Looking for a way to cut your household energy bill? You are not alone. Most property owners in the country are in search of affordable, sustainable energy.

While the country boasts ideal weather conditions to tap solar energy, the current use of this renewable energy is low. According to Geoscience Australia, the country receives an average of 58 million PJ of solar radiation per year.

This is approximately 10 000 times larger than its total energy consumption. However, solar energy accounts for only about 0.1 percent of Australia’s total primary energy consumption.

While the government has initiated solar energy programs, households and businesses have to do more. Installing solar panels is a smart move for realizing cost-savings in power bills. Solar energy not only cuts your power bill but is also friendly to the environment.

If you want to integrate clean energy into your property, the installation of solar panels is a great start. You have to work with a certified solar systems installer for this project. These contractors carry out free energy audits, select the best solar system, install and maintain your solar panel system.

If you want to install solar panels but have no idea how much roof space you need, this article is for you.

A licensed solar energy contractor works with you from the concept design to the installation and testing of the solar panels.

The first step in the installation of solar panels is to determine how much energy you need. To determine how much roof space you need, a solar panel installer does the following:

2. Calculate the number of panels: Solar energy professionals recommend a 5kW solar power system. This caters for an Australian home’s electricity usage. For this, you require 20, 250W panels.

3. Check the best roof position: You have to determine which part of the roof produces an acceptable power yield. This guarantees a return on investment for the project. Your solar panel installer will also work out the horizontal area and the tilt angle of the roof.

4. Determine roof space required: Each 250W panel is about 1.6m x 1m. This means for 20 solar panels, you at least 32m² of roof space.