Duffield Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Duffield, Virginia
Lattitude: 36.7196
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.7 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 5.6 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 6.8 hours per day
Looking at the average peak sunlight hours in Duffield 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 Duffield, Virginia.
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 Duffield is 36.7.
Throughout the day the sun obviously moves throughout the Duffield 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
Peak sun hours are greatly affected by weather patterns. Cloud coverage is a huge factor in peak sun hours per day because heavy cloud coverage will diminish the power of the solar insolation. You can use historical climate data to estimate average cloud and weather coverage, but it will obviously vary slightly from year to year.
In Duffield you can look at the average peak sun hours of a fixed solar panel mount, which will be 4.7 hours. This number iis an estimate based on data of previous years. With a tracking mount in Duffield you could theoretically increase the amount of peak sun hours per with a 1-axis mount, and get 5.6 hours, or a 2-axis mount and potentially increase your average to 6.8 hours.