A few rules of thumb for beginners:
[*]With cloud cover, about 30% of the maximum power is still available.
[*]In rainy weather and on cloudy winter days, still about 10%.
[*]It is very often cloudy – you only realize this when you look at the photovoltaic app…
[*]Electric cars start charging at 1.6 kW (inefficient).
[*]Average heat pumps draw between 200 and 2000 watts.
[*]More than half of what is possible with the given weather is delivered by systems on average between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
[*]Quite often, there is less output than you expect; especially in the mornings and evenings you usually wish for more.
[*]One year after commissioning, you regret not having built bigger right away.
[*]Photovoltaics are addictive.
I add:
- The stove quickly draws between 1000 and 2000 watts
- The dryer quickly draws between 1000 and 2000 watts
We have 395 watt modules with a total of almost 10 kWp capacity. In the morning we linger around 600 watts, even though the sun is almost blazing down on it. During the day, then 6000–8000 watts pound into the grid, in the evening quickly back down to about 600 watts. These are our figures with current sunny weather and southeast orientation.
During the day the washing machine and dryer run. When the stove is added, electricity becomes tight. The house has a base load of about 400 watts.
How it will run in winter or even with clouds, you can imagine. As says: you regret having built so small.