It has come to our attention that this website is reaching people from different parts of the world which were our intention. We plan to educate and make awareness in the solar energy field in simple terms that our readers and customers can understand.
If you take a look at our article on steps on how to build up your solar system, we have used the generation factor that corresponds to northern Europe.
We found this unfair to people living in southern Europe, United States of America, Australia etc because they have different sun hours compared to northern Europe.
This means that the budgets can get even cheaper and give the same required output in this different areas. In simple terms, the $10,000 budget in northern Europe can cost less in southern Europe.
This difference is all brought about by the sun hours. If a place experiences more sun hours you wouldn’t need a lot of panels to generate a certain amount of power.
for example in Africa averagely the sun is available for 8 hours, that gives Africa 8 sun-hours and in north Europe averagely the sun is available for 3 hours that makes it 3 sun hours. The question is asked;
How much power in watts, would a 100 watts Regony solar panel generate in one day in both Africa and North Europe? Remember the generation factor in;
1. Europe=3
2. Africa=8
Hence solar panel in Africa will generate 100 watts x 8 =800watts while solar panel in North Europe will generate 100 watts x 3 =300 watts. So as you can see the number of sun hours available in your area of solar installation affects the cost of the system and also the size of the system.
That’s why I want to take this chance and comment on the sun hours on various continents and their major cities. Hopefully, this is going to help you analyze the budgets we already created according to your location.
We are going to focus on the following locations
- Europe
- The United States of America(USA)
- Australia
- Asia
Europes Average Daily Sun Hours (Solar Insolation)
As we all know the sun intensity increases as we get closer to the equator. This is because the equator is usually referred to as the sun’s path. At the equator, the sun is usually directly overhead and its intensity is high here. So according to that equator information, between North and South Europe which place do you think has the highest solar insolation? South Europe has the highest solar insolation.
This means that for a certain solar energy capacity in Northern Europe, it is cheaper to install the same capacity in South Europe.
The following map will help you determine the exact insolation factor to use while installing solar energy in around Europe. The figures are given in kilowatt Hours per Meter Square(Kwh/M2) 
Solar insolation in the United States of America(USA)
Solar energy is more affordable and very available in the united states now than ever before.The installation of solar power has risen from 1.2 gigawatts to 30 gigawatts today. From about 10 years back solar panels in the united state have fallen by 60% and the average cost of solar energy systems in the USA have dropped by 5o%.
All the whole world smiles when change into solar is recognized. This is because we all have the same objectives irrespective of which part of the world we come from. That is to go solar and try to fight the fossil fuels which cause a crash to our climate.
This website is all about helping people go solar. For people living in the USA, I sourced for a map and table that will help you determine the solar insolation around USA cities. Both for North America and Latin America(South America)
Solar insolation in Australia
By September 2016 5440 megawatts of installed photovoltaic solar power was up and running in Australia. Solar energy has contributed to 2.4% of the general electrical power in 2014-2015 in Australia. The Australian dry climate and latitudes give Australia unlimited potential and capabilities for solar energy production.
The minimum solar insolation during winter is 4Kwh/M2 with northern parts of Australia receiving solar insolation of up to 6Kwh/M2. The solar insolation in Australia exceeds by way far the solar insolation available in Europe, Russia, and most of North America.
So as it is our habit; to help you an esteemed visitor to our website be able to install solar power in your home yourself, I am here to provide you with the solar insolation map of Australia so that you can be able to know the solar insolation factor to use while sizing for your system.
Solar insolation in Asia
Renewable energy is the main means of generating energy in Asia. For solar energy in Asia the combination of high solar insolation and high density of customers who are able to install the systems. Below is a map of solar insolation around Asia and will help you get the insolation figures.
How to read the maps?
Reading this map cannot be that confusing. It is very straightforward and direct to the point. The map includes a scale with different color variations.
For every color, it represents the degree of insolation annually.
The insolation is given in kilowatts hours per meter square.
To know the collect insolation of your area check the color of the country you come from and then check the value of the insolation on the scale below every map.
Remember these figures are the average annual insolation. So to find the insolation on daily basis you divide the figure with 365 which is the number of days in one year.
For example, take Singapore. Singapore is in Asia, the color given on the map is yellow, Yellow on the scale stands for 1600 Kwh/M2. To get the solar insolation daily you divide 1600 Kwh/M2 with 365(days in a year). That is 1600 Kwh/M2/365=4.38 Kwh/M2.
This figure is used as the generating factor while sizing for a solar energy system.
Whenever you are reading through our budgets that we outlined on our budget page, you will notice that we have used the solar generation factor as 2.98 which is not accurate if you are not from Europe especially London.
So what you will have to do is follow the budgets as we have outlined but where we have included the generation factor, use the one you find above for your country.
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P.S. If you are interested in learning about a new way how you can invest in solar energy with an expexted return around 10%-20% per year then you might want to read this page
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