The costs associated with living “green” or environmentally friendly deters people, despite all the hype surrounding these concepts. I know this since it is the first aspect of turning green that comes to mind.
I spent some time looking into various green energy alternatives and have concluded that they may not be as pricey as we first believe.
Solar panels appeared to be our best choice among the available possibilities. But you might not like it.
I favor solar power for the following reasons:
quieter than wind turbines
easily disposable
Easily transportable, which is advantageous if you work on a farm.
The weather here is ideal for it.
Several drawbacks:
The initial cost outlay
The area will take up (mainly the batteries)
Let’s look at the components of a solar panel system first.
In essence, it may be divided into four sections, namely:
Firstly, the solar panels
2) solar controllers
3. Batteries: power source
4) an AC to DC inverter
solar cells
Simply explained, they are solar panels that use sunshine to create energy. The quantity of power the solar panel is anticipated to produce with a sunshine intensity of 1000 watts per meter at 25 degrees Celsius is indicated by their output rating in Watts. At this point, you might be saying, “What?!”
The typical daily amount of sunlight differs throughout South Africa’s various regions. In South Africa, a day’s work is about 8.5 hours long. (Interesting side note: the values are 3.8 in London, 6.4 in Rome, and 6.9 in New York. The average daily sunshine in South Africa is among the highest in the entire world. This makes it ideal for use with solar panels.
A panel with an output of 80 Watts will produce an annual average of 680 watts of Hours (Wh) each day.
Wiring solar panels can increase voltage or current. The terminal voltage of a typical meeting is rated between 17 and 22 volts; however, using a regulator reduces that value to 13 volts. A battery can only be safely charged between 13 and 14 Volts.
solar controllers
The solar panels can generate between 17 and 22 volts, as was already established. However, this exceeds the safe charging voltage range for batteries between 13 and 14 volts. We utilize a solar regulator to control this, which reduces the current and creates a constant voltage.
The batteries you’ll be utilizing are sensitive to voltage fluctuations and overcharging. The regulators aid in preventing overcharging and undercharging of the storm.
The maximum amount of current solar regulators can accept from the solar panels determines their rating.
The regulator must support the maximum current that a solar panel may produce. This can be up to 25% greater than the panel’s rated output current. Consequently, you must use a 7.54 A regulator if your 100W solar panel has a 5.8 A current rating. To be safe, I’m using 30%.
Batteries
We must find a way to store solar energy once it has been transformed into electricity. Deep-cycle batteries will be used for this purpose. There are a few variations, but they are identical to standard automobile batteries. They can be recharged repeatedly and intended to be discharged over an extended time. Car batteries are made to deliver a lot of current in a short period.
Your deep cycle battery must not be discharged to less than 50% of its capacity if you want to get the most life out of it. The battery’s life is reduced if the level is allowed to fall below 50%.
These batteries also have an Ampere Hour (Ah) rating and a discharge rate (measured in hours). This is the maximum amount of current it can deliver over a specific period.
A battery with a 100-hour rate of 100 Ah will provide 100 Ah for 100 hours. For 100 hours, the amount is 1A every hour. This can also be expressed as 5A for 20 hours.
Energy Converters
We need a mechanism to put the power we have stored in the batteries to use in our daily activities. Direct Current electricity can be stored in batteries. (DC). Alternating current is used by the household equipment we use daily. (AC). So that we may use it, we need a mechanism to convert it from DC to AC.
At this point, inverters are helpful. The True Sine Wave Inverter, which offers AC power that is essentially equal to the power we receive from Eskom, is the one that is advised.
The amount of AC power an inverter can supply constantly determines its rating.
You might have a more precise grasp of a solar power system now that I’ve clarified what I just mentioned. Let’s look at how you might size your installation needs.
Equipment and Power Use
The most challenging thing for you to do is the first thing. You must ascertain how much and for how long you will use electricity. It’s simple; note the Watts (W) a device consumes and the average number of hours it uses daily. You will receive a specific amount of W each day as a result.
Let’s examine an illustration:
5x 60W globes at 300W each operating for 8 hours daily equals 2400 Wh.
One 300W TV equals 300W at 2 hours daily, seven days a week, or 600Wh.
1x 250W Fridge = 250W functioning nonstop for 6 hours daily
800W working once a week for two hours equals 228 Wh for one 800W washing machine.
Therefore, our daily energy consumption is 9228 Wh.
Sizing a power inverter
You must ascertain the appliances’ total Wattage (W) to establish the size of the inverter you will need.
It will just be: Using the example from above:
5x 60W light globes = 300W
TV = 300W
250W for a refrigerator.
800W for a washing machine
The required total power draw is 1650W. This indicates that it will use 1650W when all those appliances are on simultaneously. Additionally, you will include a 50% buffer. In this way, the system will have electricity available to run your hair dryer if you ever run it concurrently. Therefore, a 2500W inverter will be ideal for this and will give you much buffer. Remember that the appliances running simultaneously are the subject of this computation. By using the kettle, hair dryer, or iron one at a time rather than all at once, you can reduce the quantity of power you consume and lower the cost of this solar panel system.
The quantity and quality of solar panels
The daily energy consumption is 9228 Wh. Now you need to know how many hours of sunlight your area receives on average. This is detailed in several places, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s aim for seven hours. Thus, 1318.30W = 9228Wh / 7h. You will need to generate 1576W of power per day after factoring in a buffer of roughly 20% and any panel inefficiencies.
You’ll need to purchase enough panels so that the sum of their output ratings is 1576W. Therefore, if you wanted to buy 12 140W panels, you would need to do so since 12 x 140W or 24 x 70W equals 1680W.
What number of batteries?
The panels you use will determine this. The current generated by the 140W panels is 7.7A. The total current would be 92.4 A if there were 12 of them. Additionally, the wind is present for roughly 7 hours every day. (the amount of sunlight per day). Accordingly, 646.8 Ah will need to be stored each day.
According to our analysis, the 102Ah batteries shouldn’t be permitted to discharge more than 50%. We are now down to roughly 50Ah. Therefore, we will require at least 13 batteries to make up 646.8 Ah each day.
Which regulator size?
The solar regulator is the final thing to think about. A 140W panel produces a current of 7.7A. There will be 92.4 A of current overall. That implies a minimum of four 30A regulators.
The entire system is now:
140W Solar Panels, 12 each
4x Solar Regulators at 30 A
Batteries: 13 x 102Ah
one (1) 1500W inverter
C. Meister
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