Cocoa Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours

Solar Green Energy Summary for Cocoa, Florida

Lattitude: 28.3821

Sunlight

Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.4 hours per day

1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.5 hours per day

2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 7.3 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.

Knowing that the latitude of Cocoa is 28.4 can be helpful for understanding total sunlight hour variance. As you approach the equator latitude approaches zero. The closer the latitude is to zero, the more consistent the daily sunlight hours are throughout the year. Total sunlight hour consistency simply makes planning for your solar power needs easier, but it is certainly not a requirement.

Throughout the day the sun obviously moves throughout the Cocoa 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

Although weather predicting technology has greatly evolved over time, it is still a rather unpredictable factor that will affect the amount of peak sun hours your solar power system will receive. Cloudy days for example will usually have lower peak sun hours that a clear sunny day. And areas that usually have more average sunny days per year will probably have higher peak sun hours that areas that are often overcast or stormy.

For Cocoa the number of average daily peak sunlight hours for a fixed solar panel is 5.4 hours. If you are using a more efficient 1 or 2-axis panel then the number will increase to 6.5 hours for a 1-axis panel and 7.3 hours for a 2-axis panel.


Solar Businesses in Cocoa, Florida




Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *