Whether for ecological reasons or out of necessity, the truth is that the use of solar panels for balconies is becoming an upward trend in large cities. Therefore, in this article, we would like to explain all the characteristics that you should take into account if you too want to join those who collect part of the energy they consume. And it is that when we have little space, it is imperative to be practical and farsighted to choose well. And thus, get the most out of those square meters of balcony, terrace or garden.
Until now, the installation of solar panels in individuals was reserved for the privileged who had a house. Since without a doubt, the best place to generate energy at home is the roof. But, if you don't have it, we can find various alternatives that we want to talk about in this article.
5 points to take into account before choosing solar panels for balconies
1. You will not be able to have absolute energy self-consumption
The first thing you must assume is that if you have a few square meters of garden, balcony or terrace, you will not be able to accumulate enough energy to disconnect from the electrical network and have self-consumption . For such a project to become a reality, an exhaustive analysis of energy consumption, variations in solar radiation throughout the year, the creation of energy management and storage systems and In short, requires a large project that cannot be sustained only with a few solar panels. So when we talk about solar panels for balconies, we are talking about an energy support project where families want to generate part of the energy they consume to reduce their carbon footprint and save on electricity bills.
2. Take advantage of the space and decide where you are going to put them
The next thing to consider is the space you have and how you could use it to collect solar energy.
Balcony
If you have a balcony where there is sunlight in your house, the first thing you should do is think about where your solar panels could go. You must bear in mind that in order for the plates to be able to collect solar energy well, they must face the sun for as long as possible. If your balcony is small and the possibility of putting panels is reduced, the best option is to install a portable solar panel. In this way you can move the plates and maximize efficiency. On the other hand, if you have a more or less large balcony where you can place more than one solar panel and it is oriented to the south, you can think of rigid panels.
Terrace and/or garden
The terraces of buildings are usually located at the top independently of the attic, so it is normally a place that receives many hours of sun. On the other hand, with gardens, the dilemma will not be trying to optimize the space to the extreme, but thinking about the best location and how many solar panels to put.
As you can see, in order to even consider installing solar panels, it is necessary that, at least, the balcony, terrace or garden receive sunlight during the morning and/or afternoon. Also, if this space is oriented to the south, you already have a great advantage and that is that the ideal orientation to direct the solar panels is to the south at an azimuth angle of 180º .
3. Don't do a complex installation
Another important idea to take into account when choosing solar panels for balconies is that their installation cannot include a work because, if so, you will need permits from the town hall . The easiest thing, in this case, is to make a simple system with which to generate electricity on a balcony. You must bear in mind that, in the case of installing solar panels for balconies on community facades or terraces, you will have to request permission from the community of neighbors. However, for solar panels for gardens, if the garden is your property, it will not even be necessary to ask the neighbors for permission.
4. Different types of solar panels
The next thing to take into account are all the types of solar panels that we can find on the market and thus find the format that best suits the needs and space situation:
Rigid solar panels
These are the classic solar panels that have a metal frame. You can find these in different sizes but in general they have dimensions of 1.7 x 1 meter. This type of solar panels are ideal for large locations such as terraces or gardens. The advantage of this type of plates is that there is a wide range of prices and you can find very affordable options.
Flexible solar panels
These solar panels, as their name indicates, are flexible. They have become quite popular since they adapt to any surface. They can be extremely useful on balconies, to put on the outside of the balcony, for windows or any surface that is not flat. The downside is that they are quite a bit more expensive than rigid plates.
Portable solar panels
Installing a portable solar panel is a great idea since it is the most versatile option between the two previous ones. And it is that it is solar panels that you can put on and remove whenever you want. They are ideal for any circumstance, but especially for very small balconies where you have to move them to maximize the goal of generating electricity on a balcony.
5. Calculate which household appliances you want to support in solar energy
As we have already mentioned, you should assume that by putting solar panels for balconies you will get support energy for your total consumption. Therefore you must decide which appliances you want to power the solar panels. So you can choose solar panels with a specific power that meets your needs. This step is perhaps the most complex if you are not familiar with basic electronics. For this reason, we leave you this article in which we talked about how to choose the best solar panel for a refrigerator. There we explain how to find out the consumption of a refrigerator and, based on that, choose the power of the solar panels. The only thing you will have to do is extrapolate the formula to the other electrical appliances that you want to connect to your new installation.
The most practical option: solar panel kits
Taking into account that most of the situations we find ourselves in among those who want to generate electricity on a balcony, we can say that the most practical option is solar panel kits. This is due to the fact that, on the one hand, most people live in rent and do not want or cannot do installations; and on the other hand, the balconies are not well located and moving the solar panels is essential.
What does installing a portable solar panel consist of?
Normally, when you install or buy solar panels, they must be accompanied by a battery, a regulator and an inverter that will store and distribute all that solar energy that we collect. However, portable solar panel kits include the solar panels and a power station that would be something of an 'all in one'. It consists of a practical device that does all the functions we need.
That is, the power stations are easily connected to the plates and from that same station we can connect, for example, the mobile charger, the laptop, the microwave, the miniquick etc
As you can see in this example (BLUETTI EB55 portable power station), in the power station you have 21v connectors, USB connectors and even car connector. In addition, another essential element of these devices is the administration screen from where you can see information about how the solar panels are charging, how the battery is doing and how much the device you place consumes. In short, it is an ideal alternative for people who, in a short time and without a very large investment of money, can start from day one to generate their own energy and save on electricity. electricity bill.
How much can you save by generating electricity on a balcony?
We would like to end with the million dollar question. The question that perhaps has brought you an interest in this topic. The downside is that we cannot give you an exact figure because there are many variables that can cause the monthly savings percentage to vary. One of the variables that affects the most is the power capacity of your solar panels. The more power, the more energy you can store and the more devices you can connect to your solar energy that you accumulate. However, if we make a very general average, we could tell you that with an installation that is neither very basic nor very extravagant, you could save 30% or 40% on the total bill.
