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How much continuous power in watts can a solar generator produce?

Question by Mike R: How much continuous power in watts can a solar generator produce?
How large of a solar system would I need to run 600 watts for 12 hours? Any ideas on how much it would cost to build one? Thanks.

Best answer:

Answer by billrussell42
To get 600 watts, you need at least a 600 watt solar array. The output goes down when the sun is not directly perpendicular to the array, so you probably need a 1000 watt unit, or perhaps higher.

If you want 600 watts continuously for 12 hours, you need to be in a location where you get 12 hours of sun per day.

You can’t build solar arrays, you have to buy them, as they require a complicated factory and chemicals in their construction.

Search on line, there are hundreds of places where you can buy them.

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Comments

  1. labrador32 says:
    August 11, 2011 at 1:45 am

    hi there
    if the sun is not out for 12 hours , then you could buy a solar battery and a regulator.
    the system would work by the array going into the regulator and then the out to the battery this means that you could get a constant supply of power.
    if you’re in the uk maplin do both solar panels and regulators.
    the panels [4x 150w] = £4000
    the regulator [20ah] = £130
    total cost = around £4150
    - this is of course is a rough estimate.
    if you’re in the USA then i don’t know where or the cost
    hope this helps…
    good luck..

    Reply
  2. roderick_young says:
    August 11, 2011 at 1:59 am

    That’s 12 x 600 = 7.2 kWh per day.

    You can look up your average hours of peak sun per day here:

    http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/

    Note that this is *peak* sun, not how long the day is. For example, in my area of northern california, the peak sun per day is 5 hours, even though we never have days as short as that, even at the winter solstice.

    Let’s be generous and say that your location is on a desert mountaintop in Arizona, or you only plan to run the array in the summer. We’ll say, 7.2 hours of peak sun per day.

    7.2 kWh / 7.2h = 1000 w, the size of array needed. This would be 1000w by the PTC rating. By the label on the panels, this would be more like 1200 watts.

    For a grid-tied system, that would be about $ 7000 after getting a federal rebate. That would include the mounting system, labor, and an inverter.

    If this is off-grid (batteries), double that cost, because you must buy batteries, and rebates will not apply to such systems.

    Reply

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