Puako Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Puako, Hawaii
Lattitude: 19.9389
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.8 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.3 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 8.1 hours per day
If you put your solar powered math calculator in your backpack it will turn off from the lack of sunlight needed to power the device. As you slowly open your backpack and begin to let sunlight in, the calculator will eventually turn on when the amount of sunlight is enough to power the calculator. Similarly, peak sun hours refer to the hours of they day where the sunlight is strong enough to power a solar panel. This is different from total sunlight hours, which is simply the amount of hours in a day when there is any sunlight.
The latitude at the equator of the earth is zero degrees. This is where sunlight strikes the earth most directly. Due to the earth's curved shape, sunlight hits at a various angles depending on location. As latitude increases, the further you are located from the equator and more variance you see in sunlight hours. The latitude of Puako is 19.9.
A tracking mount will increase the average peak sun hours for a solar power system. Think about a panel that is tracking the sun in the sky vs a panel that is fixed and not moving: you will see a higher efficiency ratio of productions. A 1-axis mount will track the sun from East to West from sunrise to sunset and move on a single axis of rotation. A 2-axis mount will track the Sun from East to West the same as a 1-axis mount would, but it will also track the angle of the sun in the sky as it slowly varies season to season. A 2-axis mount is more necessary in high latitude regions where the angle of the sun in the sky changes dramatically between each equinox.
Looking at latitude, average peak sun hours and various data can obviously help when planning for your solar power needs. The one thing you can never fully account for is changing weather. Storms, rain, cloud coverage all have an impact on solar panel capabilities.
We can take the latitude of Puako and use that number to know the amount of total sunlight hours in the region from sunlight to sunset and estimate that with a fixed solar panel, Puako will receive 5.8 average peak sun hours per day. This number can be increased to 6.3 hours by using a 1-axis tracking mount, or 8.1 hours from a 2-axis tracking mount.
Helpful & Interesting
How many watts does it take to power a house?
Step 1: Make a list of all the appliances you need powered in the event of a power outage Step 2: Determine the starting and running wattage of each appliance on the list. We know you most likely aren’t familiar with these numbers off the top of your head, so here’s a comprehensive “wattage worksheet” that will be useful for this step. Note: The “starting” wattage of an appliance refers to how much electricity it needs at start up. Starting wattage is typically 2 to 3 times the wattage it uses when it’s running continuously. Step 3: Add up the total wattage needed and base the generator size you need on this number.