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How do you evaluate if your house is solar-ready?

Solar energy is slowly starting to see adoption from commercial and industrial users as well as households due to lower costs, increased affordability and government encouragement through subsides. If you have considered going solar, you have probably already heard of its cost-effectiveness and you hope that solar may be able to cut down on your electricity bills. What is left to be determined is if solar panels make sense for your home.

The first step is to evaluate the average amount of power you utilize on any given day
Do you consume between 6-20 units per day? Then going solar maybe a smart plan.

Understand how much grid power consumption is costing you
For most independent house owners, the electricity bill comes up to at least INR 2,000- 3,000. This depends on several factors such as location and its corresponding electricity tariff, use of water heater or an air conditioner etc. If you are a home owner and your bills are less than 1500, installing a system may not be a financially viable option. Also take into account the fact that the bills maybe considerably higher in summer due to higher consumption from ACs, coolers or fans.

Do you have the space to install solar panels?
Don’t go by myths that large spaces are necessary for solar system installations. Each panel has dimensions of around 5X3 feet only. As a thumb rule, a 100 sq ft rooftop area is required to install a 1 KW rooftop solar system. Contingent to what your energy requirements are (how much energy you want to offset), as well as the efficiency of the solar panels, you may need several solar panels and subsequently, a much larger area.

You need to have a shadow-free rooftop area available
The area of installation of panels must not be shadowed by any large objects such as overhead water tanks, walls, neighboring trees, roofs, buildings especially between 9:00 am – 7:00 pm. Even partial shading on the panels can cause reduced solar power output.

Strong roofing structure to bear the solar panels is also critical
A strong roofing structure is less spoken off, but is a significant factor. The solar system itself is not heavy will not cause any damage the roof strong winds can adversely affect installations. Therefore, the roof must be able to hold the installation when winds are blowing at high speed.

Lastly, keep in mind the climatic conditions of the place where you live
Solar harnesses the sun’s energy. While an ideal scenario includes 365 sunny days to ensure maximum benefit, solar power can be generated in all kinds of climates such as rain and hail. High-efficiency panels work to ensure conversion of direct and indirect sun rays.

A 1 KW installation can generate up to 4-5 units per day. Multiply each unit with the local tariff of your residence, and you have the total savings through net-metering.

Unable to decide if solar is for you? Leave it to the experts at Goldi Solar to do a site survey and help you solarize your home. Work with us to contribute positively to save the environment and your money.

You can use our solar calculator to get the system capacity, required space, monthly saving and the reduced carbon footprint.

Visit our home solutions section for more information and fill-up the form to get in touch with us. You can also email us your queries to [email protected] or call us on our toll-free number 18008335511 (Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 11 PM)