What size of solar system do I need for my home ?

(For OFF-GRID application)

o How to estimate the power required for our PV project, including its power
tolerance ?

o How to estimate the size of our inverter ?

o How to estimate the size and quantity of the battery ?

o How to estimate the solar charge controller size based on our power
requirement ?

o Which one that I need to choose, between monocrystalline or polycrystalline solar

cell ?

Though these are some complicated questions, we have simplified if for you below. Follow
the steps to estimate your solar power system needs.

OFF-GRID means that you system is not connected to utility service company. Independent
electrification.

Step 1 :

a. Look at your electricity bills, and look for kWh. kWh = kiloWatt hours; a measure of
electricity

OR

b. List down the eletrical / electronic appliances in our home, with the estimated time of
used per day. In those appliances write down also the normal power consumption for
each. For example :

Lighting (total) : 30 watt used for 12 hours = 360 Wh

TV set : 100 watt used for 8 hours = 800 Wh

Refrigerator+Freezer : 120 watt used for 24 hours = 2880 Wh

(assuming that the compressor is working 24 hours. Normal operation of the
compressor is 1/3 from 24 hours = 8 hours working intermittently)

Washing machine : 450 watt used for 1 hour= 450 Wh

Water Pump : 120 watt used for 1 hour= 120 Wh

Air Cond : 300 watt used for 6 hours = 1800 Wh

Others : 200 watt used for 2 hours = 400 Wh

TOTAL = 6810 Wh per day

The tolerance will be 1.3, so TOTAL+tolerance = 8853 Wh / day. Tolerance in here means
that spare Wh for a sudden or additional home appliance that we might used in the near
future.
Step 2 :

Due to real world efficiency losses (irradiance/heat dissipation, improper electrical cable
termination, temperature of season changes and wiring/cable/fitting/receptacles), you
should expect that your system power output (AC power) to be about 75% of the system
(DC power) size. This is the 0.75 efficiency constant included.

(TOTAL+tolerance) / efficiency = 8853 Wh/day/0.75 = 11804 Wh/day ~ 12 kWh/day.

Step 3 :

For average, in Indonesia, the number of hours per day the sunshines on your house will be
5 hours/day. It can be more in certain area on certain season, but in the average, it can be
assume 5 hours/day.

= result from step 2 / number of hours per day the sunshines on your house

= 12000 Wh/day / 5 = 2400 Wattpeak

Step 4 :

There are various specification for a solar module wattpeak (wp) available on the market
(depends on the brand and the area), in here, we will use the 120wp.

Then we will have the result = 2400 wp / 120 wp = 22 module.

1 solar module comprise of many solar cell, which are arranged within array matrices.

In here, we can see the technical specification for our 120 wp solar module :

o Cell type : multi / polycrystalline

o Max power (W) : 120

o Min power (W) : 114

o Open circuit voltage (Voc) : 21.3

o Short circuit current (Isc) : 7.81

o Max Power Voltage (Vpm) : 17.1

o Max Power Current (Ipm) : 7.02

o Max System Voltage (V) : 540

o Dimension L * W * H (mm) : 1499 * 662 * 46

o Module Efficiency : 13.1

o Weight (kg) : 14

Step 5 :

Power Inverter Selection

Total power drawn (30+100+120+450+120+300+200) = 1320 (from step 1)

Total home appliances power draw as in step 1 is 1320 W, with its tolerance 1.3, will be
1716 W.

To provide a small buffer or margin your minimum size inverter choice should be around
2000 W. A Modified Sine Wave Inverter with a 2000 W continuous power rating will
therefore be your obvious choice in this specific solar system design. But if there is a spare
budget, at least the double as your budget to buy the Modified Sine Wave Inverter, the True
Sine Wave Power Inverter will be the best choice, as having better feature and to anticipate
the wide range of home appliances such as continous consumption of electric motor drive
as found in Air Cond and Refrigerator/Freezer that need AC Electrical Pure Sine Wave for
optimum performance and reliability.

