Q1 – What is solar panel, how this makes electricity.
Ans – Solar panels or modules, contain photovoltaic cells made from silicon that transform incoming sunlight into electrical power. (”Photovoltaic” means electricity from light, photo = light, voltaic = electricity.)
Solar photovoltaic cells consist of a positive and a negative film of silicon placed under a thin slice of glass. As the photons of the sunlight fall upon these cells, they strike the electrons off the silicon. The negatively-charged free electrons are preferentially attracted to one side of the silicon cell, which creates an electric voltage that can be collected and channeled. This current is gathered by wiring the individual solar panels together in series to form a solar photovoltaic array.
Q2 – How many solar panels are requires at my home.
Ans – For determining how many solar panels are required at your place, you first need to identify your goals.
Do you want to minimize your carbon footprint? Maximize your return on investment? Save as much money as possible? Most people want to save as much money as possible while minimizing their impact on the environment.
To calculate how many solar panels you need, you first must determine how much energy your household uses, your roof’s usable surface area, the climate and peak sunlight in your area, the wattage and relative efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) technology of your panels, and whether net metering is available. You must consult a solar consultant for these.
There is a sample set of questions that a solar professional might use to calculate the number of solar panels needed for your house
a. What are the household’s energy requirements?
Take out past electricity bills and look for average usage. You want daily usage, so if your bill doesn’t show a daily average, just divide the monthly or annual average by 30 or 365 days, respectively, to determine your daily average electricity usage.
Your answer will be in kilowatt-hours (kWh). (And just in case you are wondering, a kilowatt-hour is how much power you are using at any given time multiplied by the total time the power is being used. If you run a 60w bulb all day, you’re using 1,440 watt-hours or 1.4kWh/day)
b. What is the target daily average?
Solar panels don’t operate at maximum efficiency at all times. Weather conditions, for example, can temporarily reduce your system’s efficiency. Hardware issues can also cause the system to produce less energy than expected. Experts recommend adding a 25 percent margin to your target daily average to offset such inefficiencies.
c. How many hours of sunlight can you expect in your area?
The peak sunlight hours for your particular location will have a direct impact on the energy you can expect your solar system to produce. For example, if you live in a sunny climatic area you can expect to have a greater number of peak sunlight hours than if you lived in an area with a cloudy climate. That doesn’t mean the cloudy homeowner wouldn’t enjoy significant solar energy production, it just means the homeowner would need more panels.
Divide your daily kWh requirement by the number of daily peak sunlight hours. This gives you the amount of energy your panels need to produce every hour in kilowatt-hours. Multiply this number by 1,000 to convert your hourly power generation need to watts.
d. How many panels would provide my target hourly wattage?
PV solar panels (most commonly used in residential installations) come in wattages ranging from about 150 watts to 345 watts per panel, depending on the panel size and the cell technology used to manufacture the modules. Divide your home’s hourly energy requirement by the solar panels’ wattage to calculate the total number of panels you need. Do this for a high-wattage panel option and a lower-wattage option to establish a range that will set your expectations realistically.
This will give you the ideal number of panels for your electricity generation needs. Next, a professional installer needs to assess your roof architecture, angle to the sun and other factors to see if and how you’d be able to physically arrange that number of panels on your roof to achieve your daily energy production goals.
Q3 – Can I connect my existing inverter and battery with solar panels.
Ans – It is recommended to use solar inverter while using solar energy.
Q4 – Can I run AC through solar panels.
Ans – Yes, you can use an AC or any type of load by installing sufficient size of a solar PV system.
Q5 – What is the cost of 1kw solar.
Ans – The cost of On-grid rooftop system is around Rs. 65000 per kilowatt and that of Off-grid systems is Rs. 1 to 1.15 lacs for the same; both depending upon customer’s requirement.
Q6 – What is the life of the solar system.
Ans –
Panels
Solar panels typically come with 25-year performance warranties. Performance warranties guarantee the power output of the solar. By the end of year 25, the output should be no less than about 80% of the labeled power output.
Batteries
Batteries used in solar arrays come with a wide range of warranties. Deep-cycle lead acid are on the low end of the spectrum, with manufacturers offering a three to five years of warranty. Lithium-ion and redox-flow battery manufacturers offer longer warranties, as much as 20 years.
Inverters
Warranty of inverter varies with manufacturer. Various manufacturer offering one to five years of warranty.
Mounting
Solar mounting warranties also vary widely, from five to 25 years, likely because of the range of materials used to make them and other differentiating factors (such as whether it’s tracking or roof- or ground-mounted). Because of all the variables, pinning down the lifetime is generally difficult.
Q7 – What kind of maintenance is required in the solar system?
Ans – Solar panels generally require very little maintenance since there are no moving parts. A few times a month, the panels should be inspected for any dirt or debris that may collect on them.
For a general cleaning, simply use a standard garden hose to wash the face of the panels during either the early morning or in the evening. Avoid spraying cold water onto hot panels or you could risk cracking them.
Q8 – How much electricity will be generated from my solar system?
Ans – Your location determines the amount of sunlight falling on the panels. So, it is the most important factor to determine the solar power output. It determines the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) which is the amount of energy falling per sqm per day at that location. The DNI for a sunny region is approximately 6 kWh/m2/day. The higher the DNI, the higher the electricity produced by a solar cell.
In northern part of India, good quality of 1KW of solar system generates four to five KWh per day.
Q9 – What will happen on an overcast or rainy day?
Ans – The amount of power your solar energy system can generate depends on the intensity of sunlight. So, your solar panels will produce slightly less energy when the weather is cloudy, and no sunlight at night.
Q10 – How can I help the environment by installing solar panels?
Ans – Solar power systems derive clean, pure energy from the sun. Installing solar panels on your home helps combat greenhouse gas emissions and reduces our collective dependence on fossil fuel.
Traditional electricity is sourced from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. When fossil fuels are burned to produce electricity, they emit harmful gases that are the primary cause of air pollution and global warming.
Not only are fossil fuels bad for the environment, they’re a finite resource. Limited availability creates a volatile market in which energy prices can shockingly increase in a short period of time.
Q11- How much subsidy I can get on solar panel installation.
Ans – As of Now, the central government of India is offering 30 % subsidy on On-grid Solar systems for residential customers, some states are offering different additional subsidy schemes. Please contact us on +918368126691 for more details.
Q12 – What is ONGRID / OFF-GRID solar system.
Ans- In Off grid plant, there is a battery back-up, the surplus energy get stored in the batteries and that energy is consumed later.
In On grid plant, there is no battery backup system; the solar PV plant is connected to the grid (power house) with the help of net metering system. Suppose your solar power plant generated 20 units and 10 units are consumed by you during day time, the rest i.e. 10 units are fed back to the grid and can be utilized during night hours. At month end GRID (power house) will raise you the bill of net amount of electricity consumed minus electricity generated.
Q13 – What is net metering?
Ans – With net metering, you only pay for the electricity that you use beyond what your solar system generated. Net metering policies differ from state to state hence one should be aware of that. Please contact us at +91 83681 26691 for more details.
Q14 – What happens if grid supply fails?
Ans – In case of ONGRID system your solar system plant stops working, In case of OFFGRID solar system electricity can be stored in batteries.
Q15 – Will I get paid for the electricity generated from my solar system?
Ans – NO, Most of the states are adopting laws on On-Grid systems as a need for electric utilities operating in the state. In the net metering policy, the utility compensates the home owners for the extra power produced at the same rate that is purchased by the customer from the grid. With net metering, the customers receive roll-over credits for the excess electricity produced during the peak solar producing summer or the time when you are away from home and there is less electricity use. These roll over credits can be added towards your consumption during night when you use more power when the production of your PV system is less.
Q16 – How will I get to know how much energy I am using from my solar system and how much from grid.
Ans – The net metering system and the smart inverter connected to the system gives all the data about how much energy is being generated by solar system and used.
Q17 – Which company’s solar system is the best?
Ans- MNRE has approved many companies for manufacturing solar and other products associated with as per their performance. We, as a neutral platform recommend all our customers to use MNRE approved solar panels, inverters, batteries and all other products.
