How Many Solar Panels To Power The Us

Installed 10 6 gw of solar in 2018 alone.

How many solar panels to power the us.

In 2018 utility scale solar power generated 66 6 terawatt hours twh 1 66 of total u s. This number does look intimidating but with a large number of solar companies in u s. With solar panels it would take a fairly small corner of nevada or texas or utah. The fundamental solar energy stats.

Solar has ranked either first or second in capacity added to the u s. If you wanted to power the entire u s. Had 64 2 gw of installed solar enough to power 12 3 million american homes. You only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to power the entire united states.

Assuming this power rating we would need to divide 2 75 tw by 350w which gives us the gigantic number of 7 85 billion 7 857 142 857 to be precise panels required. Electric total every year since 2013. It can be turned into reality. This is enough capacity to power the equivalent of 12 million average american homes 1.

Installations have grown 35 fold to an estimated 62 5 gigawatts gw today. After all we don t have dual suns that permit us to soak up solar energy 24 hours a day and there will be inevitable interruptions in power relay due to maintenance or any number of incidents. Solar energy accounts for 1 6 of total u s. The batteries you need to store the energy to make sure you have 24 7 power is 1 mile by 1 mile.