Stockport Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours

Solar Green Energy Summary for Stockport, Iowa

Lattitude: 40.8573

Sunlight

Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.7 hours per day

1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.3 hours per day

2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.7 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 4.7 per day can help you determine the amount of solar panels you need to install to power your home or business in Stockport, Iowa.

The latitude of the location is important for measuring peak sun hours. The latitude determines how much overall sunlight there will be in a day. With a given latitude, time and date, one can accurately determine when sunrise and sunset will occur. Areas with latitudes closer to the equator will have a more consistent range of solar insolation throughout the year. Whereas areas closer to the poles will have a greater variance during the summer and winter months due to their higher latitudes.

There are a few ways to increase average peak sun hours per year for your solar power system. One way is to use a tracking mount solar panel instead of a fixed tilt solar panel. A 1-axis mount will track the sun throughout the sky from sunrise to sunset, giving your panel a more efficient facing direction towards the sun throughout the day. A 2-axis solar panel will track the sun in the sky throughout the day, but also change and follow the angle of the sun in the sky throughout the year. Both of these axis system solar panels will produce higher average peak sun hours than a fixed solar panel.

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

We can use previous years of data to estimate the amount of peak sun hours in Stockport. A fixed tilt mount for example will receive 4.7 average hours per day. For more efficiency for your system in Stockport you could use a 1-axis tracking mount and increase your daily peak sun average to 6.3 hours, or even further with a 2-axis panel to get an average of 6.7 hours.


Solar Businesses in Stockport, Iowa




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