Solar Energy Input Data
Diary of the spanish solar pilot and test facility - first entry December 2008
Recently (November 2008) we have had the time and updated monitoring equipment to start recording some solid solar data.
Solar electricity design is normally based on various "rules of thumb" and the designers experience. In this competitive world we think we should "go back to basics" and redesign our standard packages. This will enable us to price more keenly and will be much more factually based as opposed to estimations, and more specific to Southern Spain.
Daily Power consumptions of a typical rural solar household in Spain in 2009
Optimal system design, using standard equipment and rounding
Test System 1 Description
3 Sharp 165 watt 24 volt panels are roof mounted. In spring and autumn, they are angled at our latitude (37 N) degrees to the horizontal, in summer they will be mounted at our latitude minus 15 degrees, and in winter they will be mounted at our latitude plus 15 degrees to the horizontal.
They are currently (May 2010) in their spring position of latitude (37 Deg)
They are wired in series to give a nominal 72 volts
That output is converted by a T80 MPPT controller made by Apollo. Data is mirrored on a remote panel above my desk. This unit reports amps into the batteries as well as amps out to the inverter/charger. The system is forced to the bulk charging condition by always running below the full charge level. Thus the data reflects all power that is available from the panels.
The batteries are 6 X 12 volt AFA batteries of 225 ampere hour capacity. They are installed in 2 strings of 3 in parallel. They were substitiuted for the old failing Varta batteries in early March.
The inverter is a Studer 4400-24 with capability of producing 230 Volt AC 50 Hz power at 4000 watts continuous. It is also a charger drawing current from the grid. An automatic fast action relay is triggered by the auxiliary circuit of the inverter when battery volts fall to a low level, and stopped when the batteries are again charged.
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