Many of our customers ask us what capacity of Solar power plant they need to meet their electricity consumption and how much of the rooftop area is required to install it.
In this video, we have tried to explain;
1. How to estimate Electricity (Energy) demand.
2. How to estimate the solar energy incident at the location.
3. How to arrive at the solar capacity from knowing the above Values.
NOTE :
1. For estimating the incident solar energy; one can use the following websites
A. https://pvwatts.nrel.gov (Just enter the location)
B. http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov
2. The assumed PSH in this video is 4 Hours. A value of 4 is a general approximation for India. One has to carefully choose this Value for their respective location using reliable data from on the internet.
3. The formula for estimating incident solar energy using the analytical method is also given in the video. We strongly encourage viewers to use that as against thumb rules and approximate methods.
Incident Solar energy at any location (Latitude) on any given day (Day number) can be computed quite accurately using the analytical method.
4. This is only an approximate method for quick estimation for budgetary purposes.
5. While arriving at the Capacity, crucial factors like ambient temperature and shadows are not considered. It is assumed that the site is shadow-free.
6. While estimating the energy demand, Only the monthly consumption of electricity is accounted for. However, in practice, we recommend that the energy consumption over an entire year must be studied and a judicious and optimum value of consumption to be arrived at.
7. Some practitioners also take the lowest value of PSH over the entire year.
8. It is reiterated that this method of Capacity Estimation is valid only for On-grid (Grid-Tied) applications. This method should NOT be used for calculating solar panel capacity for off-grid or Hybrid solar plants.