Balcony solar in Paterson
800 W of panels on a south-facing balcony railing in Paterson produce about 740 kWh a year and save about $92.
Output by orientation and mounting
Yearly output with 800 W of panels and the inverter limited to 800 W.
| Panels face | On the railing (vertical) | Tilted at 30° |
|---|---|---|
| East | 530 kWh | 880 kWh |
| South-east | 700 kWh | 1,030 kWh |
| South | 740 kWh | 1,090 kWh |
| South-west | 680 kWh | 1,020 kWh |
| West | 510 kWh | 860 kWh |
Output by month
Show as a table
| Month | Railing (vertical) | Tilted at 30° |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 78 kWh | 71 kWh |
| Feb | 71 kWh | 76 kWh |
| Mar | 71 kWh | 96 kWh |
| Apr | 61 kWh | 110 kWh |
| May | 46 kWh | 110 kWh |
| Jun | 41 kWh | 110 kWh |
| Jul | 47 kWh | 120 kWh |
| Aug | 56 kWh | 110 kWh |
| Sep | 60 kWh | 90 kWh |
| Oct | 70 kWh | 81 kWh |
| Nov | 77 kWh | 73 kWh |
| Dec | 62 kWh | 55 kWh |
Savings and payback
At $0.2356 per kWh you save about $92 in the first year. A kit costing $1,300 pays back in about 14.1 years.
- Electricity price: $0.2356 per kWh (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2025-09..2026-08). Source
- Assumes a constant base load of 150 W, so 53% of the output is used at home.
- Power sent to the grid is not paid for.
Rules
New Jersey
Takes effect on March 1, 2027
Up to 1,200 W of inverter output per home.
- Listed or certified to UL 3700 or a comparable standard by a nationally recognized testing laboratory; cannot export power during an outage.
- No notification to the utility is needed.
Last verified: October 31, 2026
Nearby cities
- Clifton 740 kWh a year · 4 mi
- Newark 740 kWh a year · 13 mi
- Jersey City 740 kWh a year · 14 mi
- Elizabeth 740 kWh a year · 18 mi
- Edison 730 kWh a year · 30 mi
Data sources
- Solar data: PVGIS-NSRDB, PVGIS 5.2, 2011–2015.
- Electricity price: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2025-09..2026-08.
- Last verified: October 31, 2026
- How we calculate