Minturn Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Minturn, Colorado
Lattitude: 39.5462
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.1 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 7.6 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 7.9 hours per day
Peak sun hours are a vital measurement to understand when considering the installation of solar panels. Peak sun hours are not the same as total sunlight hours because not every hour of sunlight during the day has enough strength and solar insolation to qualify as a peak sun hour. The rule of thumb is that a peak sun hour is when the intensity of the sun that is hitting your solar panel is providing at least 1,000 watts per square meter. This is an arbitrary number, but it is a number where most solar panels will be producing an efficient output and not underperforming due to sunshine that is not strong enough or direct enough.
Your latitude is an indicator of when the sunrises and sunsets and certain times of the year. If you live near the equator with a latitude of near zero, the sun will rise and set close to the same time all year resulting in consistent total sunlight hours per day. If you live near the poles, the time of sunrise and sunset will vary dramatically with each season, resulting in long days for part of the year and very short days at other times. So, locations closer to the equator will have more consistent amounts of peak sun hours throughout the year than locations closer to the poles.
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.
Climate in your geographical region is a major factor that will influence average peak sun hours per year. If you live in a region that does not have a lot of completely sunny days, then cloud coverage will greatly influence solar insolation on any given day. Mountains and trees may also contribute to lower solar insolation if they block the sun from your panels at any given point of the day.
Since we know the latitude of Minturn we can take the average amount of total sunlight hours and estimate that with a fixed solar panel there would be an average of 6.1 peak sun hours per day. 7.6 hours per day with a 1-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun from sunrise to sunset, and 7.9 hours with a 2-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun everywhere in the sky.
Helpful & Interesting
how powerful is the sun
The Sun is so large that a million Earths could fit inside it. The Sun supplies all of our energy, and without it, we would be colder and darker than Pluto. It is about 14 million degrees Celsius at its center. NASA watches the Sun closely, especially for sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs)