Energy production of a photovoltaic system. The best online tools

Being able to calculate how much energy produces a photovoltaic system is essential in order to assess its economic performance. The owner of a photovoltaic system is in effect an Energy producer and it is precisely on the basis of this energy production that some Countries have created a Feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism. A photovoltaic system that produces, for example 1000 kWh / year, will be incentivated on this amount. Hence one is thinking about to install a photovoltaic system on his house needs to have an idea in advance of what will be the annual energy production available for FiT.


There are various tools to estimate the output in kWh / year of a photovoltaic system. The best is undoubtedly the simulator of the European Community called PV-GIS which allows very accurate simulations at any latitude and longitude in Europe and Africa.

The link access to PV-GIS Europe is as follows: http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps3/pvest.php.

On the left you can select a location by searching either by name or geographic coordinates.
On the right you can enter the technical data of the photovoltaic system of which you want to determine the energy production in kWh unit. You can leave the simulator PV-GIS to determine what are the optimal orientation and tilt of the location indicated.

The simulation is performed based on solar irradiation data collected during the last 9 years. It is therefore a simulation fairly reliable.

Anyway one must take those data carefully. Some recommendations on the use of those data are necessary since the production of a photovoltaic system depends on many factors which are often difficult to be determined. As for example the average temperature of the solar cells etc. ... The shadowing.  PV-GIS does not take into account possible sources of shade etc ....

The simulation result is very comprehensive and provides information on both irradiation and energy produced monthly / annual in  kWh.