How to Choose Your Solar System? Solar has become the talk of the town, but there are still many people who are not sure which type of solar system fits them best. Before revealing the answer, let’s understand the general reasons why people need solar solutions first!
Basically, we get electricity from solar power. Here are the three main reasons that motivate people around the world to buy solar systems:
Save Money
For this reason, end users already have a stable source of electricity, but the costs are high, and the trend of energy costs going up seems to be a common expectation. Saving money is a major reason for end users living in the US, the EU, or other developed countries to establish a solar system.
Backup Energy
There are 2 main groups that need a solar system as backup energy:
- Unstable Local Grid: Power outages happen frequently in some places due to undeveloped infrastructure, extreme weather, or specific geographic features. Either way, solar energy is a great solution to solve that issue.
- Unacceptable Blackouts: In specific situations, power loss is not an option—such as losing important data in a bank or government office, or critical medical emergencies like a power outage during surgery in a hospital. In these situations, a UPS (energy storage) function solves the problem perfectly by providing a continuous supply of electricity during an outage.
Independent Power Production
Some people use solar energy as an independent power source, typically on an island, in a remote rural area, on a ship, or in similar off-grid locations.
Thus, we need to identify which of these needs matches our situation before considering how to choose a solar system:
Save Money
- Inverter: On-grid functionality is necessary, as the main purpose is to use the solar system to reduce energy costs.
- Solar Panels: The optimized power range is 60% to 80% of your average electricity consumption. If the range is too high, it leads to wasted budget, whereas a system that is too small cannot maximize its efficiency.
- Output Power: It doesn’t matter as much if your inverter is on-grid, because the grid will cover any shortage if your output power is smaller than your consumption.
- Solar Battery: Energy storage is unnecessary purely for saving money unless you want to use solar energy at night or profit from a Demand Side Management (DSM) system. A lithium battery is the better choice because of its long lifespan.
Backup Energy
- Inverter: UPS transfer time is the most important factor for backup power. You must choose a transfer time of 0–10 ms if used for critical conditions where blackouts are unacceptable. A transfer time of 10–20 ms is suitable for standard residential use. Of course, the lower the number, the better the performance!
- Solar Panels: You do not necessarily need solar panels if your local grid is otherwise stable and you only want emergency backup power.
- Output Power: It must be higher than your peak demand; this is necessary for reliable backup energy.
- Solar Battery: You can use a lithium battery or a lead-acid battery that fits the requirements of your inverter. Each has its own pros: lithium batteries are easier to maintain, while lead-acid batteries can be safer under specific conditions.
Independent Power Production
- Inverter: An off-grid inverter is a great option. On-grid inverters also support off-grid scenarios at a slightly higher cost, but you don’t need an on-grid inverter unless you plan to expand the system to a grid connection in the future.
- Solar Panels: The optimized power range is 100% to 150% of your average electricity consumption (accounting for new electric appliances over time). You won’t be able to enjoy your solar system properly if the panel array is too small to cover your load.
- Output Power: It must be higher than your peak demand, which is essential for an independent power setup.
- Solar Battery: A lithium battery is ideal unless budget is a constraint. If possible, I recommend using a high-voltage battery system if your power demands exceed 10 kWh, as your overall cost per energy unit will be lower.
We are eager to talk about solar with everybody! Contact us if you would like to have a great solar conversation with Happysun.
