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Grid Tie Solar Energy System how too's for an existing home, Sizing information, |
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| Size Your Utility inter-tie System 1 Gather up your last 12 months electrical energy bills. 2 Total the kWh from all 12 electric bills and divide it by 365 days. (kWh equals 1000 watts) 3 Look on a Solar isolation map and find the average Peak Sun hours for your area. 4 Divide lines two and three. 5 To allow for heat losses in the solar modules, voltage loss in long wire runs, power loss in the inverter (inverters use energy to operate) add 15%. 6 Get a site shading survey, This will track the sun’s path and give the effect a tree, fence or house might have. Add this percentage to the above. (normally a dealer only item) Example: 12 months electric bill shows a total of 6,600 kWh. Add three zeros to the end to get total watts (6,600,000 watts). 6,600,000 / 365 = 18,082 watts per day For Northwest Arkansas the average Peak Sun Hours are from 4 to 5 hours. 18,082 / 5 = 3,616 watts in solar modules. Now lets add back in the heat loss, inverter and wiring loss of 15%. 3,616 * 1.15 = 4,158 watts in modules To completely wipe out your energy bill you will require 4,158 watts in solar modules as long as there is no problem with the shading survey. Look for a solar energy grid tie system in this list by looking at the array size. All you need next is to find a contractor in your area to install it. Or you can do it your self and hire an Electrician to get the permit and twist the wires. You will want an inverter that will be able to back feed the grid all of the solar electric power produced. No need for any larger because that would be over kill and waste your money. If by chance you have a well pump and it requires more power then your solar power inverter can produce. The system will switch over to the grid to get the extra energy. The Inverter sizing is a little tougher to do. Every brand and size of grid tie solar energy inverters have a voltage min and max. Solar modules when hot in the summer produce lower power and in the winter time with bright sun will over produce. This has to be taken in to account or in the summer the solar electric voltage could be too low to start the grid interactive inverter. While in the winter the voltage could get too high and burn out an inverter. At this point you need to pick a pre designed kit or give the above information to a solar electric dealer to allow him/her to design one for you or review your kit system choice. |
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05-26-08