Array Size

So how big of a solar array do we need to produce 54kWh per day?

Factors that affect power output include geographic location, physical size, power efficiency, and panel layout among other things. Let’s work through this step-by-step:

First we have to estimate how much energy we can collect from the sun each day. This varies based upon the latitude and the time of the year. There are several good software applications that will simulate this and give you precise data. the one I used is called System Advisor Model (SAM) produced by Sandia National Labs.

Assuming we stay on roughly the 34th parallel (i.e. Dallas) and we travel in the fall or spring, we will get roughly 6 hours of peak sunlight a day. Dividing 54K by 6 means we’ll need an 9kW solar array. That’s a big array!

That number assumes the panels track the Sun and capturing all available energy from dawn-to-dusk. But in most arrays the panels are mounted in a fixed position. This reduces the daily energy capture by about 30%. So we’d have to correspondingly increase the array size to compensate.

A compromise solution is to break the array into multiple smaller towers. Each tower will be roughly 8ft tall and can be set up by a single person fairly easily. This also allows flexibility in positioning the towers to better cover available space and conditions. This is the approach we are going to focus on.