Calculate Solar Pv Panel Efficiency
Here s a simple formula for calculating your solar panel s power output.
Calculate solar pv panel efficiency. It allows homeowners small building owners installers and manufacturers to easily develop estimates of the performance of potential pv installations. Nrel s pvwatts calculator estimates the energy production and cost of energy of grid connected photovoltaic pv energy systems throughout the world. If a solar panel has 20 percent efficiency that means it s capable of converting 20 percent of the sunshine hitting it into electricity. Solar panel efficiency calculation step 1.
The formula for calculating efficiency is. Just take a tape measure get. To calculate the efficiency of your panel just multiply the amount of sunlight that hits the earth s surface in your area known as the incident radiation flux by the area of your panel measured in square meters. Solar panel watts x average hours of sunlight x 75 daily watt hours as an example let s say you have 250 watt solar panels and live in a place where you get 5 hours of sunlight per day.
Divide the maximum wattage on your panel by this number then multiply it by 100 percent you ll get an efficiency rating. 120 solar modules each of 250 w p and area of 1 67 m 2 are connected to form a pv system. Most solar panels have efficiency ratings of around 15 to 18 percent. This step is as straightforward as it seems.
The highest efficiency solar panels on the market today can reach almost 23 percent efficiency. The average efficiency of solar panels falls between the 17 to 19 percent efficiency range. Using the above equations. Efficiency power length width 1000w m2 power is the rating of the solar module in watts length and width is the size of the solar module in meters.
Electrical power in kwp of one solar panel divided by the area of one panel. Get the power. The photovoltaic pv solar panels are used in residential installations come in varying wattages from 150 watts to 370 watts per panel. R solar panel yield or efficiency h annual average solar radiation on tilted panels shadings not included pr performance ratio coefficient for losses range between 0 5 and 0 9 default value 0 75 r is the yield of the solar panel given by the ratio.
What s that 75 percent for. You can easily know this by looking at the module datasheet or by. Get the module s physical dimension. You calculate the power supplied or calculate a solar energy system output from the panel to the battery using its watts peak and exposure.
The power generation capacity of a solar panel is given in watts.