DIY Solar Electric (PV) System Sizing

Sizing your PV System is not as tricky as it may seem. In fact, many so called professionals use information that is readily available to you in order to determine what size Solar Electric System you need. It is one of the best kept secrets of the Solar Energy World…and DIY Solar Guide is going to show you the tools that you can use to determine how large or small of a Solar Energy System you need to power a portion, or all of your home or office electrical needs with Solar Energy. And, the best news…each and every one of these tools and databases are FREE! Can’t beat that can you?

*please note that DIY Solar Guide recommends Grid-Tied Solar Electric Systems because of their ability to use grid electricity as a backup and to take advantage of net metering rules to sell back your excess electricity for additional income and return on investment from your Solar Electric System.

To begin, you will need an electric bill…preferably one from a summer month, and one from a winter month. On your electric bill it tells you how much electricity you use…kwh (kilowatt hours) per month. The average of your summer electric bill and your winter electric bill is the monthly average electric usage of your home.

Next, you need to decide how much of your electrical usage you would like to replace with Solar Energy. The higher the percentage the higher the initial cost of your solar system, but the more your monthly energy savings will be, and therefore, the more cost-effective your Solar Electric System will be.

For example, if your electric bills average out that you use 500kwh of electricity each month, you need to determine what percentage of that you would like to power using Solar Energy. Do you want to replace 50% of your Power Needs? 75%? 100%? That is entirely up to you. And once you have figured that out, you are ready for the next step that will tell you what size Solar Energy System you will need to offset your power needs.

With your electrical needs in hand, you are ready to use a great online resource, that is FREE, which will help you determine what size Solar Electric System you will need to purchase and install for your home or office.

The online program is call PVWatts, and DIY Solar Guide strongly recommends that you use Version 1 for its ease of use. You can find and use PVWatts Here. Simply follow the online instructions, and in no time you will know exactly what size Grid-Tied Solar System you need, which you can then purchase right here from DIY Solar Guide here.

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