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Design of a solar home system (SHS)

Article · March 2019

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Report No. 03

Name of the Experiment:

Design of a solar home system (SHS)

Date of Performance:
13/03/2019

Submitted by
Md. Fahim Hasan Khan
Objective
The objectives of the experiment were to design a complete solar home system requirements
including PV panels, Battery bank, Charge controller, Inverter etc.

Load Assessment
 In a stand-alone solar PV system, estimating the energy requirement is an important task
which has to be done properly.
 Energy saving appliances have to be adopted to decrease the amount of load.
 For off-grid solar system, worst load case scenario has to be considered. There is nothing
called average load. But to design a cost efficient system, averaged values have to be
considered.
 Electrical instruments and appliances have starting serge current. That means for a very brief
amount of time, it will exert huge load on the system when they are switched on. For AC loads
this is a serious problem and so inverters and batteries has to be capable of managing the
load. But it is highly unlikely that many different loads will be switched on at the same instance
of time. Some appliances like refrigerator takes huge serge current. So, for a better and
reliable design, it has to be considered.
 Some appliances have phantom loads. That means when they are kept standby, they continue
to take good amount of watt from system. So, all appliances should be switched off and
connection plug has to be disconnected while they are not intended to be used.
 Amount of energy consumption varies day to day and season to season. It is rather convenient
to use average data as all loads are generally not in operation simultaneously. And for excess
power consumption, a backup diesel generation may be preserved standby.
 In most solar home systems, 12V is the most widely used DC system voltage as 12V dc
appliances are more common in the market. DC appliances with higher Volts (24 V, 36 V, 48
V) are good choice for solar home system. But in local market, higher DC Volt appliances may
not be available. Dc-dc converters can be used to scale down or scale up dc voltages for
mismatched appliances. To limit the need for converters, it is necessary to have only one
working dc voltage level for all dc appliances.
 Wires, inverters, converters, switches etc. are not lossless. These losses are added to actual
load. In solar home system, it is not recommended that panels, batteries, loads are far away
from one another. Long distance wires cause larger I2R losses and it is more prevalent in dc
lines.
 If any instrument is labelled in Volt and Ampere, then Watt= Volt*Ampere; Some instruments
are labelled directly in Energy unit (like Wh/day) instead of power (W).
Considerations:
1. Power factor for AC loads= 0.85, Power Factor for DC loads= 01
2. Inverter efficiency for AC loads= 90%
3. Converter efficiency= 90%
4. Overall Wiring and other efficiency= 96%
𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈(𝑾) × 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒔
𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 =
𝒑. 𝒇.
𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝒉
𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏(𝑾) × 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑫𝒂𝒚( ) × 𝑫𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒆𝒆𝒌(𝒅)
= 𝒅
𝟎𝟕
 𝑾𝒉
𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑫𝑪 𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏( )
𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝑪 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅 = 𝒅
𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
𝑾𝒉
𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑨𝑪 𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 ( )
𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝑪 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅 = 𝒅
𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
𝑾𝒉 𝑾𝒉
𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝑪 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅 ( ) + 𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝑪 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅( )
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅 = ( 𝒅 𝒅 )
𝒘𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚

𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑨𝑪 𝒐𝒓 𝑫𝑪) = 𝑺𝒖𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 (𝑨𝑪 𝒐𝒓 𝑫𝑪)

Selection of Nominal System Voltage

Daily Energy Requirement
Avg. energy requirements (kWh/d) Nominal System Voltage (V)
Max 1 12
1 to 4 24
4 to 6 48
Inverter Size
AC watt peak (kW) Nominal System voltage (V)
Max 2 12
2 to 5 24
More than 5 48

Above two tables show rule of thumb for SHS. System voltage can be chosen after studying market
availability of electrical equipments in nominal voltages. Higher system voltage is selected in order to
reduce the size of cable. With higher voltage, the same power can be delivered at lower current. And
since the required size of the cable depends upon the magnitude of the current, usually high voltage-
low current configuration is used. In this case the module/array voltage should match the system
nominal voltage. In simple off-grid SHS, daily energy requirement should not be more than 6 kWh/d.
Otherwise, design will become complicated and cable sizing, fuses, protection, site selection, shading
etc. will become prominent in design consideration which is not expected in SHS.
It is also necessary for good design that all the DC loads operate from the same nominal system
voltage. In large scale solar power plants higher DC system voltages up to 120V or 240V can be found.

