How to Size your Solar System Requirements.

I am writing this to give everybody who wants to go solar, an idea of how to size solar
requirements like panels, solar charge controller, battery bank and inverter.
The information needed are the following:
1. Monthly KWH usage, Daily KWH usage, KWH Usage Daytime, KWH Usage
Night time
2. List of Loads, Wattage of Each and hours of use daytime and hours of use
night time.
In this analysis, we will assume you want to be totally self-sufficient in electricity.
A. For simplicity, let us assume your monthly bill is P3,000.00 and the price
charged to you by the utility company is P10/kwh. Your daily electricity
requirement is therefore P3,000/P10= 300 kwh per month. Divide this by 30
days we get 10 kwh per day. One panel of 230 watts will give you at least 1
kwh of free electricity per day. So you need 10 pcs 200 watts panels to totally
wipe-out your bill. Good quality panels sell at P75/watt, so the investment on
panel you need is 200 watts x 10 pcs x P75/watt = P150,000.00
B. Now, let us determine the Solar Charge Controller Capacity you need. Ten
panels connected in 5 strings of two panels in series has total amperes of
30A.
C. Now, let us assume your loads are equally distributed between daytime and
night time. Therefore, 5 kwh or half the energy your panels get during the day
is consumed by your daytime loads while 5 kwh or half should be stored in
the battery bank for night time use. So 5 kwh/ 12 volts = 416.7 Ampere
Hours.
Now to preserve the life of your batteries you only have to discharge them to
50% so you double your bank to 833 AH of 8 pcs 100 ah batteries. This costs
8 x P7000= P56,000.00
D. The inverter capacity is not related to the amount or kwh of electricity you
use for the month. It is determined by the load requirements of your
appliances. Let us assume you have a 1 hp (746 watts) aircon, one 120 watts
ref, 600 watts washing machine, three 75 watts fans, 80 watts flatscreen tv
and 50 watts of LED lights. You assume that all are running except the
biggest motor load which is the aircon and add all of them.
120+600+3x75+80+50 = 1075 watts. Then add to this the starting load of the
aircon, 3x746= 2,238 watts. Add this to other your running loads,
1,075+2,238 = 3,313 watts. This is the maximum surge load of your system.
You divide it by 2= 1,656 watts. This is the inverter capacity you need. You
may choose the I-Panda HPC 2,000 watts which cost P41,472. This has builtin 30A MPPT which is what you need per item B. above.
E. So the total cost of your system will be P150,000+P56,000+P41,472=
P247,472. You are shocked!
F. You dont have to buy the panels and batteries at all at once. Panels and
battery prices are on the downtrend due to the solar technological bull run. It
would be best to just buy of the panels and batteries. And buy each time
onwards.
G. Your Phase 1 will cost only P150,000/4+P56,000/4+P41,472= P92,972