Battery size and quantity requirement

The battery should have sufficient amp hour capacity to supply needed power during the
longest expected period no sun or extremely cloudy conditions. A lead-acid battery should
be sized at least 20% larger than this amount. If there is a source of back-up power, such as
a standby generator along with a battery charger, the battery bank does not have to be
sized for worst case weather conditions.

To maximize the battery life, deep cycle batteries should not be discharged beyond 50% of
their capacity, i.e. 50% capacitiy remaining. Discharging beyond this level will significantly
reduce the life of the batteries.

Deep cycle batteris are rated in Ampere Hours (Ah). This rating also includes a discharge
rate, usually at 20 hours. This rating specifies the amount of current in Amps that the
battery can supply over the specified number of hours.

With 12 VDC - 105 Ah battery which available (you can use other rating of battery, but for
example, we will use the 12 VDC-105 Ah battery), we will have the sizing as follow :

TOTAL power consumption+tolerance is 8853 Wh / day, and this is the energy we need
from the batteries. Converting to Ah, we have to divide by the voltage of the battery size =
8853 Wh/day / 12 VDC = 737.75 Ah/day

The batteries should be discharged to no more than 50%, since the 50% is considered as
the DOD (Depth of Discharge), for the health of the battery itself., thus we will have =
737.75 / 50% = 1475.5 Ah / day

For this example, the autonomous day without sun (battery will last to three days without
recharging), consider maximum is 3 days, so the size of the battery will be multiplied by 3
= 1475.5 / day * 3 day = 4426.5 Ah .

With efficiency of Lead Acid Battery 80% (should be sized at least 20% larger than the
rating), then the batteries size = 4426.5 Ah / 80% = 5533.125 Ah.

With 105 Ah battery, we will have the quantitiy of battery : 5533.125 Ah / 105 Ah = 52.69 ~
53 batteries.

Size the Solar Charge Controllers

Sizing the charge controller, will be based to Short Circuit current (Isc) from the solar
module that we had previously choose : Isc = 7.81.

The quantity of solar module is 22, so charge controller size will be = 7.81 * 22 = 171,82 ~
180

There are various rating from 10 A, 20 A and 30 A, and for example, we will use the 20 A. So
180 A / 20 A, then we will have 9 solar charge controller.

The price of each component to have the final budget for solar power system is not
presented within this example, due to price of the component, keep changing, but still
tends to lesser year by year due to mass production to supply world demand.

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Disclaimer : material presented on this websites is intended for information purposes only.
Its not intended as professional advice and should not be construed as such. Any use of the
information in here for any purposes other than a general overview or estimated results is
not endorsed or encouraged.

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What is the comparison between those solar cell available in the market ?

There are three type of solar cell available :

o Monocrystalline cell

o Polycrystalline cell

o Thin film cell

But thin film cell is not familiar in Indonesia, so difficult to find, so I will focus on the first
two cell which are available in Indonesia.

Monocrystalline comparison polycrystalline

One square meter solar cell Space efficiency (for 100 wp One square meter solar cell
will generate around 190W solar module) will generate around 180W

Generally makes a dark Aesthetics Generally makes light or dark

black colour and the orner of blue colour, but not
cells are usually missing as a uniformly so, some patches
result of the production are lighter than others.
process and the physical These come about as a result
nature of monocrystalline of the manufacturing
silicon process.

The process of making it is Initial cost Less expensive

more complex and costly,
also time consuming, the cell
is also more expensive

Once the cell break due to Fragile Since the crystalline

foreign material hit the arrangements are not
panel, the crystalline uniform, the ability to
arrangement of the cell will convert the solar is still
be damage, so will reduce better than the
the ability to convert the monocrystalline.
solar

Suffer a reduction in output Heat resistance Still reliable under higher

once the temperature from temperature, compare to
the sunlight reaches around monocyrstalline
50 degrees Celcius around
12-15%.

Able to convert the highest More eletricity / efficiency Lesser amount of electricity
amount of solar energy into produced, due to the crystall
electricity in a flat crystall arrangement in my direction
arrangement

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Which solar charge controller is suitable most ?

