DAY 27: SOLAR ENERGY; PEAK SUN HOURS EXPLAINED.

Day 27 of #100daysofSolarNuggets

     So we have gone through the basic component of a solar energy system, we’ve discussed solar panels, Inverters, charge controllers and batteries. Before we discuss the nuggets on sizing and designing a solar energy system, there are some basic terminology that we need to introduce and discuss.

We would meet a lot of these terms during the latter part of our nuggets and I believe we should take out time to discuss and understand this terms

The first on our list is PEAK SUN HOURS (PSH)

Peak Sunshine Hours (PSH)

This is simply the number of hours that the Sun’s Irradiance (Power or Energy) from the sun  is averagely equal to 1000w/m². Or in layman terms This is just the length of time when the rays from the sun is strongest, measured in hours.

Why do we use 1000w/m²?  ; This is the standard being used, so you do not need to bother to much about this. 

    The PSH value is very important when designing a solar system, it varies from place to place, so do ensure you get the exact value for your any location you plan to implement.

    Now here I got  the PSH value for Nigeria,

This map represents the yearly average of daily sums of irradiation value for Nigeria.

      From the map we can see that the northern region (the places colored deep red) gets up to an average of 6500watts-hour per m2 per day.

  We divided this value by 1000w/m2 

  6500/1000 = 6.5

This means we have 6 and a half hours when the sun is at it’s best  in the northern region.

 

The places colored blue, gets as low 4000 watts-hour per m2, when we divide that value by 1000w/m2

 4000/1000 = 4

We get only 4 hours of superb sunlight, so when implementing a solar energy system in that region we need to take cognizance of that.

           Now if there is anything you need clarification, please post a comment, or if there is anything you think i might have omitted please do let me know..

DAY 26: INVERTER (TYPES)

     

 Tuesday is finally here and we are back for the second quarter, today we picking up from where we stopped, Types of Inverters.

Enjoy

Day 26 of #100daysofsolarnuggets

Welcome back, today are going to continue from where we stopped on Friday.

Inverters.

We said there were three types of Inverters

.1) STRING INVERTER

.2) MICRO INVERTERS

.3) POWER INVERTERS

Let’s look at the Inverters in detail

.1) CENTRAL INVERTER

This type of inerter is also called string Inverter. This is the most common Inverter type being used.

It is a single (central) Inverter that has all the solar panels connected to it. All the DC Power from all the solar panels are fed into the central Inverter and the Inverter converts it to AC power   for use by the system.

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Features

.1) COST

Of all the Inverter types mentioned, this is least expensive type to deploy.

.2) SHADING

This type of Inverter is also the most susceptible to shading and when this happens the power output from the solar panels decreases.

Since all the panels are connected together in a sequence (series, parallel or maybe both) , If there is shading across any of the panels, the power production of  the affected panel reduces which in turn would reduce the power output of the entire system. #100daysofsolarnuggets

.3) REDUNDANCY

If there is an issue with the Inverter, the entire system would be affected. There is no redundancy in the system.

.2) MICRO INVERTERS

This is a relatively new technology and a lot more efficient then the central Inverter. This type of Inverter is installed on all the panels involved in the system. They are a lot smaller than the central Inverters, they convert the DC power produced by the panels to AC and pass it directly to the system.

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Features

.1) COST

This type of Inverter is quite expensive, since you would be buying Inverters for every single panel being used in your system.

.2) REDUNDANCY

If there is an issue with any of the panels or maybe with a single Inverter, it would not affect the entire system, even in harsh conditions. #100daysofsolarnuggets

.3) EFFICIENCY

This type of Inverter system is very efficient, enabling you get the maximum benefit from your system.

.3) POWER INVERTERS

This type is a compromise between the central Inverter and micro Inverter. The power Inverters are installed on the individual solar panels but they do not completely convert the power from DC to AC, they condition the output from the panels and then send it to the Inverter. The Inverter does the final job of converting to AC.

Features

.1) EFFICIENCY

This Inverter type has a higher efficiency rating compared to the central Inverter but not as much as the micro Inverter.

Power Inverters are a lot more like micro Inverters in features but they are cheaper than micro Inverters.

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