04/07/2026
How Much Power Do You Actually Need?
Before you buy a single solar panel, you need to answer one important question how much electricity does your home or business actually use?
Getting this wrong is one of the most expensive mistakes in solar. Too small a system and you'll constantly run out of power. Too large and you've spent money you didn't need to spend.
Sizing your system correctly starts with understanding your power needs. Start With Your Appliances
Look around your home. Every appliance that uses electricity has a wattage rating usually printed on a sticker at the back or bottom of the device. This number tells you how much power it consumes when running.
Common appliances in a Zambian home and their approximate wattages:
A standard LED bulb uses around 9 to 15 watts. A television uses between 80 and 150 watts. A refrigerator typically runs between 100 and 200 watts. An electric iron uses around 1,000 watts. A water pump can use anywhere from 500 to 1,500 watts depending on the size.
Calculate Your Daily Usage
Once you know the wattage of each appliance, estimate how many hours per day you use it. Multiply the wattage by the hours of use to get watt-hours per day. For example, a 100 watt television watched for 4 hours uses 400 watt-hours per day.
Do this for every appliance in your home, then add everything together. The total gives you your daily energy consumption in watt-hours. Divide by 1,000 to convert to kilowatt-hours, which is the unit ZESCO uses on your bill.
Don't Forget These Important Factors
Your system needs to produce more than just your basic daily consumption. You need to account for battery losses, cloudy days, and the natural degradation of panels over time. A well-designed system typically adds a buffer of around 20 to 30 percent on top of your calculated needs. Also consider which appliances you plan to run at the same time. This determines your peak load, which affects the size of inverter you need.
What This Means in Practice
A small Zambian home running a few lights, a television, a phone charger, and a small fridge might need a system starting around 1.5 to 2 kilowatts. A larger home with air conditioning, a water pump, and multiple rooms will need significantly more.
Every home is different. That's why a proper site assessment by a qualified engineer is the most reliable way to get your sizing right before you invest.
Coming Up Next Article 4
Now that you understand your power needs, the next article covers solar panels themselves how to choose the right ones, what the specifications mean, and what to look for when buying in Zambia.
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