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Solar & battery

Solar Panel Quantity Calculator

Panels to order for a system, with spares for breakage in transit and handling.

Your numbers

%
$

Result

Panels to order 19
Before rounding 18.0
Material cost $3,990
Cost per kW $554.17
A 7.2 kW system needs 19 panels, about $3,990 in material, or $554.17 per kW.

Order a spare or two on anything sizeable. Glass breaks in transit and on roofs, and a single replacement panel ordered later often costs more in freight and delay than it does in equipment. Matching a discontinued model years later is worse again.

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Questions

About this calculator

Should panels all be the same model?

Within a string, yes. Mismatched panels drag the string down to the weakest one, and mixing models also complicates the voltage calculation.

How many spares?

One or two on a residential job. On commercial work a percentage is normal, both for breakage and so future repairs can use a matching module.

The formula

panels = system watts / panel watts, plus spares

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Estimating is the easy part

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