[droithomme]

It took me some thinking to decode it as well. He has ratings numbers per watt-peak of the rating. Watt peak is a normalized output rating for a panel under some conditions and doesn't actually mean it's producing that in a given condition. He has numbers that a brand new 1 watt-peak panel gives 5.3 watts a day of power in a certain location with a certain configuration. He has a 4500Watt peak installation. So he multiplies the 4500 watt peak by the watts per day per watt-peak. The watt-peaks cancel out, giving watts per day. Multiplying further by days per month gives the average watts per month (average per year) for the 4500Wp installation in the given location. Basically, it's correct, but one has to understand that the W, typically called Watts, in the panel rating is not Watts, but a normalized Watt-peak rating of the panel. It is worth noting that solar salesmen will often intentionally confuse the two, leading homeowners to believe that their new installation has much higher capacity than it actually does.

[pingswept]

It's not a matter of decoding-- it's wrong. Watts are a rate of energy usage. It's like saying that my car can drive 60 MPH per day. Doesn't make any sense.

(I do think you're right about the confusion and exploitation of the difference between peak power and average power.)

[keenerd]

My car gets 60 miles per hour per day, when I am pushing it. At that acceleration I can do a quarter mile in just under 27 minutes.