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One kilowatt equals 1,000 watts.
One kilowatt-hour (kWh) equals the amount of electricity needed to burn a
100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.
A sunny location (like Los Angeles, California, US) receives an average of
5.5 hours of sunlight per day each year.
A cloudy location (like Hamburg, Germany) receives 2.5 hours per day of
sunlight each year.
A 1 kilowatt peak solar system generates around 1,600 kilowatt hours per year in
a sunny climate and about 750 kilowatt hours per year in a cloudy climate.
Solar modules produce electricity even on cloudy days, usually around 10-20% of
the amount produced on sunny days.
The typical components of a solar home system include the solar module, an
inverter, a battery, a charge controller, wiring, and mounting.
A typical silicon cell solar module will have a life in excess of 20 years
Monthly average residential consumption of electricity in North America is
about 920 kilowatt hours.
Canada has annual sunlight between 1500 hours (Prince Rupert BC) and 2500 hours (Medicine
Hat AB) with Toronto and Vancouver near 2000 hours. Using 2000 hours divided by 365 days
means that we have an average of 5 1/2 hours of sunlight per day.
One panel (100 W) x 5 1/2 sunshine = 550 Whrs or 0.55Kwhrs approx. (kilowatts)(1kw = 1000 W)
Solar is universal and will work virtually anywhere, however some locations are better than
others. Irradiance is a measure of the sun’s power available at the surface of the earth and it
peaks at about 1000 watts per square meter. With typical crystalline solar cell efficiencies around
14-16%, that means we can expect to generate about 140-160W per square meter of solar cells
placed in full sun. Insolation is a measure of the available energy from the sun and is expressed
in terms of "full sun hours" (i.e. 4 full sun hours = 4 hours of sunlight at an irradiance level of 1000
watts per square meter). Obviously different parts of the world receive more sunlight than others,
so they will have more “full sun hours ”per day.