Battery Sizing
 Battery life cycle is defined as the no. of charge-discharge cycle it can undergo with expected
efficiencies i.e. 1000, 1500, 3000.
 More parallel strings of batteries can be harmful for system. It may cause uneven charging
and discharging. Even a small mismatch between battery voltage in parallel string can reduce
life span of batteries and this problem more severe for inexpensive batteries. For a bigger
system, batteries have to be chosen carefully. We can design for higher Ah batteries to lessen
 the no. of parallel strings. Also we can use batteries with higher Voltage ratings to reduce the
no. of batteries in series in each strings. Availability of batteries with different ratings in the
market is a vital consideration here.
 Batteries can be arranged in parallel to increase current while keeping same voltage. Or, they
can be arranged in series to increase voltage. Increased battery voltage will result in less
current and so cheaper wires and less losses. System voltage should be equal to or higher
than available battery voltage. Each string must have equal no. of batteries.
 Days of autonomy (D): No. of days the system can operate on battery power alone with no
input from generation side. This no. is critical for battery sizing. More the no. of days of
autonomy, more the cost for batteries. We can make tradeoffs between choosing more days
of autonomy and choosing to buy a generator for backup in case of emergencies.
 DoD: It is a measure of maximum capacity to be withdrawn from a battery. More we discharge
the battery, less becomes its life span. Ordinary shallow lead-acid batteries have only 10%-
20% recommended depth of discharge. But now deep cycle batteries have 60%-70% DoD.
 Effect of Temperature: Lower temperature causes increased battery voltage, decreased
capacity and higher lifespan. On the other hand, higher temperature causes lower battery
voltage, increased capacity and decreased lifespan. To compensate for temperature effect,
battery temperature multiplier is used. It is 1.00 for 26.70 C and this temperature is close to
the yearly average temperature for Bangladesh. Battery temperature multiplier data can be
found for specific battery.

Considerations:
 All loads are non-critical
 Battery voltage of each unit = 24 V
 Desired system voltage= 24V
 Max. Percentage of battery Usable (DoD)= 70% [Deep cycle battery]
 Battery charging and discharging efficiency= 85%
 Battery Temperature multiplier= 1.00

−𝟏. 𝟗𝑻𝒎𝒊𝒏 + 𝟏𝟖. 𝟑, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔

𝑫𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒚 (𝑫) = {
−𝟎. 𝟒𝟖𝑻𝒎𝒊𝒏 + 𝟒. 𝟓𝟖, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒏 − 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔
Where,
Tmin= Minimum Peak Sun Hours.
Dcrit is the days of autonomy for critical loads and Dnon is the days of autonomy for non-critical loads.
these formulas are valid for minimum peak sun hours of one hour per day.

𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒉
𝑾𝒉
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅 ( ) × 𝑫𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒚(𝒅) × 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑. 𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓
= 𝒅
𝑫𝒐𝑫 × 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒉
𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒉 =
𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑫. 𝑪. 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)

𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)

𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 =
𝑨𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)

𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒉
𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍 =
𝑨𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑨𝒉
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔
= 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 × 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍

Array Sizing
 To match the usual practice, minimum peak sun hours per day has been considered.
 Rated nominal voltage of the panel/ panels has to be such that it matches or exceeds the
voltage of battery bank. This is a very important design consideration. Obviously, each parallel
string must have equal no. of panels.
 In off-grid system, 12V, 24V, 48V are commonly used. These voltage ratings actually refer to
nominal voltage of panels. Other voltage ratings are not used because it is hard to match the
nominal voltage of the battery bank. Typically, Voc and Vmp of solar panels are greater than
nominal voltage.
 Solar radiation information is available through NASA by giving location latitude and
longitude. Ground based data is more preferable if available. If peak sun hour data [
(kWh/m2/day) or (hours/day)] is available, lowest peak sun hour over the year has to be
considered to design for worst condition.
 PV modules degrade with time. The aging or de-rating factor is usually covered by the
manufacturer performance warranty. Most major brands guarantee a maximum of 20% de-
rating over 25 years, with different milestones during that period.
Considerations
 Peak sun hours = 4.5h [Min. Radiation 1000 W/m2 ]
 Solar panels will be tilted at latitude angle towards Equator (due south)
 De-rating Factor= 0.95
 Columbic Efficiency= 0.9
Approach 01:

𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 (𝑾)

𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒉
=
𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑺𝒖𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓 (𝒉) × 𝑫𝒆 − 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 × 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒄 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)
𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 =
𝑵𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)
 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 (𝑾)
=
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 (𝑾) × 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈

Approach 02:

𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 (𝑾)

𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒉
=
𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑺𝒖𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓 (𝒉) × 𝑫𝒆 − 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 × 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒄 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)
𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 =
𝑵𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)
𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 (𝑾)
=
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 (𝑾) × 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈

Approach 01 vs. Approach 02: Solar panels are not so cheap. We can design it in such a way to
provide enough for our loads and charging our batteries during idle times only. Or, we can design it
such that it can charge the battery bank in a single day with typical peak insolation available and
provide energy even during some kind of calamities. Approach 02 is excellent in terms of economic
operation and approach 01 is good for ensuring constant availability of energy but wastes a lot of
solar energy. With increase in array and storage capability, requirement for higher charge controller,
wires, inverters, fuse etc. also arise. Generally, for SHS, approach 02 is used.

