Let’s face it, everybody no matter who you or your organization are are using electricity. That much we can all agree on. When there is an interest in finding alternative power sources such as PV solar panels, it is really important to figure out what the barriers are to implementing an actual solar system.
A church in the San Francisco Bay Area decided it was time to get solar panels installed on it’s roof, and the system look pretty amazing. But, what’s most important is that the system is as efficient as possible because the overall expense to a church for solar energy can be enormous.
Here is a picture of what a nearly 18 KW SOLAR SYSTEM looks like when the sunshine is shining on it.
18 KW Solar System on Church
How much electricity is this solar system really providing to this church and is it a good financial decision?
So, if we look at the picture, we can figure out the rough estimates for the math.
Calculating KWH and Dollar Savings From Solar:
88 Solar Panels
200 watts each = 17.6 KW Solar System
17.6 KW Solar System Specifications |
|
| City: | San Francisco |
| State: | California |
| Latitude: | 37.62° N |
| Longitude: | 122.38° W |
| Elevation: | 5 m |
| PV System Specifications | |
| DC Rating: | 17.6 kW |
| DC to AC Derate Factor: | 0.770 |
| AC Rating: | 13.6 kW |
| Array Type: | Fixed Tilt |
| Array Tilt: | 37.6° |
| Array Azimuth: | 180.0° |
| Energy Specifications | |
| Cost of Electricity: | 25.0 ¢/kWh |
Solar Electricity Output and $ Value |
|||
| Month | Solar Radiation (kWh/m 2/day) |
AC Energy (kWh) |
Energy Value($) |
| 1 | 3.62 | 1447 | 361.75 |
| 2 | 4.59 | 1665 | 416.25 |
| 3 | 5.22 | 2109 | 527.25 |
| 4 | 6.11 | 2352 | 588.00 |
| 5 | 6.36 | 2532 | 633.00 |
| 6 | 6.47 | 2486 | 621.50 |
| 7 | 7.01 | 2768 | 692.00 |
| 8 | 6.67 | 2624 | 656.00 |
| 9 | 6.62 | 2498 | 624.50 |
| 10 | 5.41 | 2133 | 533.25 |
| 11 | 3.87 | 1487 | 371.75 |
| 12 | 3.35 | 1348 | 337.00 |
| Year | 5.45 | 25448 |
$6362.00 |
From the table above, you can see that this system will be making approximately $6362.00 per year of electricity. That is a fairly large number, but we need to compare that to the system’s overall cost. At 17,600 watts, and lets assume that the system has a cost of approximately $6/watt. That would mean a PV system cost of roughly: $105,600. Of course there are probably some local rebates and maybe even some state level and federal rebates or funding programs, so this certain location with high costs in terms of kilowatt per hour charges might make sense for a longterm solar option. If you were part of a church which was paying only $0.10 per KWH of electricity, the cost structure would be totally different and probably not make very much sense to buy solar power.
