Oversize a solar system and you overpay for capacity you never use. Undersize it and the inverter trips when the ACs kick in, or the battery is flat by 2am. Getting the size right is the whole game — and in Lagos it comes down to three numbers.
The three numbers that matter
- Inverter (kVA) — how much you can run at the same moment. Exceed it and the system trips. This is your peak power.
- Panels (kWp) — how much energy you harvest each day, for running daytime loads and recharging the battery.
- Battery (kWh) — how long you can run without sun: nights, cloudy spells, and grid outages.
A well-designed system balances all three around your actual load. That’s why we size on a real usage profile rather than a guess — the wrong ratio is the most common reason a system disappoints.
Start with your loads — especially the ACs
In Lagos, air conditioners dominate the load. A single inverter AC draws roughly 0.75–1 kW; add fridges, freezers, water pumps, lighting, TVs and work equipment. Add up everything that might run at once and you have your inverter size. Add up what runs across the day and you have your panel and battery sizes.
The number of air conditioners you want to run is the single biggest driver of system size in a Lagos home.
Typical Lagos systems and what they carry
These are representative InfraSol packages. Final design always depends on your measured load and roof space, but they show how the three numbers scale together:
| System | Best for | Indicative price |
|---|---|---|
| 7.2 kWp · 6 kVA · 15 kWh | Apartment / small home · 2–3 inverter ACs | ₦5.3M |
| 10.6 kWp · 10 kVA · 15 kWh | Larger home or small office | ₦7.7M |
| 12 kWp · 12 kVA · 20 kWh | Mid-size duplex / office · 4–5 ACs | ₦9.9M |
| 13.1 kWp · 12 kVA · 30 kWh | High-load home wanting more overnight autonomy | ₦10.8M |
| 20 kWp · 20 kVA · 30–45 kWh | Light commercial / SME | ₦13.9–15.9M |
| 30 kWp · 30 kVA · 30–60 kWh | Commercial premises | ₦18.7–22.9M |
| 74 kWp · 50 kVA · 112 kWh | Enterprise / multi-tenant sites | ₦59.4M |
The full ladder, with specifications for each tier, is on the Packages page.
Day vs night: why battery size matters most for homes
Panels only produce in daylight; the battery carries everything after sundown. A home with heavy evening and overnight use (lights, ACs in bedrooms, fridge) needs more kWh of battery. An office whose load is mostly 9–5 leans on the panels and can often run a smaller battery. We size the battery to your overnight essential load plus the number of hours of autonomy you want.
Don’t oversize “just in case”
It’s tempting to buy big for peace of mind, but every extra kWp and kWh is money spent. Right-sizing against a measured load — and using the remote monitoring every InfraSol system includes to tune it — is far more cost-effective. Systems can also be specified to allow battery or panel expansion later, so it’s fine to start at today’s load.