Solar Panel costs and energy generation?

Posted on April 7, 2010 by admin

If I buy a 60W solar panel is that how much electricity produces? In what time period? And if so how many kWh’s would that be equal to?

60W would be the RATE at which it produces electricity (W, watt, is a measure of power not energy).

kWh is the measure of energy which is equal to 1000W of generating power running for 1 hour.

that means it would take your 60W generator (assuming that it is running at that level based on environmental factors) 16 2/3 hours running at that level to general 1 kWh. (that would probably be about 2 days assuming 8 hours of good sunlight per day)

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4 Responses to Solar Panel costs and energy generation?

  1. Brendan P says:
    April 8, 2010 at 1:23 am

    60W would be the RATE at which it produces electricity (W, watt, is a measure of power not energy).

    kWh is the measure of energy which is equal to 1000W of generating power running for 1 hour.

    that means it would take your 60W generator (assuming that it is running at that level based on environmental factors) 16 2/3 hours running at that level to general 1 kWh. (that would probably be about 2 days assuming 8 hours of good sunlight per day)
    References :
    Personal Knowledge

  2. MTRstudent says:
    April 8, 2010 at 2:10 am

    60W is its peak power output*. The amount of power you get out will depend a lot on the time of year, time of day, cloud cover etc.

    On average, a kW of solar panel in the UK will produce 750-900kWh in a year, with 3-5 times as much power generated on summer days as winter ones.

    In the sunnier places of California it would generate 2000-2200kWh/yr. The summer/winter production would be smoother too, but you would make more in summer than winter, just not 5 times as much.

    So 60W=0.06kW. In the UK that’s about 50kWh in a year, or in California about 125kWh/yr.
    References :
    *defined under AM1.5 spectrum:
    http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/spectra/am1.5/

    I’m just finishing a physics masters in CdTe solar cells.

  3. Nata T says:
    April 8, 2010 at 2:35 am

    at best in the US it will make 110 kw-hr/year or about $16 worth of electricity in 1 year..
    References :