Solar Calculator
Tell us what you spend on diesel and NEPA. We’ll show you the system that takes your generator off the job, and what it costs.
Solar calculator
What system covers you, and what does it cost?
₦500,000 a month
₦100,000 a month
To take the generator off the job, you're likely looking at
InfraSol Home 18
₦16.8M
18.6 kWp solar · 18 kVA inverter · 30 kWh battery
You use about 42 kWh a day. The system costs the same as 28 months of what you spend on power now.
How we worked this out
- Every answer comes from InfraSol Intelligence, our simulator. It runs a full year hour by hour on measured Lagos sunshine (1,397 kWh per kWp) and a measured Lekki grid year, with outage timing kept as recorded.
- From your bill it works out how much power you use, pricing grid at ₦210 a kWh and generator power at ₦1,900 a litre of diesel, weighted by when a home uses power and when the grid is actually up.
- It then tries each of our packages against that year and picks the cheapest one that keeps the generator switched off. Your bill is rounded up to the next step we simulated, so we never undersize.
- Bills only: generator repairs and diesel price rises are left out, and both make the “keep paying” line steeper. A site survey gives the exact figure.
The rule of thumb, tested
Installers in Lagos often say a system that fully covers you costs 20 to 30 months of what you spend on power. We tested that in our simulator across homes and businesses on good, average and poor grid. For homes it holds: 23–33 months of the bill. Businesses that use most of their power in daylight need less, 17–24 months, because the panels serve them directly instead of filling a battery for the night.
A home spending ₦500,000 a month on diesel is usually spending on the grid too, and usually needs 13 kWp or more with a 30–45 kWh battery, not a 7 kWp starter system.
| Monthly bill (grid + diesel) | Home | Business |
|---|---|---|
| ₦200k | Home 6₦6.1M · 30 months of bill | Home 6₦6.1M · 30 months of bill |
| ₦300k | Home 11₦9.8M · 33 months of bill | Home 6₦6.1M · 20 months of bill |
| ₦500k | Home 12₦11.5M · 23 months of bill | Home 11₦9.8M · 20 months of bill |
| ₦700k | Custom 14.9 kWp / 45 kWh₦16.2M · 23 months of bill | Custom 17.4 kWp / 15 kWh₦12.1M · 17 months of bill |
| ₦1M | Business 24₦22.9M · 23 months of bill | Business 24₦22.9M · 23 months of bill |
| ₦1.5M | Business 36₦34M · 23 months of bill | Business 36₦34M · 23 months of bill |
From InfraSol Intelligence, about 11 hours of grid a day. Updated 2026-10-11.
How a system performs
A typical day, and what it can carry
3–4 bedroom home or small office shopping for a 10 or 12kVA system on a budget
- Straight from the panels: 10 kWh
- From the battery: 13 kWh
- Essentials only: Fridge, lights, fans, TV, Wi-Fi (about 1 kW)27 hrs
- 5.5 kW: 2 ACs, fridge and lights4.9 hrs
- 8 kW: 2 ACs, fridge, pump and workstations3.4 hrs
What it runs
- ACs: 2 units (1.5HP) together, a third in sunshine hours
- Fridges: 1 fridge and 1 freezer around the clock
- Water pump: 0.75–1HP borehole pump: yes
- Washing: Yes, 1–2 loads a day
Show the hourly numbers
| Hour | Solar (kW) | In use (kW) | Battery |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12am | 0 | 0.8 | 68% |
| 1am | 0 | 0.7 | 65% |
| 2am | 0 | 0.7 | 63% |
| 3am | 0 | 0.7 | 60% |
| 4am | 0 | 0.7 | 57% |
| 5am | 0 | 0.8 | 55% |
| 6am | 0 | 0.9 | 51% |
| 7am | 1.1 | 1 | 51% |
| 8am | 2.1 | 0.9 | 55% |
| 9am | 2.9 | 0.8 | 63% |
| 10am | 3.6 | 0.8 | 73% |
| 11am | 4 | 0.9 | 84% |
| 12pm | 4.1 | 0.9 | 95% |
| 1pm | 4 | 0.9 | 100% |
| 2pm | 3.6 | 0.9 | 100% |
| 3pm | 2.9 | 0.9 | 100% |
| 4pm | 2.1 | 1 | 100% |
| 5pm | 1.1 | 1.2 | 99% |
| 6pm | 0 | 1.4 | 94% |
| 7pm | 0 | 1.5 | 89% |
| 8pm | 0 | 1.5 | 84% |
| 9pm | 0 | 1.4 | 78% |
| 10pm | 0 | 1.2 | 74% |
| 11pm | 0 | 0.9 | 70% |
Illustrative, not a measurement. Solar output is this package's rated daily generation spread over a clear-day curve; use follows a typical home (evening peak) pattern at the daily use the package is designed for. Cloudy and harmattan days produce less. Backup hours at the two higher loads are the figures on the package page; the essentials row assumes about 1 kW.
Frequently Asked Questions
Want the exact figure?
A site survey measures your real load and roof, and we run your site through the same simulator.