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How much solar do I need? Top Five Reasons To Oversize A Solar Panel System | DroneQuote

Top Five Reasons To Oversize A Solar Panel System

How much solar do I need? How big should your solar panel system be? It may be tempting to install a panel system that will produce the amount of power you are using now. Moreover, maybe even a little bit less than what you use now. This post will share the top five reasons to oversize a solar panel system. Why it makes comfortable sense, financial sense, and logical sense, among other reasons.

1. An Oversized Solar Panel System Will Produce “Excess Power”

On the surface, most people who don’t have solar panels installed use electricity with some level of reservation. Admit it or not, this actually happens. When you compare your current to your future usage once you install solar panels, it will leave you wishing you had more power. This is because the psychology of using electricity will change once you install solar panels. You will no longer have second thoughts regarding utilizing the AC. You won’t be so quick to jump up and turn off a light as you once did. If you have a pool, chances are you will run your pool pump more often and for extended periods. This is true since pool equipment uses a lot of electricity.

No matter how you look at it,  your usage will increase. What would have otherwise been “excess power” will not just be the amount of power you use. This is a known human behavior that states,” energy efficiency improvements. Thus, will lead to higher levels of energy consumption…” known as the Khazzoom–Brookes postulate.

2. It is Cost Effective To Oversize the Solar Panel System

Costco is the place to buy in bulk and save money

The definition of buying in bulk.

When you decide to install a more extensive solar panel system, it does not significantly impact the price compared to the system’s total cost before adding two to three more solar panels. These additional panels may increase the cost by roughly $1,250 per panel, and adding three more panels to the system is much less expensive than adding the first 16 panels. The reason for this is the cost advantage known as economies of scale, which states that the cost per unit will decrease as you purchase more. A perfect example is when you buy one bottle of water at  7-11 for $1.99, but you can buy an 18-pack of water bottles at Costco for $ 9.99.

Furthermore, if you decide to add the additional three panels in the future, you will pay far more for those panels than you would if you had added them on the front end. Getting a crew of installers, running permits, design, and everything else that goes into the installation cost will be distributed. There are only three panels in this example vs. 19 in the previous example.

When you look at cost from a monthly perspective, if you decide to finance, the cost becomes even more tolerable compared to your current utility bill. An additional panel would run you between $8-14 a month but may save you more than that, especially if you live in an area where the first tier is more than .25¢/kwh.

 

3. Oversize Your Solar System For Future Use

Small baby growing into a full size suit - future fitting for anticipated growth

Future fit for tomorrow

The thing about the future is that we can’t predict it. However, we can say with a strong level of certainty that the cost of electricity will continue to rise. In the state of Georgia, there is a proposal to increase the consumers’ bills by up to 12%, which is paltry compared to California utilities. The same can be said about electricity rates in Iowa-they’re also increasing.

So, what does this mean for your solar panel system? If you oversize it now, you will have room to grow into the system later. It can be when you finally decide to get an electric vehicle, install an AC unit, or perhaps if your household size increases. It comes down to whether you don’t pull the power from the solar panel system; you will remove it from the grid at a higher price. You can avoid those future expenses by oversizing your solar panel system now. Note that solar costs will be fixed while the power cost from the utility will only continue to rise.

Ultimately, planning for the future is future-fitting your electrical needs with the purchase you make today. So that you have it when you need it rather than wish you had it, or what is more commonly known as regret.

 

4. Oversize Your Solar System To Prevent Regret

 

I wish I had oversized my solar panel system

Regretting not doing something

If there is one thing that people do really well, it is looking back at the past and saying to themselves, “I should have done X differently” or “If I could go back in time, I would have done Y.”

Solar panels are no different, and I know this from experience. I installed 125% of my historical usage, meaning I added 25% more power; guess who regretted not adding more panels? Having the foresight to add solar panels today will save you the regret of not doing so.

 

5. Oversize Your Solar Panel System for degradation

 

Graph showing solar panel degradation over 25 years

Panel Degradation

The final reason it makes sense to oversize your solar panel system is that solar panels lose capacity throughout their life span. As the saying goes, nothing lasts forever, which applies to solar panels. A solar panel system will have a warranty that lasts 25 years. Still, over those 25 years, solar panels will lose 10-20% of their capacity to produce power.

As your solar panel system produces less power, you will buy more power from the utility company at whatever price they charge. In most cases, it will be a price considerably higher than the power from your solar panels.

Imagine what power will cost 15 years after the utility has increased prices several times. Now your panels are producing a little bit less power. The additional power you installed by oversizing your solar panel system will come in handy immediately. Not to mention the other things you’ve been running in your house that use more power.

 

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