Cleveland Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Cleveland, Georgia
Lattitude: 34.5971
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.7 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.7 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 7.1 hours per day
Looking at the average peak sunlight hours in Cleveland is a valuable number for determining your solar power setup. Peak sunlight hours are only the hours a day in which the sunlight is strong enough for the solar panels to do their job. Not every hour of sunlight was created equal. For example, solar panels do not provide much use during early sunrise and sunset, and therefore you should not look at total hours of sunlight in a day, but instead focus on peak sunlight hours. Using this number will provide a much better estimate of your needs for setting up panels in Cleveland, Georgia.
Although you can easily predict sunrise and sunset hours each day to the minute, looking at latitude can help with your solar planning. The closer you get to the equator the closer your latitude gets to zero. Sunlight hours on the equator are consistent throughout the entire year. Places further from the equator can have large variance in daily sunlight. For example higher latitudes can have very long summer days with lots of sunlight and very dark winters. The latitude of Cleveland is 34.6.
They type of solar panel you use has an affect on the average peak sunlight hours. Some panels allow for movement, so they can track the sun as it rises in the east and sets in the west, or as the seasons change and the sun's path changes. A fixed panel remains fixed and does not have the ability to rotate, whereas a 1-axis and 2-axis panel can adjust with the sun.
Another reason to consider average peak sun hours is because weather can dramatically affect the day-to-day output of solar panels. It goes without saying that a dark stormy day will produce less output than a clear sunny day. Looking at a yearly average helps account for these daily variables.
We can take the latitude of Cleveland and use that number to know the amount of total sunlight hours in the region from sunlight to sunset and estimate that with a fixed solar panel, Cleveland will receive 4.7 average peak sun hours per day. This number can be increased to 5.7 hours by using a 1-axis tracking mount, or 7.1 hours from a 2-axis tracking mount.
Helpful & Interesting
Do solar panels produce glare?
A common misconception about solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is that they inherently cause or create "too much" glare, posing a nuisance to neighbors and a safety risk for pilots. While solar PV systems can produce glare, light absorption - rather than reflection - is central to the function of solar PV panels.