A solar power generation system, is a distributed power generation system that allows individuals, households, communities, commercial establishments, industries and large institutions to establish an independent system to generate their own power generation setups. Such a system makes use of the enormous power of the sun that is received on the surface of the earth to generate electricity. This process of converting light into electricity is called Photovoltaic conversion (Photos meaning light and voltaic meaning electricity).
A solar power system can have two to four main components:
1. Solar panels (arrays),
2. Inverter (on-grid/off-grid depending upon the type of system),
3. Batteries (for off-grid systems/power storage),
4. Charge Controller (for systems with batteries)
A solar power system can be designed as both - a stand alone system (off-grid) and a grid-connected system. In real world applications, the power generation from your solar power system can depend upon a variety of factors. The intensity and duration of sunlight is one of the most important factors that determine how much energy a solar power system will generate.
Other factors that influence power generation from a solar power system include the location of the installation site, area available for installation, availability of unshaded area for installation, ambient air temperature, amount of pollution in the air and cloud-free skies. In general, in Indian conditions, a 1kWp(kilowatt peak) solar power system can generate approximately 4-4.5kWh (kilowatt-hours) of energy on a bright sunny day in the most optimum conditions.
Arrays of solar panels, which are connected up to generate energy are placed on the various surfaces - land, rooftops, buildings and now-a-days, on rigs floating in lakes and seas. Solar panels, also sometimes referred to as solar modules are made up of dozens of solar cells connected to each other, and sandwiched between layers of materials that help protect the extremely fragile solar cells from getting damaged.
Solar cells are built using semiconductor materials (mostly silicon) that convert the light energy falling upon their surface into electricity. Solar panels, these days come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are available for a variety of applications ranging from portable energy systems like portable solar lamps, solar street lights, to ultra-mega solar farms spanning hundreds of acres of area and utilizing thousands of solar panels and other state-of-the-art technologies to maximize power generation.
For more in-depth details, head over to our blog where we cover questions like these in much more details.
Well, that's a very straightforward question which is a bit tricky to answer. This is, by far, the first and the most frequent question we get asked by our potential customers. Your solar power generation system can be a very simple one to a bit complex one, which, most probably would be customized as per your requirements, space or budget constraints. Then, additional sub-systems can highly influence the final cost of your system, not to mention the advantages such a sub-system can have on your overall experience.
In case you are interested in a solar power system, for your home/commercial establishment, you may reach out to us by filling the Request a Quote form. Additionally, if you are a bit on the technical side and can provide us with an estimate of the average amount of power you need on a daily basis, or the electronic appliances you plan to run using the solar power, we will be able to help you with a rough estimate. You can use our Solar System Builder Utility to provide us an idea of what you're expecting from your solar power system.
Alternatively, if you have your electricity bills handy for the past year, you can provide us your monthly/bi-monthly power consumption units (based upon the billing cycle of your DISCOM), and we can estimate your power requirements. Since power requirements can widely fluctuate depending upon the weather - with summer season resulting in higher power bills, to winter months resulting in comparatively lower power bills.
The shortest possible answer to this question is, YES! However, in depth, this is a bit tricky question. This depends on both the capacity and configuration of your system as well as your power consumption patterns and appliances in use. Most often, an off-grid or hybrid solar power setup supplies power to the home appliances to be run directly off solar power. Such a system includes batteries and a power inverter, along with a charge controller, to charge batteries off from solar power.
A solar power system can run as many AC appliances as can be supported by the power inverter. For example, a 1500 VA (1.5kVA) inverter has a maximum wattage capacity of around 1000 watts, that is, your inverter will be able to run appliances with a combined load of 1000 watts at maximum before the inverter gives out an overload alarm. The solar panels and charge controller only help charge the batteries during the day when the sun is shining, and thus the battery bank will come in handy when the sun is not available, during night, or during cloudy days.
The bottomline is, as long as your inverter is capable of handling your appliances, you should be good to go with running the appliances on solar power, the only catch is that you should have a sufficient solar power generation capacity available.
Solar power systems can be broadly categorized into two categories - On-Grid and Off-Grid systems. Off-Grid systems, till a few years back have been the norm. Having a de-centralized setup, solar power system installers had no choice but to consume the entire power generated by solar panels within their homes/establishments. However, since the last few years, the governments, all around the world, have shown quite a lot of interest in decentralized power generation systems. Initiatives are being taken and incentives are being given to people to get solar power systems installed on their spaces, rooftops and communities are also being encouraged to do so.
Coming back to the point, what is the difference between ON-GRID and OFF-GRID solar power system. An On-Grid system, by definition is a solar power generation system that interacts with the power grid. This is the reason such a system is often called Grid-Interactive system. In such a setup, the power generated by a solar array (more than one solar panels connected to each other) is fed into an On-Grid inverter which simply converts the DC power to AC power as per the specifications of the respective departments of the government and the power distribution companies, and then feeds the power generated to the loads in the home, and supplies excess power to the power grid, from where you as a consumer, fetch electricity to run your home appliances. The amount of excess power that is fed into the grid is measured by a special electricity meter that is installed by the distribution company on your request. Such a connection is known as a net/gross metering connection. At the end of the billing cycle, your power consumption from the mains grid and your power supply to the power grid is calculated to get your net electricity bill.
An Off-Grid system, on the other hand is one which has no interaction with the mains electricity supply. The DC power generated by the solar panels is fed into a battery bank via a supported charge controller, and the DC power stored in the batteries is converted to AC using an inverter, which then supplies electricity to the appliances. An Off-Grid solar power system, can also interact with AC mains in a setup wherein an inverter can make use of solar power to supply to the load/charge the batteries, when it is available, and use AC mains when solar power is unavailable. Such a setup can be achieved using a changeover switch, or some commercially available charge controllers/change over devices can help you do that.