How Many Acres Of Solar Panels To Power The Us

We can however hope for a cumulative installed capacity crossing the required number with plants spread throughout various states.

How many acres of solar panels to power the us.

Solar would have to produce about 4 million gwh of electricity annually to provide enough energy to power the entire usa. There s 1 8 billion acres of land in the usa so about 0 6 of our land is all it would take. It consists of 1 7 million solar panels spread out over 13 square kilometers or 3 200 acres in kern and los angeles counties california. A megawatt of solar power plant requires about 5 acres of land.

Of that energy enough power reaches the earth in one hour to power all of society for a year. It s due to expand to be able to produce up to 18 mw of power but this plan is still in the works. Therefore we can say that for every acre the plant produces an average of 0 357 gwh or 357 mwh of energy per year. 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.

Map courtesy of google maps. That gives around 8 2. For context that s about the size of 142 football fields or 4 times the size of central park. Based on average solar production across the u s it would take about 21 250 square miles of solar panels to meet the country s electric needs.

2 75 tw or 2 750 000 mw would require 13 750 000 acres. According to a 2008 analysis by the national renewable energy laboratory supplying all of the united states electricity needs with photovoltaic solar energy would require roughly 0 6 percent of america s total land area or 1 948 square feet per person. Just 11 200 000 acres to generate 4 000 000. When it comes to solar energy per acre a photovoltaic solar plant which on average produces 1 gwh per year will require around 2 8 acres of land.

All told solar star produces 579 megawatts of energy enough to power about 255 000 homes. The yellow square is approximately 21 000 square miles. The topaz solar farm in san luis obispo county california which ranks as one of the largest solar farms in the united states offers 550 megawatts and covers 4 500 acres.