PV System Sizing

Sizing Process
Determine the load to be served in Wh/day
Determine the available solar energy on at least a month
by month basis
Determine the types of equipment that will be used in the
system so losses can be estimated
Calculate the size of panel that will be needed to meet
the required load under the worst month conditions.
Calculate the size and type of battery that will be needed
to provide needed reliability of power

What is System Sizing

System sizing is the process used for determining the
minimum panel and battery size needed to deliver the
required electrical energy under the solar conditions
that exist at the system site.
It balances the output from the system with the solar
input while taking into consideration losses in the
system

We need to know:
The solar energy in kWh/m2/day at the site for the
lowest solar energy month of the year.
The average Wh/day required by the user to operate
the desired appliances and any special needs for
power that go much beyond the average.
The losses that occur in the PV system that reduces
the energy available to the user

Estimating the load

Determine the Watts required by each of the

appliances
Estimate the hours per day that each appliance will
be used.
For each appliance multiply the Watts times hours to
get Wh/day
Total the Wh/day for all appliances

Problem
4 lights of 11 watts each are installed.
1 light will operate 4 hours per day
3 lights will operate 2 hours per day
1 night light of 1 watt is installed
Nightlight operates 10 hours/day
1 Radio of 10 watts is installed
Radio operates 9 hours per day
How many Wh/day will be needed by the appliances?

The Solar Resource

Actual measurements at the site are best but at least
one full year is needed and several years is preferred.
Measurements taken with instruments tilted at the same
angle as the solar panels are best but horizontal
meteorological measurements are ok.
NASA satellite measurements are better than sunshine
hours recorded for the site
Sunshine hour measurements indicate the solar
variation over the year but are not a good measure of
actual solar energy in kWh/m2/day but are better than
nothing.
Choose the average value of solar for the lowest month
as the design basis
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Wh/day that needs to come from the

panel for systems with batteries
Wiring and connection losses about 10%
Losses in the battery about 20%

Total losses around 30% so the panel will need to

produce enough Wh/day for the load plus enough to
cover the losses. So it will have to produce about 130%
of the energy required by the load
To calculate the Wh/d needed from the panel, multiply
the load Wh/d times 1.3

Calculating the panel generation

factor (1)
The lowest month kWh/m2/day value is the
starting point. (Typically between about 5 and 6
kWh/m2/day)
This is the same total energy as would come
from the sun shining at 1000 W/m2 each day
for the number of hours equal to the
kWh/m2/day figure.

Calculating the panel generation

factor (2)
Since the Wp of the panel is rated using a value of
1000 W/m2, the number of hours at 1000 W/m2 that we
calculated can be directly applied to the Wp of the
panel to get the Wh/day the panel would provide under
perfect conditions.
Suppose the lowest month solar has a daily average of
5.2 kWh/m2/day. That is equivalent to 5.2 hours of 1000
W/m2 sunlight every day. Each Wp of the panel would
therefore deliver 5.2 Wh/day if all other conditions were
perfect. The conditions are not perfect so we have to
correct for the variations from standard conditions.

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Calculating the panel generation

factor (3)
Corrections include:
15% for temperature above 25 C
5% for losses due to sunlight not striking the panel
straight on (caused by glass having increasing
reflectance at lower angles of incidence)
10% for losses due to not receiving energy at the
maximum power point (not present if there is a
MPPT controller)
5% allowance for dirt
10% allowance for the panel being below
specification and for ageing
Total power = .85 X .95 X .90 X .95X .90 = .62 of the
original Wp rating.

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Calculating the panel generation

factor (4)
To get the panel generation factor (Wh/day per
Wp capacity) multiply the daily sun hours times
0.62.
For the example, that would be 5.2x0.62 = 3.22
Wh/Wp/day.
That is, for every Wp capacity in the panel we
can expect to get an average of 3.22 Wh/day
during the lowest solar month

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Calculating the panel size needed

Divide the Wh/day needed from the panel (1.3

times the load Wh/day) by the Generation
Factor in Wh/Wp/day. The result is the
minimum Wp of panel needed to meet the
design load for the lowest solar month after all
losses and corrections have been applied.

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Calculating the battery size (1)

The load electricity is provided by the battery. So
determining the Ah/day needed by the load will
determine the battery capacity that has to be available
each day to operate the appliances.
For a 12V system, Ah/day = Wh/day/12V
Solar design methods usually choose a 20% daily
depth of discharge (DOD) for deep discharge batteries.
For the modified automotive battery used by AMORE,
longer life will be seen if that percentage is reduced to
15% DOD.

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Calculating the battery size (2)

The rate of discharge is about 5 hours a day for
lights. That represents about a C20 discharge
rate if 15% of the battery capacity is used in 5
hours (the discharge rate in Amperes being the
capacity of the battery divided by the hours to
discharge).
So the total battery capacity needs to be the
daily Ah at C20 divided by 0.15 if 15% is to be
the daily depth of discharge.
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Use of automotive batteries

Automotive batteries are quite sensitive to deep
discharge so the average percentage of daily
discharge should be reduced to 10% to provide
longer life and even then the life probably will
be less than two years.

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Summary of Sizing calculation

1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.

Estimate the Wh/day of the load

Multiply the load Wh/day times 1.3
Determine the kWh/m2/day of sunlight for the lowest
solar month
Multiply the kWh/m2/day times .62 to get the
generation factor Wh/d/Wp
Divide the result of (2) by the result of (4) to get
minimum panel Wp.
Divide (1) by the battery voltage (12V) to get Ah/day
Divide (6) by .2 to get the minimum Ah of the battery
at C20.

