Bay Village Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Bay Village, Ohio
Lattitude: 41.4851
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.1 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.3 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 per day can help you determine the amount of solar panels you need to install to power your home or business in Bay Village, Ohio.
Sunlight hits the earth directly at the equator. This is why the equator has a latitude of zero degrees. The latitude of Bay Village is 41.5. Knowing the latitude of Bay Village can help you plan for your solar panel setup, as the larger the latitude the more variance you will see throughout the year for total daily sunlight hours.
Throughout the day the sun obviously moves throughout the Bay Village 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
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.
In Bay Village you can look at the average peak sun hours of a fixed solar panel mount, which will be 4 hours. This number iis an estimate based on data of previous years. With a tracking mount in Bay Village you could theoretically increase the amount of peak sun hours per with a 1-axis mount, and get 5.1 hours, or a 2-axis mount and potentially increase your average to 5.3 hours.