Cedonia Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours

Solar Green Energy Summary for Cedonia, Washington

Lattitude: 48.1538

Sunlight

Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 3.7 hours per day

1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.5 hours per day

2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.1 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 3.7 per day can help you determine the amount of solar panels you need to install to power your home or business in Cedonia, Washington.

Knowing the latitude of Cedonia will help estimate average peak sun hours for your area. The latitude is used to accurately estimate the time of sunrise and sunset, thus giving you the total hours of daylight each day. Once you know the total hours of daylight, you can estimate the amount of peak sun hours based on a number of variables such as weather, time of year, the angle of the solar panel.

The sun moves through the sky during the day, and changes positions in the sky throughout the year as the seasons change. A fixed solar panel remains fixed in position during this movement. So, although it is effective in capturing sunlight, a 1-axis or 2-axis panel can be more efficient. A 1-axis panel tracks the sun's movement throughout the day from sunrise to sunset. In addition to that, the 2-axis panel also accounts for the movement throughout the year.

The sunrise and sunset is very predictable every day, but things like cloud coverage and weather are less predictable and vary daily and annually. If a location that is usually very sunny experiences a huge increase in storms and cloud coverage in a given year than the average peak sun hours for that day or year will probably decrease. Tall objects such as trees and buildings can block out the sun during high solar insolation times, so be sure to strategically place your solar panels to get better efficiency.

For a fixed mounted solar panel in Cedonia, meaning that the solar panel will not track the sun in the sky, once can expect about 3.7 average peak sun hours per day. A 1-axis mount would increase this number to 4.5 hours per day because the panel would be facing the sun throughout the day. A 2-axis system that tracks the sun in the sky every day of the year would get approximately 6.1 hours per day in Cedonia.


Solar Businesses in Cedonia, Washington




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