Find a Solar Panel Installer you can trust in Clacton-on-sea.

How much energy a solar panel produces depends on its manufacturer and exposure to the sun. A good-quality solar panel typically has a power output of about 300 watts per hour, but this can vary from about 240 to 360 watts. How much energy your solar panel will produce per day depends on how many hours of unshaded daylight it’s exposed to.

Here’s an idea of how much energy you could expect a large commercial solar panel installation to produce in a year.

Solar panel system size, No. of solar panels, Annual electricity output

11kW, 44, 9,350kW

20kW, 80, 17,000kW

30kW, 120, 25,500kW

40kW, 160, 34,000kW

50kW, 200, 42,500kW

The lifetime of a solar panel depends on its quality and age. Generally, the older a solar panel gets, the less efficient it becomes. The majority of modern solar panels come with 20-30 year warranties, which means that they’ll stay at a good efficiency level for at least this long. Some panels can stay efficient for as long as 40 years, while others won’t last this long.

It’s vital to purchase a solar panel system that suits your property. If you’re investing in a solar panel system, it makes the most financial sense to get the biggest one possible. However, whether you can do this or not depends on budget and space.

Here’s an idea of how much roof or ground space you’ll need to install a few different sizes of commercial solar panel system.

Solar panel system size, No. of solar panels, Approximate area required

11kW, 44, 64m²

20kW, 80, 116m²

30kW, 120, 173m²

40kW, 160, 231m²

50kW, 200, 288m²

It’s important to get the right size solar panel system for your commercial property. Solar panels are usually installed on pitched roofs, although they can be fitted on stands on the ground if you have some unused outdoor space. The more panels you install, the more power you’ll generate, but there’s no point buying more panels than you have space for.

Solar panel system sizes are measured in kW. 4-10kW solar panel systems are usually too big for domestic properties but are ideal for smaller commercial properties. Here’s an idea of how many panels and space you’ll need for a few different system sizes:

System size, Number of panels, Area required (approximate)

4kW, 16, 23m²

6kW, 24, 35m²

8kW, 32, 46m²

10kw, 40, 58m²

Bear in mind that solar panels can’t be less than 30cm away from a roof edge, so you’ll need more space than the area that the panels take up.

Obviously the performance of a solar thermal system will vary depending on the location of the home, the insulation of the property, and your own hot water requirements. Solar thermal panels are capable of providing all of your hot water requirements from April to September. They will still make a contribution to your hot water needs for the rest of the year, but in general you will need a backup system to further heat the water in the colder months.

Are you thinking of installing solar thermal systems in your home or property and wondering exactly how it works to generate electricity? Regardless of your motive, in this article you’ll learn in simple details how solar thermal is how solar thermal doesn't provide electricity for your home.

If you are looking to generate electricity for your home then Solar PV are able to generate electricity simply by absorbing and focusing sunlight in such a way to create a temperature level that’s high enough to generate the much needed electricity. There are two main components that comes with the solar energy collectors of each. These two components include, the reflectors ( mirrors), which works to absorb and concentrate the sunlight onto a receiver. In several types of the solar thermal power systems, a heat transfer fluid is then heated and distributed in the receiver so as to generate steam. Once the steam as been produced, it’s then transported to the turbine where it’s turned into a mechanical energy, which in turn powers the generator to produce electricity.

Solar thermal power or electric systems are usually embedded with a tracking system which keeps the sunlight concentrated on the receiver all day long as the sun changes position in the sky. They also come with a wide array of collectors which works of distribute the heat absorbed to a turbine as well as the generator. A lot of solar thermal power facilities will gave two or more plants with different arrays and generators.

Solar thermal power systems can also have a thermal energy storage system component whose work is to permit the solar collector system to heat an energy storage system during the day while energy storage system’s generated heat is incorporated in the production of electricity at night or during a cloudy weather when there’s not much sunlight.

• The power of your solar panel system – there's no point buying a higher capacity battery if your system will never generate enough electricity to charge it
• How often you think you will need to charge your battery
• Your budget
• Whether you care about having the latest technology and a recognisable brand name

When you’re about to transform from the standard electricity to solar energy, what determines your solar system’s size is the amount of solar that’s required. The amount of solar that you’ll need, on the other hand, requires considering the end goal, be it to increase money savings, reduce environmental contamination, maximize Returns On Investment ( ROI), or just to copy what the neighbour’s done.

In order the determine the number of solar panels that is needed, the first step would be to calculate the number of kWhs that’s currently being used. A kWh is what’s used to determine the amount of energy that has been incorporated over time which the utility uses to bill you. What’s strongly recommended to create a suitable range is a 6 to 12 months average of your household electricity bill. Other factors that can play a key role in the determination of the number of solar panel needed include the following:

✓ Sunlight exposure hours. In order to know just how much energy your solar panels will generate, there’s a need to know the number of direct sunlight hours you should expect on a daily basis. For example if you stay in a region that’s usually very sunny, then it’ll be reasonable to expect more energy production per panel than regions that are usually cloudy.

✓ Angle and size of the roof. Roofs with a lot of workable space may require to let go of some efficiency opting for larger and cost effective panels to achieve the targeted energy. However not all homeowners have sufficient roof space or shade coverage for the solar panel they actually want. Also, the degree at which the roof slants will also determine if the sunlight is hitting the panels well enough and the amount of energy that can be generated thereof.