Five Points Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours

Solar Green Energy Summary for Five Points, Alabama

Lattitude: 33.0173

Sunlight

Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.1 hours per day

1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.3 hours per day

2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.3 hours per day

The average amount of peak sun hours in a day is a different and more useful number as it relates to solar panels than total sun hours. Total sun hours are exactly what you would expect; the total amount of hours that the sun is out during a 24 hour period. Peak sun hours, on the other hand, are the total number of hours in a day where the sunshine is strong enough to to be absorbed and used by solar panels. Sunlight early in the morning or late at night is often not strong enough to count toward peak sun hours. Because of this, total sun hours will always be more than peak sun hours. Looking at the average peak sun hours in Five Points throughout the year can help you better estimate the amount of solar panels you will need to power your business or home.

Sunlight hits the earth directly at the equator. This is why the equator has a latitude of zero degrees. The latitude of Five Points is 33.0. Knowing the latitude of Five Points can help you plan for your solar panel setup, as the larger the latitude the more variance you will see throughout the year for total daily sunlight hours.

Throughout the day the sun obviously moves throughout the Five Points sky. The suns position in the sky also changes throughout the year with the seasons. A fixed solar panel does not accommodate for these changes. However, a 1-axis panel rotates and follows the sun’s path during the day. A 2-axis panel both follows the sun’s daily path as well as the seasonal differences

Weather is one of the major culprits that will cause inconsistent total peak sun hours for any given day. The sunrise and sunset will always be predictable every day, but the weather is hard to predict and cloud coverage can greatly diminish the efficiency of a solar power system on any given day. On the bright side, a location that is known to have cloudy weather a majority of the year could have unexpectedly more sunny days, so it can go both ways.

By taking the latitude of Five Points one can get a close estimate of the amount of average peak sun hours per day for the geographical area. It varies with technology and the type of solar panel mount you use, but for a fixed mount solar panel in Five Points one can expect close to 5.1 average peak sun hours per day. With a 1-axis tracking mount you would get 6.3 hours per day, and 6.3 hours per day with a 2-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun everywhere in the sky.


Solar Businesses in Five Points, Alabama




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