reasons for this:
- In the Netherlands, solar panels rarely reach their maximum capacity. Solar panels reach an average of 85% of their maximum capacity. Therefore, it is not necessary to buy an inverter that has as much or more energy than solar panels.
- An inverter works more efficiently when it is heavily loaded. This is faster in the case of an inverter with a lower power. In the end, insufficient sizing produces greater performance.
- Smaller inverters have a lower starting voltage and start faster.
- A smaller investor is cheaper to buy than an investor with a larger capacity.
You do not have to worry about the inverter breaking down if the solar panels produce much more energy than the inverter can handle. An inverter determines what the maximum power is. The inverter adjusts the voltage and current so that the power of the solar panels never exceeds the maximum power of the inverter itself.
