How Do Solar Panels Hold Up in the Summer

During the summertime, utility bills rise, which causes everyone to look for ways to save while still keeping their houses cool. During the hot months, the majority of Americans have their air conditioning units running, which increases the amount of power you are extracting from the grid, which makes the electricity rates skyrocket.

There are ways to reduce your electrical bills and keeping their homes cool. You can upgrade to a smart thermostat, you can insulate your house and there is always the installation of ceiling fans. But the saving will only be a single-digit percentage margin.

But, there is an affordable option for tons of Americans, home solar panels. Taking the leap to go solar, will afford your home with a clean, affordable, reliable energy source. Switching to a home solar energy system will help you and your family save thousands of dollars on electric bills in the near future. 

Solar Can Help You Get Through The Long Hot Summer

If you base the data off James Hansen, who is a retired NASA climate scientist and the professor at Columbia University, summer temperatures have changed drastically over the past few decades. Between 2005 and 2015, around 60% if the analyzed sites were in the hot category, and nearly 15 % were in a new category: extremely hot.

The summers in many U.S. cities are now either hot or extremely hot compared with the mid-20th century and in many U.S. states air conditioning is no longer a luxury item, it’s a fundamental component to living a normal life.

If your home is connected to the energy grid, all of your AC units need fossil-fuel based on the power to run, and its purpose is to help you stay cool, it’s a proven fact that air-conditioner use contributes to global warming and hotter summers.

Reason To Switch To Solar In The Summer

The summer is the prime time to switch to solar panels because the days are longer, the sky is bluer and the strong sun means that solar panels will perform at peak capacity during the months of summer.

More Sunlight 

The longer the days are, it means that there are more hours of sunlight, which is great news if there are solar panels installed on a rooftop or somewhere on the property. Certain states will produce 10 to 12 hours of sunlight during the, which means that your solar panels will have 14 to 15 hours to optimize the sunlight and turn it into energy.

There will be days where a summer storm will interrupt the sun for a bit, but even though there are summer storms summer is still the prime season for a home solar energy system production. Not only is the sun shining, but the sun is strong and the weather is usually favorable for long hours producing hours of light. In the summertime, you can expect the panels to deliver the top productivity levels for the years.

The Hotter It Is The Harder The Work

The best thing about summertime is the warmer weather. It is known that the heat index will head up to uncomfortable levels and that’s when you hit the beach, go in the pool or use the air conditioner. But your solar panels will feel the heat too and that heat may impact the performance of the solar system.

Your solar panels are designed to absorb the sun’s rays and convert the light into the electricity that is used for your home. During these summer months, the weather is hot and your panels retain more heat and will not be as efficient with their conversions. When the weather is cooler, your panels will have the capacity to be more efficient with the light that it captures to produce electricity.

Though the summer days are hot they have, extra hours of daylight, therefore the abundance of sunlight to make up for the very slight dip of efficiency in the system.

Reap The Benefits Of Your Panels Hard Work

With the seasons changing from spring to summer, the sunny days will be abundant, your solar panels will work hard but they might even provide enough energy to power your home is still connected to the power grid. Any energy created by a home solar energy system that is unused that your solar panels produce is sent back to the grid and your electrical company will pay for that energy. This process is called net metering. If you normally pay $0.21 per kWh a month, your energy provider will give you $0.21 per kWh that you end back to the grid.

The Summer Storms

Summer thunderstorms can roll in unexpectedly, they are nice to listen to, cool to look at and will sometimes interrupt, summer lake or beach days. There are also power outages that are a popular occurrence in the summertime and sometimes people wonder if their solar panels will be their savior if the power in their neighborhood is out.

But unfortunately, when the power turns off, so do the panels. The reason that the panels shut off is while their power goes out is for safety reasons, because solar systems are bidirectional (energy comes to you, you give back), it is possible to have a home solar energy system could send electricity to wires that engineers are trying to fix during a storm, which causes potential dangerous situations. So no matter what a power outage is an inconvenience no matter the power system that you have.

If you have solar panels that means that the way that you consume energy is fundamentally changed. During the summertime, it is the best time to see the solar benefits that come from your home solar energy system. It will also be the best way to reduce your summer utility bills.