Enough Solar Panels To Power The World

Assuming this power rating we would need to divide 2 75 tw by 350w which gives us the gigantic number of 7 85 billion 7 857 142 857 to be precise panels required.

Enough solar panels to power the world.

Consumes about 4 petawatt hours of electricity per year we d need about 13 600 000 acres or 21 250 square miles of solar panels to meet the total electricity requirements of the united states for a year. The earth s current energy consumption rate is around 13 5 tw at any given moment including oil gas coal nuclear and hydroelectric. The yellow square is approximately 21 000 square miles. Now if we cover an area of the earth 335 kilometers by 335 kilometers with solar panels even with moderate efficiencies achievable easily today it will provide more than 17 4 tw power.

Here we are supposing a panel size of 350w for the calculated size of 18tw of solar plants. For the first time ever solar and wind made up the majority of the world s new power generation marking a seismic shift in how nations get their electricity. We receive a staggering 1 74 1017 watts of energy from it. By another measure the unpopulated area of the sahara desert is over 9 million km which if covered with solar panels would provide 630 terawatts total power.

The current standard size of panels used in a large sized solar plant is easily over 350w. A total of 51 42 billion solar panels would be needed to power the entire world on solar energy. Put another way this is the equivalent of a solar power plant that covers 115 625 square miles. It would take 51 4 billion 350w solar panels to power the world.

How do we arrive at this number. It has been estimated that given current solar panel efficiency rates of about 20 it would take us covering a landmass area the size of spain with solar panels in order to power the world in. Solar additions last year.