A Square Mile Of Solar Panels

All you need is a 100 by 100 mile patch in a deserted corner of arizona texas or utah or anywhere to more than power the entire usa.

A square mile of solar panels.

Solar power is a gigawatt per square km. Since it takes 21 250 square miles of solar for 4 petawatt hours or 4 000 terawatt hours each terawatt hour takes about 5 3 square miles per terawatt hour. To understand how much solar power is produced per square foot it s helpful to know what solar panels are made of. Now i m sure with a project this large you could get a discount.

So 200 mw peak output and 400 million cost. If i use the figures from an existing solar thermal power plant ivanpah solar power facility i get a much larger figure. Conventional panels cost 2 per watt installed and produce 200 watts per square meter. A solar pv facility must have an installed capacity of 3 300 mw and 5 400 mw to match a 1 000 mw nuclear facility s output requiring between 45 and 75 square miles.

Average capital utilisation is 18 8 in north america according to doe eia so 32 96 million. So very roughly if all us cars and trucks converted to electric vehicles it would take 5 3 square miles x 106 terawatt hours or 562 square miles of solar panels to power them all. For the sake of example if you are getting 5 hours of direct sunlight per day in a sunny state like california you can calculate your solar panel output this way. 100 square miles is 2 787 840 000 ft2.

Depending on where you live the average 3 000 sqft house will need between 17 and 26 premium solar panels to supply 100 of its electricity needs. Ivanpah solar power facility uses 4000 ha and is supposed to produce 1000 gwh annually. This analysis goes. Thus the output for each solar panel in your array would.

Sunpower solar panels are the most efficient you can buy. 1 our maxeon solar cell technology combines a strong copper backing with ultra pure silicon and a light trapping glass surface that ultimately makes our panels 30. 57 000 sq miles or a square 239 miles to a side. So it would take 158 265 115 panels to cover this area.

Cost of solar panels per square foot. A trina 235w solar panel is 65in x 39in or 17 615 ft2. Depends on the details. However most installers estimate solar costs by the amount of energy needed at 2 53 to 3 15 per watt before any tax credits or incentives.

Below are cost estimates based on home size. How much energy does a solar panel produce. How many solar panels will i need for my 3 000 square foot house.