Ruidoso Downs Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico
Lattitude: 33.3312
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.7 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 7.7 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 8.9 hours per day
When trying to calculate your solar power needs there are a variety of factors to consider. Panel type and location, electricity needs, number of panels needed etc. One key to figuring out the math is factoring in the average peak sunlight hours in a day. Unlike total sunlight hours, peak sunlight hours are only when the sun is strong enough to power your solar panel. Using this number can help determine your needs to power your home or business in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.
Although you can easily predict sunrise and sunset hours each day to the minute, looking at latitude can help with your solar planning. The closer you get to the equator the closer your latitude gets to zero. Sunlight hours on the equator are consistent throughout the entire year. Places further from the equator can have large variance in daily sunlight. For example higher latitudes can have very long summer days with lots of sunlight and very dark winters. The latitude of Ruidoso Downs is 33.3.
Since a fixed solar panel is set in one position it is ideal to place it at an angle that will expose the panel to the most sunlight throughout the year. This angle is generally the same angle of your latitude which is 33.3 for Ruidoso Downs. You do not need to strategically place a 1-axis or 2-axis panel as much as you do a fixed panel. A 1-axis panel follows the movement of the sun during the day. Additionally, a 2-axis panel also adjusts for the suns various positions in the sky throughout the year.
Peak sun hours are greatly affected by weather patterns. Cloud coverage is a huge factor in peak sun hours per day because heavy cloud coverage will diminish the power of the solar insolation. You can use historical climate data to estimate average cloud and weather coverage, but it will obviously vary slightly from year to year.
Since we know the latitude of Ruidoso Downs we can take the average amount of total sunlight hours and estimate that with a fixed solar panel there would be an average of 6.7 peak sun hours per day. 7.7 hours per day with a 1-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun from sunrise to sunset, and 8.9 hours with a 2-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun everywhere in the sky.
Helpful & Interesting
What are the two types of electricity?
There are two types of Electricity, Static Electricity and Current Electricity. Static Electricity is made by rubbing together two or more objects and making friction while Current electricity is the flow of electric charge across an electrical field.