There are 2 types are available :

o PWM : Pulse Width Modulation

o MPPT : Maximum Power Point Tracking

Since the brighter the sunlight, the more voltage the solar cells produce, the excessive
voltage could damage the batteries. A charge controller is used to maintain the proper
charging voltage on the batteries. As the input voltage from the solar array rises, the
charge controller regulates the charge to the batteries preventing any over charging.
Choosing a well made charge controller is integral to the long life and efficiency of your
entire solar power system. By optimizing the power coming in from your solar panels, you
will get that much closer to offsetting your use of traditional on grid power sources and by
protecting your battery supply you protect yourself from any unwanted and unneeded
replacement costs. Your solar charge controller is an item well worth investing in and
researching as your customize your solar panel electric system.

What they do :

The PWM controller is in essence a switch that connects a solar array to a battery.
The result is that the voltage of the array will be pulled down to near that of the
battery.

The MPPT controller is more sophisticated (and more expensive): it will adjust its
input voltage to harvest the maximum power from the solar array and then transform
this power to supply the varying voltage requirement, of the battery plus load. Thus,
it essentially decouples the array and battery voltages so that there can be, for
example, a 12 volt battery on one side of the MPPT charge controller and a large
number of cells wired in series to produce 36 volts on the other.

The resultant twin strengths of an MPPT controller

a) Maximum Power Point Tracking

The MPPT controller will harvest more power from the solar array. The performance
advantage is substantial (10% to 40%) when the solar cell temperature is low (below
45C), or very high (above 75C), or when irradiance is very low.

At high temperature or low irradiance the output voltage of the array will drop
dramatically. More cells must then be connected in series to make sure that the
output voltage of the array exceeds battery voltage by a comfortable margin.

b) Lower cabling cost and/or lower cabling losses

Ohms law tells us that losses due to cable resistance are Pc (Watt) = Rc x I, where
Rc is the resistance of the cable. What this formula shows is that for a given cable
loss, cable cross sectional area can be reduced by a factor of four when doubling the
array voltage.

In the case of a given nominal power, more cells in series will increase the output
voltage and reduce the output current of the array (P = V x I, thus, if P doesnt
change, then I must decrease when V increases).

As array size increases, cable length will increase. The option to wire more panels in
series and thereby decrease the cable cross sectional area with a resultant drop in
cost, is a compelling reason to install an MPPT controller as soon as the array power
exceeds a few hundred Watts (12 V battery), or several 100 Watts (24 V or 48 V
battery).

Conclusion

PWM

The PWM charge controller is a good low cost solution for small systems only, when
solar cell temperature is moderate to high (between 45C and 75C).

MPPT

To fully exploit the potential of the MPPT controller, the array voltage should be
substantially higher than the battery voltage. The MPPT controller is the solution of
choice for higher power systems (because of the lowest overall system cost due to
 smaller cable cross sectional areas). The MPPT controller will also harvest
substantially more power when the solar cell temperature is low (below 45C), or
very high (above 75C), or when irradiance is very low.

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Do I need the power inverter ?

Unless you plan on using battery power for everything, you will need a Power Inverter. Since
the majority of modern appliances all run on 220VAC, the Power Inverter will be the heart
of your Solar Energy system. Its not only convert the low voltage DC to the 220VAC that
runs most appliances, but also can charge the batteries if connected to the utility grid or a
AC Generator as in the case of totally independent stand-alone solar power system.

Square wave power inverters :

This is the least expensive and least desirable type. The square wave it produces is
inefficient and is hard on many ype of equipement. These inverters are usually fairly
inexpensive, and use an automotive cigarette lighter plug-in. Dont even consider one of
these types of power inverters for a home system.

