Shipshewana Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Shipshewana, Indiana
Lattitude: 41.6749
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.2 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.3 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.6 hours per day
Looking at the average peak sunlight hours in Shipshewana 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 Shipshewana, Indiana.
The latitude at the equator of the earth is zero degrees. This is where sunlight strikes the earth most directly. Due to the earth's curved shape, sunlight hits at a various angles depending on location. As latitude increases, the further you are located from the equator and more variance you see in sunlight hours. The latitude of Shipshewana is 41.7.
Throughout the day the sun obviously moves throughout the Shipshewana sky. The suns position in the sky also changes throughout the year with the seasons. A fixed solar panel does not accommodate for these changes. However, a 1-axis panel rotates and follows the sun’s path during the day. A 2-axis panel both follows the sun’s daily path as well as the seasonal differences
There are more variables than latitude that can change average peak sun hours. Weather patterns and geography will influence solar insolation that reaches your system. Thick grey storm clouds for example will block out a lot of the sun to the point where there may be no peak sun hours in the middle of the day when the sun is usually very powerful. Trees and mountains can deflect the sunlight, so be sure your solar panel is selectively placed.
Since we know the latitude of Shipshewana we can take the average amount of total sunlight hours and estimate that with a fixed solar panel there would be an average of 4.2 peak sun hours per day. 5.3 hours per day with a 1-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun from sunrise to sunset, and 5.6 hours with a 2-axis tracking mount that tracks the sun everywhere in the sky.