How Many Solar Panels To Power Usa

Solar power is more affordable accessible and prevalent in the united states than ever before.

How many solar panels to power usa. I chose a 250 watt sharp nd 250qcs solar panel made in the usa 65 x39 each. Solar energy accounts for 1 6 of total u s. Solar hydro geothermal and biofuels will also play roles with solar being at least equal to wind generation. Solar power in the united states includes utility scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation mostly from rooftop photovoltaics as of the end of 2019 the united states had over 71 3 gigawatts gw of installed photovoltaic capacity.

Installed 10 6 gw of solar in 2018 alone. A home that consumes 1 000 kwh per month will normally need between 20 and 30 solar panels. You only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to power the entire united states. The drawback is sunpower s x series panels are expensive.

This is enough capacity to power the equivalent of 12 million average american homes 1. Just 11 200 000 acres to generate 4 000 000. Installations have grown 35 fold to an estimated 62 5 gigawatts gw today. Annual pv solar radiation in the united states source nrel the current standard size of panels used in a large sized solar plant is easily over 350w.

Sunpower s solar panels are another one of the top 20 solar panels and were ranked fourth by customers as of june 2020. As of the end of 2018 the u s. Assuming this power rating we would need to divide 2 75 tw by 350w which gives us the gigantic number of 7 85 billion 7 857 142 857 to be precise panels required. So you re saying it would only take 0 6 of the surface area of the continental united states to power the entire country with renewable solar power.

The exact number changes depending on the specifications of the chosen panel model as well as the sunshine available at the project site. Had 64 2 gw of installed solar enough to power 12 3 million american homes. With solar panels it would take a fairly small corner of nevada or texas or utah. The p19 series are more affordable.

The fundamental solar energy stats. If you wanted to power the entire u s. In 2018 utility scale solar power generated 66 6 terawatt hours twh 1 66 of total u s. Obviously wind energy wouldn t be the only form of primary energy in the usa.

The plant started full scale production in early 2019 and should be producing roughly 220 megawatts of solar panels annually. Electric total every year since 2013.