Running AC on solar in 2026
A 1.5 Ton 5-star inverter AC running 8 hours a day uses ~10 kWh. On grid tariff (₹7/unit average), that's ₹70/day or ₹2,100/month — more than most families' entire electricity bill. Solar turns this into zero operating cost. The math is simple: 10 kWh/day ÷ 4.5 peak sun hours ÷ 0.8 efficiency × 1.1 safety = 3 kW. Our calculator does this automatically for any AC configuration.
Size chart — solar kW per AC configuration
| AC Config | Daily Use | kWh/day | Solar Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 × 1 Ton 5★ | 6 hrs | 5.2 | 1.5 kW |
| 1 × 1.5 Ton 5★ | 8 hrs | 10 | 3 kW |
| 1 × 2 Ton 5★ | 8 hrs | 13.5 | 4 kW |
| 2 × 1.5 Ton 5★ | 8 hrs | 20 | 5.5 kW |
| 3 × 1.5 Ton 5★ (villa) | 10 hrs | 37.5 | 10 kW |
AC sizing connects to three other decisions — measure total household load with our Appliance Load Calculator, size the battery bank for night-time AC, verify the inverter kVA handles compressor surge, and pick panel tech in our Solar Panel Comparison.