Modified sine wavep ower inverters :

This is probably the most popular and economical type of power inverter. It produces an AC
waveform somewhere between a square wave and a pure sine wave. Modified Sine Wave
Inverters, sometimes called Quasi-Sine Wave inverters, are not that expensive and work
well in all but the most demanding applications and even most computers work well with a
Modified Sine Wave Inverter. However, there are exceptions. Some appliances that use
motor speed controls or that use timers may not work well with Modified Sine Wave
inverter. And since more and more consumer products are using speed controls and timers,
I would only recommend this ytpe of inverters for smaller installation.

True Sine Wave Power Inverters :

A True Sine Wave Power Inverter produces the closest to a pure sine wave of all power
inverters and in many cases produces cleaner power than the utility company itself. It will
run practically any type of AC equipment and is also the most expensive. Many True Sine
Wave power inverters are computer controlled and will automatically turn on and off as C
loads ask for service. When you turn off the lights or refrigerators kicks off for example, the
power inverters shuts down to save battery power.

While the Modified Sine Wave Inverter is nearly half the price of a True Sine Wave inverter, I
would still recommed using a True Sine Wave inverter if you want to supply automatic
power to a normal home using a wide variety of electrical devices. Also, most appliances
run more efficiently and use less power with a True Sine Wave Inverters as compare to
Modified Sine Wave Inverter.

Grid Tie Power Inverters :

If you are connected to normal Utility company power and just want to add some Free Sun
Power electricity to reduce your electric bill and you dont need a totally independent
system, it is possible that a Grid Tie Power Inverter will suit your needs. With a Grid Tie
Power inverter, whatever electricity that your solar panels produce, will reduce the amount
supplied by the utility company, in effect lowering your bill. For this type of setup, a much
smaller battery bank can be installed just to cover short term outages from a few minutes
to an hour or two.

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There are few kind of batteries, which one is the last longer and less
maintenance and less money?

There are 2 type of battery commonly used for solar system applications :

- Seal Lead Acid (SLA)

- Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA)

Those are deep cycle batteries, are designed to be discharged over a long period of time
(100 hours) and recharged hundreds or thousands of times, unlike conventional car
batteries which are designed to provide a large of current for a short amount of time.

Solar Batteries (Deep Cycle Batteries) are a key component in a stand-alone renewable
energy system. If you are installing a wind, solar panel or hydro electric system that will be
tied to your utility grid, you will still need deep cycle batteries if you are trying to use power
in the event of an outage. Without deep cycle batteries, you can only use power at the time
you produce it (i.e. you will not have power when the sun isn't out if you don't have
batteries in your solar electric system).

In renewable energy systems, deep cycle batteries provide the energy storage for your
system. Unlike your car battery, deep cycle batteries that are used in renewable energy
applications are meant to be discharged and recharged (cycled) repeatedly. To maintain
healthy batteries and prolong battery life, most manufacturers suggest limiting the depth of
discharge to about 20%. (That means the deep cycle batteries will be at 80% capacity or
better.) At the very least, do not allow the batteries to be discharged below 50% Depth of
Discharge (DOD). Often an inverter will have a Low Voltage Disconnect feature that will
disconnect loads at a given set point. Low voltage alarms can provide audible warnings as
well. Ammeters, Voltmeters, Battery Monitors can help better maintain deep cycle battery
health and provide statistics about the overall health of the system.

Lead-acid batteries are the most common in PV systems because their initial cost is lower
and because they are readily available nearly everywhere in the world. There are many
different sizes and designs of lead-acid batteries, but the most important designation is that
they are deep cycle batteries. Lead-acid batteries are available in both wet-cell (requires
maintenance) and sealed no-maintenance versions.

The battery should have sufficient amp hour capacity to supply needed power during the
longest expected period no sun or extremely cloudy conditions. A lead-acid battery should
be sized at least 20% larger than this amount. If there is a source of back-up power, such as
a standby generator along with a battery charger, the battery bank does not have to be
sized for worst case weather conditions.

The size of the battery bank required will depend on the storage capacity required, the
maximum discharge rate, the maximum charge rate, and the minimum temperature at
which the batteries will be used. During planning, all of these factors are looked at, and the
one requiring the largest capacity will dictate the battery size.