How Many Solar Panels To Run The World

A 3kw solar system which consists of 12 panels can produce an average of 4 200 kwh per year.

How many solar panels to run the world.

According to a graduate thesis by technical university of braunschweig student nadine may the number of solar panels needed to supply the entire world s energy needs would fill just 25 000 square. The current standard size of panels used in a large sized solar plant is easily over 350w. Cochin international airport seventh busiest in india is the first one in the world to run entirely on solar power handling more than 1 000 flights a week. You will need a roof space of about 340 sq ft for a 5kw system.

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. We receive a staggering 1 74 10 17 watts of energy from it. A 5kw solar system which consists of 20 panels can produce an average of 7 000 kwh per year. A better approach is to look at real world data captured from real world solar arrays and just extrapolate from there.

This is roughly equal to the area of spain. Here we are supposing a panel size of 350w for the calculated size of 18tw of solar plants. How do we arrive at this number. Starting with some conservative assumptions from a 2013 national renewable energy labs nrel report we know that it takes on average 3 4 acres of solar panels to generate a gigawatt hour of electricity over a year.

Similarly the union territory of diu is fully run by solar power. A total of 51 42 billion solar panels would be needed to power the entire world on solar energy. Solar power features prominently in modi government s us 2 5 billion saubhagya scheme launched in july 2015 to electrify. You will need a roof space of about 194 sq ft for a 3kw system.

Now if we cover an area of the earth 335 kilometers by 335 kilometers with solar panels even with moderate efficiencies achievable easily today it will provide more than 17 4 tw power. Just 11 200 000 acres to generate 4 000 000.