How much electricity does a solar panel produce?

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For those considering solar panels, the same few questions often pop up. One of them is with regards to how much energy solar panels produce in a day. It makes sense that you’d want to be sure of exactly what you can expect to generate, electricity-wise. Solar power offers a clean, reliable and renewable energy alternative to traditional methods of powering a home.

Living in the UK, you might be worried that the weather is not ideal for solar panels and the generation of solar power, but there is good news. You don’t need sunshine, just daylight!

This guide has been put together to explain the processes involved and to highlight the real benefits of solar power in the UK, especially when combined with a solar battery.

But more on that later. As the solar panels do their job, they generate energy during the day that can be used towards powering your home. But how much?


How Much Electricity Does a Solar Panel Produce?

It is hard to give an exact figure for your home, as depending on the number of solar panels you have installed at your property and the type of system in place the amount of kWh generated per day will vary.

In general terms though, a 3kWp or 4kWp solar panel system will be able to produce enough electricity to help meet a considerable proportion of the energy needs of a family home. For a smaller home, a 2kWp is more suitable.

Looking at a 4kWp system, the following is a general breakdown of what the energy you will generate is equivalent to over the course of a year:

  • Use the washing machine for 4,850 hours, or

  • Use the oven for 1,500 hours, or

  • 97,000 hours of power for the fridge

Can You Store the Energy that Your Solar Panels Produce?

This is a key point, one that we hinted at earlier. To truly maximise the benefit of your solar energy generation, you really need to accompany your solar panels with a solar battery.

This allows you to store the solar energy produced by your solar panels and use it at a time that suits you best. There isn’t much point having solar panels generate electricity through the day if you’re not there to use it.

With a solar battery, you can save it all up and use it towards powering your home right when you need it. With a solar battery, it will save the solar energy your panels generate during the day, so that you can use it to power your home in the evening. The battery can also charge from cheaper energy offered by time-of-use tariffs so that you can power your home from the cleanest and cheapest sources of energy.

How Much Money Can You Save with Solar Energy?

Should you follow the guidelines here around optimising your solar energy generation, storage and use, it is quite possible you could save anywhere between £400 and £800 on your annual energy bills. This is a significant financial benefit, not to mention the environmental plus.

Factor this awareness in as you weigh up the overall price. Many solar panels come with a 25-year performance guarantee and most solar batteries are guaranteed for around 10 years, so this is certainly a long-term investment that has the potential to provide benefit for decades.

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