Charge Controller Design

 Normal on-off charge controller is used in solar home system as pv array voltage and battery
bank voltage are supposed to be matched. MPPT charge controllers are used in grid tied or
large scale off-grid systems.
 Critical loads like vaccine refrigerators, telecommunications equipment, emergency room
lighting, and operation theater lighting etc. need to be operated without interruption. all the
loads considered to be critical are to be connected directly from the battery bypassing the
Charge Controller.
 We generally assume that the highest possible current in an off-grid system is provided by the
array to charge controller path. When load side is redesigned or battery backup is increased
or new arrays are cascaded to the system, charge controller along with wirings and fuses also
need to be redesigned.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 = 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑫𝑪 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑽)

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 (𝑨)

= 𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍 × 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑺. 𝑪. 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 (𝑨) × 𝑺𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
Inverter Design

𝑰𝒏𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝑽) = 𝑫𝑪 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆

𝑶𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝑽) = 𝑨𝑪 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆
𝑴𝒊𝒏. 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑾) = 𝑺𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 × 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑨𝑪 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆

DC-DC Converter Design

 Either Buck or Boost converter can be used based on the requirements. Also, input or output
terminal of converter can be altered either from charge controller to load or load to charge
controller.
Considerations
 DC load voltage is less than system voltage
 Buck converter has been used from controller to load

𝑰𝒏𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝑽) = 𝑫𝑪 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆

𝑶𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓 (𝑽) = 𝑫𝑪 𝑳𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆
𝑴𝒊𝒏. 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑾) = 𝑺𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 × 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑫𝑪 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆

Wiring Requirements
 The size of the wire is calculated by using the Standard Wire Gauge (SWG) formula as
following:

𝟎. 𝟑 × 𝑳 × 𝑰𝑴 𝟒𝑺
𝑺= , 𝒅=√
∆𝑽 𝝅
𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 (𝑨) = 𝑺𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 × 𝑴𝒂𝒙. 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 (𝑨)
Here,
S= Cross sectional area (mm2)
L= Length of the wire (m)
d= Diameter of the wire (mm)
IM= Design value of current (A)
∆V= Max. allowed voltage drop (5%)
Safety Factor= 1.25
  Accurate wiring is complex and requires sophisticated calculations. There are several
standards for wiring and it is more dependent on market availability and trends. Wiring losses
depends on the quality of the wiring materials available.
 Different sections of SHS need different types of wiring as they require different current
carrying capacity. Above equation roughly applies for all section of wires in a SHS.

Backup Generator
 To meet excess load, a back-up generator can be coupled with solar home system. This
generator can either supply power in case of absence of the sun or in case when load is greater
than calculated value. For off grid system, generators are vastly used.
 The size of generator is dependent on market availability, price and peak AC load. Generator
can only supply power to the ac loads. Worst case has to be considered when all the AC loads
are connected.
 Many AC appliances have high serge currents. That means for a very brief amount of time it
will draw a high amount of wattage when switched on. This must be considered. Again. Over
the year, the highest peak of ac wattage may increase dramatically for brief amount of time
due to many occasions which cannot be supplied by PV system. In accordance with budget
and market availability, safety factor and seasonal peak factor should be considered.

𝑴𝒊𝒏. 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕

𝑨𝑪 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑾) × 𝑺𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 × 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
=
𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎

Sub-array and Sub-charge controller

It is often easier and to divide a large array into smaller sub-arrays of required system voltage. These
sub-arrays are then combined in parallel to produce full array current at system voltage.
The first reason to break a large array into sub-arrays is that the charging current from the entire
array may be too large for the charge controller. Secondly, the wire size may be too high to carry the
full array current; may be very expensive. With each sub-array, there will be only one charge
controller.

𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 × 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝑷𝑷 (𝑵𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍) 𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 (𝑨)

𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒖𝒃 − 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒚 =
𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 (𝑨)

Fuses and Protection Devices:

It is usual practice to add fuses or circuit breakers of rated capacity at the output of array or sub-
array. Similarly, PV disconnect circuit breaker is installed at the array input of CR. A separate battery
disconnect circuit breaker of rated capacity is also required to isolate battery bank during installation
and for maintenance purpose. Fused outlets from battery bank is also required for DC as well as AC
loads.

Discussion and Disclaimer

Theory and equations used in the report, have been obtained from different books, online resources,
papers etc. A simple excel model has been developed to calculate requirements for SHS.
The design requirements presented in this report are not verified for practical use, rather it is a
backbone representation of how Solar Home System can be designed. Additionally, no financial
viability has been analyzed which is very important in reality.
From Excel Calculations
LOAD
Battery

Solar PV
Charge Controller

Inverter
 DC- DC Converter Backup Generator

Wire Requirements

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