How Much Does a Solar Panel Weight? Can Your Roof Handle It?

With people becoming more aware of climate change, many have started to use alternative energy and eco-friendly products to reduce their carbon emissions. That is why you have probably seen a lot of houses putting up solar panels on their roofs.

They might look small, but you will not know how big or heavy those things can be unless you get up on those roofs. So, you might be wondering, how much does a solar panel weight, and how big is it? Well, it will mostly depend on the brand of your solar panel.

How Much Do Solar Panels Weight?

Before you order your solar panel system, it would be best to know first how heavy are solar panels. If you plan to install a solar system that can handle your energy consumption, it will certainly take more than one solar panel.

For example, if you want to install a 6kWh hour solar system with the use of a 300-watt solar panel, you will need to install 20 of them on your roof.

So to give you a look at how much solar panels weigh, here is a list of some brands offering standard 60-celled solar panels for residential homes:

There may be different weights for different brands, but you can tell that the weight of solar panels, on average, is 40lbs (18kgs) each.

How Big Can Solar Panels Be

For residential homes, the average size for their solar panels would be about 5.4 feet by 3.25 feet or 1.6 meters by 1 meter. Of course, there will still be some variations with different brands, but this is the typical size for most.

A 6kW solar system on your roof using 300 watts solar panels would measure up to 27 by 13 feet or roughly 8 by 4 meters. The surface area would be about 351 square feet or 32 square meters.

But that measurement is just assuming that you have a roof area with no obstruction whatsoever, which often, in reality, is unlikely.

So if you have a small surface on your roof, it would be best to buy solar panels with higher energy production. They may be expensive, but you will get the planned energy production for your solar system with a smaller surface area.

Can Your Roof Carry Your Solar Panel System

Since we know the size and weight of an average solar panel, we can now determine how much a solar panel system will weigh altogether. This will, in return, tell you if your roof can handle such weight.

For consistency, we will still use 300-watt solar panels for a 6 kW solar system. Just like what was said, we would need about 20 of them. If we stack all of them together, they would weigh about 800 lbs or 362 kgs (40 lbs x 20). Since the surface area is 351 square feet, the solar panel weight per square foot would be 2.3 lbs (1 kg).

Adding your mounting equipment, too, and each square foot of your system would most likely weigh 3 – 4 lbs or almost 2 kilograms. If your roofs are new, they most likely are able to handle the weight.

But if your roofs are old, it would be best that you ask a roofing company or some expert if your roof can handle the weight. A simple roof inspection should be no problem at all.

Conclusion

Because climate change has become more of a problem, more people are using alternative energy and eco-friendly products. So it would be no surprise that you would install a solar panel system on your roof to lessen your fossil fuel consumption.

But with this kind of projects, it is important to do some research first, like how much does a solar panel weight or what its size is. By doing so, you can assess if your roof can handle more than one panel, letting you avoid bad accidents.

Eddie B. Robinson

Hi, I am Eddie, Cleanenergysummit’s content editor. It’s so much joy to work alongside Justin, as the idea of providing knowledge about using clean energy excites us.

I’ve been working to address any concerns or questions you may have as you transition to using solar electricity to power your home. Tune in to hear our advice and suggestions on anything clean energy. Welcome!