I'm doing a project for school and I'm a little confused about energy and solar panels. I'm looking to propose installation of solar panels to power the computer lab at my school. From what I've read a computer and monitor use roughly 350 watts per hour. I was looking at solar panels and it says they produce various wattage. For example, I was looking at one rated at 200 watts. Does that mean 200 watts in a day? Or per hour? Please help.
The rating of a solar panel is a maximum continuous rating. A 200 Watt panel will give a maximum of 200 watts under ideal conditions. A computer and monitor use about 400 Watts. not per hour - watts is Volts * Amps and a measure of Power. In hour a computer and monitor uses 400 Watt hours (Wh). Wh is a measure of Energy. To power a lab of 0 computers you will need 0* 400 = 4000 Watts. To run this from solar panels through the day only you would need a 4000 Watt panel. Except - its cloudy, the sun is in the wrong place - many factors reduce the output. To be reasonably safe you would need about a 2000 Watt panel. Then you would need batteries to store power through dull periods AND a voltage converter to change from low voltage DC from the solar panels to the mains voltage for your computers.
