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Handouts: Renewable Energy System - Week 6: How To Calculate Different Parameters For Your Solar System?

The document provides instructions for calculating key parameters needed to size a solar energy system, including the energy storage capacity of batteries, energy usage of appliances, energy generation of solar panels, and putting it all together to size an appropriate system. Calculations are presented for battery watt hours, appliance watt hours, and solar panel watt hour generation based on panel wattage and sunlight hours.

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danial ahmad
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60 views3 pages

Handouts: Renewable Energy System - Week 6: How To Calculate Different Parameters For Your Solar System?

The document provides instructions for calculating key parameters needed to size a solar energy system, including the energy storage capacity of batteries, energy usage of appliances, energy generation of solar panels, and putting it all together to size an appropriate system. Calculations are presented for battery watt hours, appliance watt hours, and solar panel watt hour generation based on panel wattage and sunlight hours.

Uploaded by

danial ahmad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Handouts: Renewable Energy System_ Week 6

How to calculate different parameters for your solar system?

1 : How much energy can your battery store?

Battery capacity is measured in Amp Hours (e.g. 17AH). You need to convert this to Watt Hours by
multiplying the AH figure by the battery voltage (e.g. 12V). this is just the simple calculation below
X (Battery size in AH) x Y (Battery Voltage) = Z (Power available in watt hours
For a 20AH, 12V battery the Watt Hours figure is 20(X) x 12(Y) = 240 WH (Z)

This means the battery could supply 240W for 1 hour, 120W for 2 hours or even 2w for 120 hours i.e. the
more energy you take, the faster the battery discharges.

However, you are never really able to take all the power from a battery as once the voltage drops below
your equipment’s requirements it will no longer be able to power it. There is a simple rule of thumb for this
but please check your battery’s specifications to make sure.

Lead acid battery’s will give you around 50% of their rated power. (i.e. a 10Ah battery has 5Ah of usable
power)
Li-ion battery’s will give you around 80% of their rated power. (i.e. a 10Ah battery has 8Ah of usable
power)

2 : How much energy will your appliance(s) use over a period of time?
The power consumption of appliances is generally given in Watts (e.g. A small portable TV is around 20W
this information can be found on the data sticker that most electrical items have). To calculate the energy
you will use over time, just multiply the power consumption by the hours of intended use.

The 20W PC in this example, on for 2 hours, will take 20 x 2 = 40WH from the battery.
Repeat this for all the appliances you wish to use, then add the results to establish total consumption like
below.
PC 20w on for 2 hours per day = 40w per day
Radio 10w on for 5 hours per day = 50w per day
Water pump (20w) on for 20mins per day = 6.66w per day
Main Light 30w on for 3h per day = 90w per day
Spot lights 10w on for 1h per day = 10w per day
Total = 196w per day

3 : How much energy can a Solar panel generate over a period of time?

The final part to sizing your solar system is the solar panels. The power generation rating of a Solar panel is
also given in Watts (e.g. our part number STP010, is a 10W solar panel). In Theory, to calculate the energy
it can supply to the battery, you multiply Watts (of the solar panel) by the hours exposed to sunshine.
In practice it’s not a great way to calculate the output from a solar panel so we work to a few simple rules.

· We would generally advise that an average PAK winters day will only give you 2 hours sunshine
· An average PAK summers days will give you 6 hours of sunshine.

So in winter a 10w panel will provide 20w worth of energy back into your battery. (10w x 2 = 20w)
In Summer a 10w panel will provide 60w worth of energy back into your battery. (10w x 6 = 60w)
Using the above calculation takes into consideration any losses in the system from the regulator, cables and
battery you may be using.

4 : Putting it all together to size your system.


Knowing your power requirements and the time of year you want to use the system is vital to this step. We
will use the example above with a power requirement of 196w per day.
If this is the requirements for late spring to early Autumn use we could use this equation
Watts required / time of year sunshine hours = panel size → 196 / 6 = 32.6W panel
As we don’t make a 32.6w solar panel we would recommend looking at a 30w or 40w solar panel for this
application.
However if this was an all year requirement i.e. also needed in the PAK’s winter the numbers would change
Watts required / time of year sunshine hours = panel size → 196 / 2 = 98W panel
As we don’t make a 98w solar panel we would recommend looking at two 100w solar panels for this
application.

The final Piece

The final Piece to complete your solar system is the Charge Controller or Voltage Regulator. Its basically
the same thing just a different name. This essential piece of your solar system controls the Charge put into
your battery, stops overcharging and prevents the solar panel pulling power from the battery at night.

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