Cantwell Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Cantwell, Alaska
Lattitude: 63.3792
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 2.9 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 3.8 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.4 hours per day
The amount of hours from sunrise to sunset is equal to the total sunlight hours in a 24 hour period. Similarly, peak sun hours are the amount of total sunlight hours in a 24 hour period that are strong enough to provide power from being captured by a solar panel. Not every hour of sunlight delivers the same amount of energy resources. The sunlight at sunrise does not provide as many resources as the amount of sunlight mid-day. Thus, looking at the average peak sunlight hours for Cantwell is valuable for calculating your solar needs.
If you open the newspaper in the morning or watch the weather channel on the news you can get an accurate prediction of sunrise and sunset each day for Cantwell. However, still knowing that the latitude of Cantwell is 63.4 can be a helpful number for your solar panel setup and planning. The closer your latitude is to zero the closer you are to the equator. At the equator you find the most consistent total sunlight hours throughout any given day of the year. As your latitude increases you can see larger discrepancies of daily sunlight hours during the year. For example, having very long summer days and very short and dark winter days
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.
Weather is one of the major culprits that will cause inconsistent total peak sun hours for any given day. The sunrise and sunset will always be predictable every day, but the weather is hard to predict and cloud coverage can greatly diminish the efficiency of a solar power system on any given day. On the bright side, a location that is known to have cloudy weather a majority of the year could have unexpectedly more sunny days, so it can go both ways.
The average daily peak sunlight hours in Cantwell, Alaska is 2.9 hours. Use this number when trying to calculate your solar needs in Cantwell. As you can see above, if you were to use a 1-Axis or 2-Axis panel then the daily average would increase to 3.8 hour and 4.4 hours, respectively.