How Much Continuous Power In Watts Can A Solar Generator Produce?
Sep 14, 2009 in
diy
How large of a solar system would I need to run 600 watts for 12 hours? Any thoughts on how much it would cost to build one? Thanks.
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4 comments
Mike R on September 14, 2009 at 10:22 pm
To get 600 watts, you need at least a 600 watt solar array. The output goes down when the sun is not directly perpendicular to the array, so you probably need a 1000 watt unit, or perhaps privileged.
If you want 600 watts endlessly for 12 hours, you need to be in a place where you get 12 hours of sun per day.
You can’t build solar arrays, you have to buy them, as they require a complicated factory and chemicals in their construction.
Search on line, there are hundreds of places where you can buy them.
.
billruss on September 14, 2009 at 10:39 pm
hi there
if the sun is not out for 12 hours , then you could buy a solar battery and a valve.
the system would work by the array going into the valve and then the out to the battery this means that you could get a constant supply of power.
if you’re in the uk maplin do both solar panels and regulators.
the panels [4x 150w] = £4000
the valve [20ah] = £130
total cost = around £4150
- this is of course is a rough assess.
if you’re in the USA then i don’t know where or the cost
hope this helps…
excellent luck..
labrador on September 14, 2009 at 11:15 pm
That’s 12 x 600 = 7.2 kWh per day.
You can look up your average hours of peak sun per day here:http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsr…
Note that this is *peak* sun, not how long the day is. For example, in my area of northern california, the peak sun per day is 5 hours, even even if we never have days as small as that, even at the winter solstice.
Let’s be generous and say that your place is on a desert mountaintop in Arizona, or you only plot to run the array in the summer. We’ll say, 7.2 hours of peak sun per day.
7.2 kWh / 7.2h = 1000 w, the size of array needed. This would be 1000w by the PTC rating. By the categorize on the panels, this would be more like 1200 watts.
For a grid-tied system, that would be about $7000 after getting a federal rebate. That would include the mounting system, overstress, and an inverter.
If this is off-grid (batteries), double that cost, because you must buy batteries, and rebates will not apply to such systems.
roderick on September 15, 2009 at 12:07 am
I’d suggest checking out this blog… http://earth4energy-manual.com/blog/
Theirs Step-By-Step instruction on how to build solar or wind power at home.
Excellent luck and hope it helps!!!
- Katie : )