Ostrander Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Ostrander, Washington
Lattitude: 46.1926
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 3.8 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.1 hours per day
Peak sun hours is one of the most important criteria to examine when considering installing a solar power system. Peak sun hours are different than total sunlight hours in a day because the strength of the radiation of the sun varies throughout the day. For example, during sunrise and sunset the solar insolation from the sun is less powerful than at noon. For a moment of sunshine to be considered a peak sun hour the intensity needs to be at least 1 kilowatt per square meter. This means that a square meter of your solar panel should be receiving 1 kilowatt of energy from the sun. This number is used because it is an amount of light that allows a solar panel to produce output efficiently and not under perform due to lack of sunlight power.
Sunlight hits the earth directly at the equator. This is why the equator has a latitude of zero degrees. The latitude of Ostrander is 46.2. Knowing the latitude of Ostrander can help you plan for your solar panel setup, as the larger the latitude the more variance you will see throughout the year for total daily sunlight hours.
Throughout the day the sun obviously moves throughout the Ostrander 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
Climate in your geographical region is a major factor that will influence average peak sun hours per year. If you live in a region that does not have a lot of completely sunny days, then cloud coverage will greatly influence solar insolation on any given day. Mountains and trees may also contribute to lower solar insolation if they block the sun from your panels at any given point of the day.
We can use previous years of data to estimate the amount of peak sun hours in Ostrander. A fixed tilt mount for example will receive 3.8 average hours per day. For more efficiency for your system in Ostrander you could use a 1-axis tracking mount and increase your daily peak sun average to 5 hours, or even further with a 2-axis panel to get an average of 6.1 hours.
Helpful & Interesting
Can you run a refrigerator on a generator?
For example, if you want a generator to run a refrigerator and a freezer, the wattage (table 2) of the refrigerator would be 800 and the freezer would be 1,000. ... If you can be certain both appliances will not start at the same time, you would only need 4,800 watts (to run the refrigerator while starting the freezer).