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Estimating the Wh/day that can be

used for a particular size of panel
To determine the maximum appliance Wh/day that can
be served by a particular size of panel:
Multiply the kWh/m2/day times .62 to get the local
generation factor
Multiply the local generation factor times the Wp of
the panel. This will give the estimated Wh/day from
the panel
Divide the estimated Wh/day from the panel by 1.3
to get the estimated appliance Wh/day that can be
served by that panel

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Example
A 36 Wp panel is installed at a site having a low month
solar value of 5.2 kWh/m2/day. What is the maximum
Wh/day of appliance load that this panel can serve?

Multiply 5.2 x .62 = 3.22

Multiply 36 x 3.22 = 116
Divide 116 by 1.3 = 89 Wh/day of appliance use is
possible

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Solar PV system sizing

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Determine power consumption demands

Size the PV modules
Inverter sizing
Battery sizing
Solar charge controller sizing

Solar PV system sizingcont

1.

Determine power consumption demand

find out the total power and energy consumption of all loads that need to be
supplied by the solar PV system as follows:

i.

ii.

Calculate total Watt-hours per day for each appliance used.

Add the Watt-hours needed for all appliances together to get the
total Watt-hours per day which must be delivered to the
appliances.
Calculate total Watt-hours per day needed from the PV
modules.
Multiply the total appliances Watt-hours per day times 1.3 (the
energy lost in the system) to get the total Watt-hours per day
which must be provided by the panels.

Solar PV system sizingcont

2. Size the PV modules
Different size of PV modules will produce different amount of power. To
find out the sizing of PV module, the total peak watt produced needs. The
peak watt (Wp) produced depends on size of the PV module and climate
of site location. We have to consider panel generation factor which is
different in each site location. For Malaysia, the panel generation factor is
basically around 3.1. To determine the sizing of PV modules, calculate as
follows:

i.

ii.

Calculate the total Watt-peak rating needed for PV

modules.
Divide the total Watt-hours per day needed from the PV
modules [from step 1(ii)] by 3.1 to get the total Watt-peak
rating needed for the PV panels needed to operate the
appliances.
Calculate the number of PV panels for the system
Divide the answer obtained in item (i) by the rated output Wattpeak of the PV modules available to you. Increase any
fractional part of result to the next highest full number and that
will be the number of PV modules required.

Solar PV system sizingcont

2. Size the PV modules

Result of the calculation is the minimum number of PV

panels. If more PV modules are installed, the system
will perform better and battery life will be improved. If
fewer PV modules are used, the system may not work
at all during cloudy periods and battery life will be
shortened.

Solar PV system sizingcont

3. Inverter sizing
An inverter is used in the system where AC power output is
needed. The input rating of the inverter should never be lower
than the total watt of appliances. The inverter must have the same
nominal voltage as your battery.
For stand-alone systems, the inverter must be large enough to
handle the total amount of Watts you will be using at one time. The
inverter size should be 25-30% bigger than total Watts of
appliances. In case of appliance type is motor or compressor then
inverter size should be minimum 3 times the capacity of those
appliances and must be added to the inverter capacity to handle
surge current during starting.
For grid tie systems or grid connected systems, the input rating of
the inverter should be same as PV array rating to allow for safe
and efficient operation.

Solar PV system sizingcont

4. Battery sizing

The battery type recommended for using in solar PV

system is deep cycle battery. Deep cycle battery is
specifically designed for to be discharged to low
energy level and rapid recharged or cycle charged and
discharged day after day for years. The battery should
be large enough to store sufficient energy to operate
the appliances at night and cloudy days.

Solar PV system sizingcont

4. Battery sizing

To find out the size of battery, calculate as follows

I. Calculate total Watt-hours per day used by
appliances.
II. Divide the total Watt-hours per day used by 0.85 for
battery loss.
III. Divide the answer obtained in item (II) by 0.6 for
depth of discharge.
IV. Divide the answer obtained in item (III) by the nominal
battery voltage.
V. Multiply the answer obtained in item (IV) with days of
autonomy (the number of days that you need the
system to operate when there is no power produced
by PV panels) to get the required Ampere-hour
capacity of deep-cycle battery.

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Solar PV system sizingcont

5. Solar charge controller sizing
To find out the size of battery, calculate as followsThe solar charge
controller is typically rated against Amperage and Voltage capacities.
Select the solar charge controller to match the voltage of PV array and
batteries and then identify which type of solar charge controller is right for
your application. Make sure that solar charge controller has enough
capacity to handle the current from PV array.
For the series charge controller type, the sizing of controller depends on
the total PV input current which is delivered to the controller and also
depends on PV panel configuration (series or parallel configuration).
According to standard practice, the sizing of solar charge controller is to
take the short circuit current (Isc) of the PV array, and multiply it by 1.3

Solar PV system sizingcont

Remark: For MPPT charge controller sizing will be different.

Example

A house has the following electrical appliance usage:

One 20 Watt fluorescent lamp with electronic ballast used 5 hours per
day.
One 70 Watt television used for 4 hours per day.
One 80 Watt refrigerator that runs 24 hours per day with compressor
run 12 hours and off 12 hours.
The system will be powered by 12 Vdc, 150 Wp PV module.

Answer the following question

1) Determine the power consumptions demand
2) Size the PV panel
3) Inverter sizing
4) Battery sizing
5) Solar charge controller sizing