How Many Solar Panels Needed To Power The Us

The yellow square is approximately 21 000 square miles.

How many solar panels needed to power the us.

Consumes around 4000 billion kwh of electricity. The united states is the world s second country that is equipped with the most solar power panels in 2020. The average american home needs 14 36 solar panels to power their home. A home that consumes 1 000 kwh per month will normally need between 20 and 30 solar panels.

This means an astounding consumption of 12 000 kwh per year per capita. Now in 2019 just six years later solar panels on average have efficiency numbers between 15 to 18 percent. About 7 86 billion solar panels would be needed to power the u s. The exact number changes depending on the specifications of the chosen panel model as well as the sunshine available at the project site.

Consumes about 4 petawatt hours of electricity per year we d need about 13 600 000 acres or 21 250 square miles of solar panels to meet the total electricity requirements of the united states for a year. All the panels can produce 767 762 000 000 watts of energy enough to run the united states of america in 2012. It would take 3 071 048 000 250 watt sharp nd 250qcs solar panel made in the usa 65 x39 each average solar panel to run the united states of america. Map courtesy of google maps.

More efficient solar panels means less solar panels are needed. This alone will reduce the number of solar panels needed and the required land mass to host those solar panels. Just 11 200 000 acres to generate 4 000 000. An average homeowner needs 28 to 34 solar panels to fully offset their electricity bill with solar.

If you live in a sunnier state less solar panels are needed to generate the electricity your home needs. This is derived from the fact that every year the u. Solar energy in the united states has grown exponentially in the last five years. In fact many solar panels are now available at 20 percent efficiency for commercial or utility solar sites.

Solstice reports that in the second quarter of 2020 the united states powered 13 1 million homes after installing 2 1 gigawatts of solar pv that generated. So you re saying it would only take 0 6 of the surface area of the continental united states to power the entire country with renewable solar power.