How is solar power energy measured?

Question

If I have a solar power system in my home, and it generates 1killowatt of energy, does that mean I can use 1 killowatt in a day? My lightbulbs only use 13 watts in an hour.... does that mean that I could have 100 bulbs on at the same time? I am confused! Can anybody answer this question?

Answer 1

First, kilowatts measure power, which is unit energy per unit time (kilojoules/second in this case).  Kilowatt hours are a measurement of energy.

Your panel produces 1000 joules per second, which equates to 24 kilowatt*hours per day, maximum.

Therefore, your energy consumption for your household at any one time cannot exceed 1000 J/s.  The lightbulb consumes 13 joules per second, or 1.3% of the 1000 joules per second that your panel produces.  So, your assumption about 100 bulbs was fundamentally correct, though off by a bit.