Markham Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours

Solar Green Energy Summary for Markham, Washington

Lattitude: 46.9155

Sunlight

Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 3.6 hours per day

1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.5 hours per day

2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.7 hours per day

Peak sun hours is one of the most important criteria to examine when considering installing a solar power system. Peak sun hours are different than total sunlight hours in a day because the strength of the radiation of the sun varies throughout the day. For example, during sunrise and sunset the solar insolation from the sun is less powerful than at noon. For a moment of sunshine to be considered a peak sun hour the intensity needs to be at least 1 kilowatt per square meter. This means that a square meter of your solar panel should be receiving 1 kilowatt of energy from the sun. This number is used because it is an amount of light that allows a solar panel to produce output efficiently and not under perform due to lack of sunlight power.

Knowing the latitude of Markham 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.

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 Markham we can take the average amount of total sunlight hours and estimate that with a fixed solar panel there would be an average of 3.6 peak sun hours per day. 4.5 hours per day with a 1-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun from sunrise to sunset, and 4.7 hours with a 2-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun everywhere in the sky.


Solar Businesses in Markham, Washington




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