5 Steps to Choosing Solar Panel Size For House

Mohidul Saad

Mohidul Saad is a co-founder of SOLARINSTALLGURU.COM, author and renewable energy benefit educator. He provides FREE online and offline training to home and business owners who are interested in reducing their electricity bills by 90 percent while slashing solar panel installation cost by 30-80 percent. DOWNLOAD this FREE renewable energy benefit education guide "101 ways to install solar system with little or no out of pocket cost" and start saving today.

5 Steps to Choosing Solar Panel Size For House

updated at : Saturday, January 14th, 2017

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You have decided to install solar panels for your house but you are not sure about the solar panel size. I will show you 5 proven steps which will help you pick the optimal solar panel size. Sizing your solar panels is an important part of the solar energy system installation journey. There are no steadfast rules on the steps. What I have found is that answers to the following questions lead homeowners to the right path when sizing their solar energy system.

Rooftop Solar Panels and 5 steps to choosing the solar panel size

Amount of the Electric Bill You Want to Offset

The answer to this question is crucial in terms of sizing your solar panels. If you are paying $200 a month for your electricity bill, solar panel sizing is going to be different depending on how much of the electricity bill you want to offset. Let us assume that you want to offset 90% of your next month’s electricity bill. What would be the optimal solar panel size for that? You are paying $200 a month on the electricity bill and let’s assume that your per watt electricity bill is 13 cents. If we divide $200.00 by .13 (cost/per watt), we get 1538 which is the total watts used. You used 1538 watts of electricity this month.

How Big Of A System Would You Need

If you want to slash the electricity bill by 90%, your solar system will need to generate 1385 watts of energy. How much solar energy your location will generate will depend on a few factors. We have developed a solar power calculator which takes all the factors into consideration and hands you a solar panel size.

Find Out the Solar Panel Size for Your House

This solar power calculator will tell you how big of a solar energy system you will need. You will need to adjust the slider to 200 for the average monthly electricity bill. The solar power calculator adjusts the solar panel size based on the average electricity bill per month. The solar panel calculator hands you the solar panel size that will slash 90 percent of the electricity bill. The solar energy calculator analyzes the last twenty years worth of weather data and hands you a solar panel size.

When Are You Selling The House

The solar energy system is a long-term investment and requires 5-7 years for it to be profitable. If you plan to sell the house soon, you won’t experience huge financial benefits. You will still get $5000 in increased home value for every kW of solar energy system you install. So, if you install a 5kW solar energy system, you will still be getting appreciated home value. We cover this topic in detail here. So, if you plan on selling the house within 5-7 years, the benefits are smaller compared to when you plan on living in the house for a longer period of time. If you are not sure of how long you plan on living in the home, consider installing a smaller solar energy system but keep the expandable option. The expandable option will help the next homeowner plan efficiently with their renewable energy generation needs.

Future Energy Growth

Another factor you need to consider when sizing your solar energy system is future energy needs. If you think that your energy needs will grow, you need to plan for that growth now. If you plan for future energy growth, it is going to be easier in the future to add solar energy panels. The solar panel installers will use racking that is either expandable or keeps room for more solar panels in the current racking. Another financial benefit to consider is the federal solar tax credit where you will get 30% of your solar energy system investment back. This program is due to expire soon. You might consider planning for future growth and take advantage of 30% federal solar tax credit by expanding now rather than later. Do whatever makes sense for you and your family!

Price Hike Proofing Your Electric Bill

The electricity prices go up 3-4% every year. The more you depend on your power company for your electricity needs, the more pain you are going to experience in your wallet when the electricity prices go up. If you remove your energy dependence on your power company by 90%, the price hike will only impact you on the 10% of your current electricity bills. If you prefer to shield yourself more, you can increase your solar panel size so that it can remove almost 100% of your dependence. You will need to invest a little more but you will be generating your own electricity and have very little dependence on the power company.

Reducing Greenhouse Gases

Most people are interested in saving on their electricity bill and there are people who really care about the environment. Environment-conscious people want to do whatever they can to reduce greenhouse gases. The majority want to save money and the planet. The solar energy system is a great way not only to save money but also to reduce greenhouse gases significantly. If saving the environment is important to you, you might want to consider offsetting 100% of your power needs. You can size your solar panels in such a way so that you are independent of the power company. Your solar power system will generate more than enough electricity for your needs and send the excess electricity back to the power company grid. You are not only meeting your own needs but also meeting the needs of your neighbor in a small way.