The document discusses the components and design of photovoltaic (PV) arrays. It describes the major system components, which include PV modules, solar charge controllers, inverters, battery banks, and auxiliary appliances. It then provides details on each component and their functions. The document also discusses the steps to estimate the cost of a PV system, which includes load estimation, estimating power production, determining the required number of PV panels, and calculating the total system cost based on the costs of the arrays, batteries, and inverter.

1. Photovoltaic Cell
Part-III: PV Array Design &
Cost Estimation
Arpan Deyasi
Dept of ECE, RCCIIT, Kolkata, India
Course: EI605D
4/26/2020 1Arpan Deyasi, EI605D

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Major system components of PV array
[i] PV modules
[ii] Solar charge controller
[iii] Inverter
[iv] Battery bank
[v] Auxiliary appliances

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PV Modules
Converts sunlight into
DC electrical energy
Temperature, shading
and dust affect the
performance of PV modules

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Solar Charge Controller
Regulates electrical parameters
coming from PV panels
Prevents battery from
overcharging, and hence,
increases lifetime of battery
Must be set to correct presets
depending on battery and its
requirements

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Inverter
Converts DC signal
into AC signal
Three types of inverters
are used: Off-grid,
Grid-tied, Hybrid

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Off-Grid Inverter
Not connected
with the grid
Produces power
independent of
the grid
24 hours supply
Costly to install
Requires more
maintenance

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Grid-Tied Inverter
Most common type of inverter
Connected with electrical grid
Allow people to use
both solar energy
and electricity
Less expensive due to no use of battery
Little maintenance required
Will not produce power if
there is no power in grid

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Hybrid Inverter
Combination of off-grid
and grid-ties systems
Works as off-grid with
utility back-up power
Works as grid-tied with
extra battery storage
Less expansive than off-grid
Expansive than grid-tied

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Battery bank
Store energies for supplying
to electrical appliances
as per requirement
Battery must not be
discharged more than 50%

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Complete system

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COST ESTIMATION OF A PV SYSTEM
A solar PV system design can be done in following steps:
Load estimation
Estimation of power produced per unit time
Estimation of number of PV panels
Cost estimation of the system

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The total energy requirement of the system (total load) i.e
Total connected load to PV panel system
=
No. of units × rating of equipment
COST ESTIMATION OF A PV SYSTEM
Total watt-hours rating of the system
=
Total connected load (watts) × Operating hours
Load estimation

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COST ESTIMATION OF A PV SYSTEM
Actual power output of a PV panel
=
Peak power rating × operating factor*
Estimation of power produced per unit time
* ‘operating factor’ is used to estimate the actual output from a PV
module. [The operating factor between 0.60 and 0.90 (implying the
output power is 60 to 80% lower than rated output power) in normal
operating conditions, depending on temperature, dust on module, etc.]

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COST ESTIMATION OF A PV SYSTEM
Energy produced by one panel in a day
=
Actual power output × 8 hours/day (peak equivalent)
Estimation of power produced per unit time
* combined efficiency = inverter efficiency × battery efficiency
The power used at the end use is less (due to lower combined
efficiency of the system
=
Actual power output of a panel × combined efficiency*

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Number of solar panels required to satisfy given
estimated daily load
=
(Total watt-hour rating (daily load) / (Daily energy
produced by a panel)
COST ESTIMATION OF A PV SYSTEM
Estimation of number of PV panels

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COST ESTIMATION OF A PV SYSTEM
A. Cost of arrays = No. of PV modules × Cost/Module
B. Cost of batteries = No. of Batteries × Cost/Module
C. Cost of Inverter = No. of inverters × Cost/Inverter
Total cost of system = A + B + C
Cost estimation of the system

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1. Non conventional Energy, A. V. Desai, New Age International
Publishers Ltd.
2. Renewable energy resources and emerging technologies, D.P.
Kothari, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.
3. Er. R K Rajput, Non-Conventional Energy Sources and Utilisation
(Energy Engineering), S. Chand Publishing
4. B.H Khan, Non Conventioanl Energy Resources, Tata McGraw-Hill
Education
References