Antonito Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours

Solar Green Energy Summary for Antonito, Colorado

Lattitude: 37.0766

Sunlight

Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.3 hours per day

1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 8.4 hours per day

2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 9 hours per day

Peak sun hours is arguably the most important number to consider before installing your solar panels. Unlike total sun hours, peak sun hours are calculated by looking at the amount of sunlight hours in a 24 hour period that is strong enough to be absorb by a solar panel. One way to imagine peak sun hours is to think about a solar powered calculator you owned in school. If you covered the solar panel with your finger, or tried to use the calculator in the dark, the calculator would not work. As you slowly exposed the calculator to light the calculator would eventually turn on and be usable. The same is true with peak sun hours; these are the hours that your solar panels receive enough sunlight to work. Looking at the average peak sunlight hours of 6.3 per day can help you determine the amount of solar panels you need to install to power your home or business in Antonito, Colorado.

If you open the newspaper in the morning or watch the weather channel on the news you can get an accurate prediction of sunrise and sunset each day for Antonito. However, still knowing that the latitude of Antonito is 37.1 can be a helpful number for your solar panel setup and planning. The closer your latitude is to zero the closer you are to the equator. At the equator you find the most consistent total sunlight hours throughout any given day of the year. As your latitude increases you can see larger discrepancies of daily sunlight hours during the year. For example, having very long summer days and very short and dark winter days

The sun moves through the sky during the day, and changes positions in the sky throughout the year as the seasons change. A fixed solar panel remains fixed in position during this movement. So, although it is effective in capturing sunlight, a 1-axis or 2-axis panel can be more efficient. A 1-axis panel tracks the sun's movement throughout the day from sunrise to sunset. In addition to that, the 2-axis panel also accounts for the movement throughout the year.

Weather is a big determinate of average peak sun hours each day. There are many aspects of weather that can increase or lessen the peak sun hours in a day in a particular location. For example cloud coverage is a crucial variable. And more importantly, what type of cloud coverage; thin scattered clouds will have less diminishing power on the solar insolation than thick rainy storm clouds. Sometimes long periods of sunny days are rare in certain locations, this would increase average peak sun hours for that time-frame

In Antonito you can look at the average peak sun hours of a fixed solar panel mount, which will be 6.3 hours. This number iis an estimate based on data of previous years. With a tracking mount in Antonito you could theoretically increase the amount of peak sun hours per with a 1-axis mount, and get 8.4 hours, or a 2-axis mount and potentially increase your average to 9 hours.


Solar Businesses in Antonito, Colorado




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