Porter Solar Power Information & Peak Sun Hours
Solar Green Energy Summary for Porter, Washington
Lattitude: 46.9489
Sunlight
Fixed Tilt Sunlight Hours: 3.6 hours per day
1-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.5 hours per day
2-Axis Tilt Sunlight Hours: 4.7 hours per day
The average peak sun hours of Porter is a crucial measurable component needed to efficiently implement a solar power system in a home or business. Put simply, peak sun hours are the hours of sunlight a day that are strong enough to be efficiently absorbed by solar panels and eventually turned into usable electricity. Not every minute of sunlight during a day is strong enough to be useful to a solar power system. Think about just minutes after the sunrises, which officially counts towards total hours of sunlight, but is usually too weak to be counted in peak sun hours because the strength of the solar insolation is not strong enough near the horizon to be absorbed and turned into electricity at an efficient rate. Times during the day like this, where the sun is out but not strong enough, are not counted as peak sun hours. In other words, the amount of peak sun hours in a location will theoretically always be less than total sunlight hours for a given day.
Sunlight hits the earth directly at the equator. This is why the equator has a latitude of zero degrees. The latitude of Porter is 46.9. Knowing the latitude of Porter 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.
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.
In Porter you can look at the average peak sun hours of a fixed solar panel mount, which will be 3.6 hours. This number iis an estimate based on data of previous years. With a tracking mount in Porter you could theoretically increase the amount of peak sun hours per with a 1-axis mount, and get 4.5 hours, or a 2-axis mount and potentially increase your average to 4.7 hours.