You could go around this project and wire an AC-powered fan to a solar panel, but you would need an inverter. You do not necessarily need a battery backup for daytime usage, but you would expect the fan to run during the night. A Better way to handle this project is with a solar fan. Solar. You can run a fan directly from a solar panel. However, if you use an AC-powered fan with a solar panel, you need to add a solar inverter. This is because solar panels produce DC energy. The answer to this question is a little complicated. The total number of solar panels required to run a fan depends on the solar panels'. Absolutely. This scenario is made much easier with plug-n-play solar fan kits that match the solar panel to the fan. These options are DC to DC, so it is much safer to use a solar panel. If you are using a fan that requires AC power, you would plug the solar panel into an inverter and plug the inverter into a fan. The inverter inverts.