NEEDS ASSESSMENT /

PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM DESIGN

 Outcome
• Design a PV system
 Introduction
• The PV solar system requires high initial cost to put
up the infrastructures.

• As a result it is imperative to determine a cost-

effective design.

• The lifespan of PV panel is 25 – 30 years, thus solar

power will be available within this period with
minimal maintenance cost.

• In many cases, the return on investment for solar

infrastructures is usually on the long term, which
may leverage out the initial cost of infrastructures
typically within 5 years.
 Design steps
• Energy / Power audit

• Sizing of the PV modules

• Inverter sizing

• Battery sizing

• Solar charge controller sizing

• Cable sizing
 Energy and Power Audit
• The first step in the design of a solar PV
system is to determine the total power and
energy consumption of all loads that need to
be supplied by the solar PV system.

• This is known as Energy and Power Audit

 Energy and Power Audit
1. Power Audit: Determine the total power in
(Watts) of all appliances in your home

2. Energy Audit: Determine total energy

consumption (Watt-hour) per day required by all
the appliances in your home.

3. You should take losses into account, the total

energy to be supplied by the panel per day
≈ Watt-hour × 1.3
 Sizing of the PV Modules
• Determine the total Watt peak (Wp) from the
panels

• Determine the number of panels required

 Sizing of the PV Modules: Watt-peak
Total _ Energy _ in _ Watt  hour
Wp Peak _ sun _ hour
• A peak sun-hour, specifically, is the hour during which the
intensity of sunlight is 1,000 Watts per square meter.

• Peak sun hour can be estimated from the data generated

on NASA database (https://power.larc.nasa.gov/)

• Peak sun hour can directly be obtained empirically using a

solar power meter (insolation meter) that measures the
solar irradiance. Peak sun hour is approximately 5 hours in
the South West Nigeria. Can be up to 7 hours in the North.
 Sizing of the PV Modules: Number of
Panels
• Choose the availabe single panel you want to
use e.g 300 Watts, 200 Watts

Total _ Watt _ peak

Number _ of _ panels 
Rating _ of _ sin gle _ panel _(Watts)

• Approximate to nearest whole number

 Inverter sizing
• The inverter rating should never be lower than the total
power of all devices in your home ! You may destroy the
inverter with surge current !

• For homes with only resistive load (without refrigerator or

pumping machine)
Inverter size ≈ 1.3 × total power (Watts)

• For homes with both resistive and inductive load (with

pumping machine or refrigerator)
Inverter size ≈ 3 × total power (inductive load) + 1.3 × total
power (Watts) (non-inductive load)
 Battery sizing
• Deep cycle battery is recommended
• Battery rating (Ah) :

• DOD = depth of discharge

• Factor 0.85 takes battery losses into account
• The days of autonomy is the number of days in
which the battery bank can supply power without
being recharged by the PV panels.
 Solar charge controller sizing
• The solar charge controller is typically rated against
amperage and voltage capacities.

• It should have capacity to handle the total short

current from the PV array.

• For ordinary controllers (PWM –type), the standard

practice is:
Current rating = Total short circuit current of PV array x
1.3
Input voltage rating = Open circuit voltage of PV array
 Cable sizing

Cables with high conductivity and large cross

sectional area are recommended
 Design example
Energy / Power Audit
Typical house hold power consumption
Rating (Watt) Hour Energy (Watt-hour)
2 Decoders 30 8 240
LCD/LED TV 60 8 480
1 Laptop computer 70 8 560
1 Deep freezer 200 8 1600
Energy saving lighting (10 X 15W Bulb) 150 10 1500
1 Phone charger 10 4 40

520 4420
 PV module sizing
• Energy to be supplied by panel = 1.3 × 4420 =
5746 Watt-hour

Watt peak =

Number of 200 W panels =

 Inverter size
• Inverter size:
 Battery sizing
• Suppose 200 Ah battery, 12 V is chosen as the
single deep cycle battery unit

• Battery size (Ah) =

(for 1 day of autonomy)
• Number of 200 Ah batteries, 12 V needed

• 4 times 200 Ah batteries, 12 V is required

 Charge controller sizing
• Suppose the short circuit current for 200 W panel
is 4.7 A (please check the panel rating)

Since 6 panels are required, total Isc = 4.7×6 = 28.2

A
Considering the factor of safety 1.3
Charge controller rating = 1.3 × 28.2 = 36.6
In this case, I will choose 40 – 50 A controller
Input voltage more than 40 V
 Cable sizing
• Generally use at least 6 mm square cable for
dc voltage connection to minimise lossed

• DC are more prone to losses than AC

 The End
Questions ??
 Practical Task
• Connect solar charge controller, battery and
solar panel

• Power a dc bulb

• On the charge controller, set the load on to

12.5 V, load off to 10 V and PV off to 13.9 V