A: This is a trick question! There is no direct correlation between square footage and watts of solar to power the home.
Unfortunately there is no per square foot "average" since the cost of a system actually depends on your daily energy usage and how many full sun hours you receive per day; and if you have other sources of electricity. To accurately size a system to meet your needs, you need to know how much energy (kilowatt-hours, kWh) you use per day. If your home is connected to the utility grid, simply look at your monthly electric bill. If not, you can fill out our load evaluation form. Using this information, we can design a system to meet your needs.
Want some examples?
(All figures are in monthly averages)
Some examples of household usage |
Solar Electric Info |
|
|||
Square Footage |
Electrical usage (kwh) |
average kwh/ square foot |
# of watts of PV to cover 100% of electricity usage |
Watts PV/ Square Foot |
Main heating source |
1000 |
377 |
.377 |
2200 |
2.2 |
Oil |
1270 |
250 |
.197 |
1500 |
1.1 |
Gas |
1800 |
250 |
.139 |
1500 |
1.1 |
Propane |
2000 |
295 |
.148 |
1700 |
0.9 |
Oil |
2650 |
1175 |
.44 |
6900 |
2.9 |
Oil |
2800 |
1010 |
.36 |
5900 |
2.1 |
Oil/wood |
3000 |
1555 |
.518 |
9100 |
3 |
Gas/wood |
Here is a chart showing the above information. Although these examples represent only a small sample of possible combinations of electricity usage for households, hopefully we have demonstrated that the amount of PV it will take to power your needs depends upon your electricity use and NOT the square footage of your home.