The estimated cost for a solar panel system on you house.

    How much it would cost to install enough photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on a house building to generate one’s own electrical energy? 

    The average house in the USA, consumes electricity at the rate of 1 kW per hour (kWh). There are about 730 hours in each month, and the average price of a kWh of electricity is $0.10. Your monthly bill would be around $73 for 730 kWh of electricity. This can vary considerably if you have items such as a hot-tub, or some electrical appliances running continuously. Extended use, plasma screen TVs, computers and video games consoles can also make an impact. Your usage will significantly increase in months when you run an air conditioning unit.The cost of electricity varies widely across the USA, from as low as $0.07/kWh in West Virginia to as much as $0.24/kWh in Hawaii.

     A conservative value to use as a solar panel’s generating capacity is 10 watts/sq. ft. This represents a panel conversion efficiency of about 12%, which is typical. This means that for every kW you generate, you need about 100 sq. ft. of solar panels. If the sun shined 24 hours a day, you could put up 100 sq. ft. of panels and have enough energy to power the average home. The sun is available only during daylight hours, and the amount available per day is highly dependent on the extent of cloud cover. 

    Also, the length of each day is dependent on the season. It average  from around 3 hours per day in places like Seattle and Pittsburgh, to 5 or 6 hours per day in states like Colorado and California, to a high of 7 hours per day in Arizona. What that means is that the size of the panel array required can vary, anywhere from 400 sq. ft. to 800 sq. ft. (i.e., 4 kW to 8 kW), depending on where you live. You’ll need more panels if you live in a location that gets less sunshine per day, and fewer if you live in a location that gets more.

    The way to evaluate solar panel system cost is cost-per-watt, or dollars-per-watt. It’s calculated by taking the total cost to install the system (parts and labor), and dividing by how much power it produces (electrical output).
       


   So this is what the estimate installed cost of solar panels is, between $7-$9 per watt: A 5 kW system would cost around $25,000-$35,000. This is just an estimate. Many utility companies offer incentives, and some subsidize as much as 50% of system costs. Even at half the cost, though, a system that generates an average $75 of electricity per month could take a long time to pay for itself.

   This is a lot of money to put out at one time be it might be worth it in the long run. 

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