First Mesa Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for First Mesa, Arizona
Lattitude: 35.8389
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 8.5 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 8.6 hours per day
Looking at the average peak sunlight hours in First Mesa is a valuable number for determining your solar power setup. Peak sunlight hours are only the hours a day in which the sunlight is strong enough for the solar panels to do their job. Not every hour of sunlight was created equal. For example, solar panels do not provide much use during early sunrise and sunset, and therefore you should not look at total hours of sunlight in a day, but instead focus on peak sunlight hours. Using this number will provide a much better estimate of your needs for setting up panels in First Mesa, Arizona.
Sunlight hits the earth directly at the equator. This is why the equator has a latitude of zero degrees. The latitude of First Mesa is 35.8. Knowing the latitude of First Mesa 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.
You will notice the difference in peak sunlight hours depending on the panel type. The more flexibility the solar panel has the efficient it can be throughout the day and the year. A fixed solar panel remains in the same position at all times. A 1-axis panel follows the sun throughout the day as it moves through the sky and eventually sets. A 2-axis panel not only tracks the daily movement, but also adjusts based on the sun's changing position in the sky throughout the year as the seasons change.
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.
Since we know the latitude of First Mesa we can take the average amount of total sunlight hours and estimate that with a fixed solar panel there would be an average of 6 peak sun hours per day. 8.5 hours per day with a 1-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun from sunrise to sunset, and 8.6 hours with a 2-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun everywhere in the sky.