Increase In demand of electricity is rising cost of electricity and results to increase in electricity bill. This makes today the best time to invest in solar off grid systems..
An off-grid solar system is more popular and comes with a power backup. It works independent of the grid. Most home appliances such as Fans, TV, Cooler, AC, Water Pump etc. can work through this system. For instance, a 1 kW off grid solar system is sufficient for a 2-4 BHK house. But if you also want to run 1HP Water Pump in your home you could use a 3 kW off grid solar system. If you are planning to run an AC then you should use a 5 kW system. For commercial setups like a shop, clinic or small mill, petrol pump a 10 kW off-grid solar system should be used.
An off-grid system is not connected to the electricity grid and therefore requires battery storage. Off-grid solar systems must be designed appropriately so that they will generate enough power throughout the year and have enough battery capacity to meet the home’s requirements, even in the depths of winter when there is generally much less sunlight.
The high cost of batteries and off-grid inverters means off-grid systems are much more expensive than on-grid systems and so are usually only needed in more remote areas that are far from the electricity grid. However battery costs are reducing rapidly, so there is now a growing market for off-grid solar battery systems even in cities and towns.
There are different types of off-grid systems which we will go into more detail later, but for now I will keep it simple. This description is for an AC coupled system, in a DC coupled system power is first sent to the battery bank, then sent to your appliances. To understand more about building and setting up an efficient off-grid home see our sister site go off-grid/hybrid
The battery bank. In an off-grid system there is no public electricity grid. Once solar power is used by the appliances in your property, any excess power will be sent to your battery bank. Once the battery is full it will stop receiving power from the solar system. When your solar system is not working (night time or cloudy days), your appliances will draw power from the batteries.
For times of the year when the batteries are low on charge and the weather is very cloudy you will generally need a backup power source, such as a backup generator or gen-set. The size of the gen-set (measured in kVA) should to be adequate to supply your house and charge the batteries at the same time.
An off-grid solar system is more popular and comes with a power backup. It works independent of the grid. Most home appliances such as Fans, TV, Cooler, AC, Water Pump etc. can work through this system. For instance, a 1 kW off grid solar system is sufficient for a 2-4 BHK house. But if you also want to run 1HP Water Pump in your home you could use a 3 kW off grid solar system. If you are planning to run an AC then you should use a 5 kW system. For commercial setups like a shop, clinic or small mill, petrol pump a 10 kW off-grid solar system should be used.
It is most common type of solar power system with backup. It works in day and night both, during the day, solar panel charges the battery and runs the home appliances such as Air Conditioners, Cooler, Television and submersible pump. At night, when the sun is not available, Inverter runs your home appliances using the battery power.
No dependency on government electricity power
Expensive than on-grid solar power system
In off-grid solar powered system, how much power you can run depends upon power of Inverter and it’s efficiency, generally all inverter comes with 80% efficiency, so, if you buy 3 kw Inverter system then up to 2,400 watts of peak power you can run at given point of time. Running air-conditioner and submersible can be expensive for you.
There are two types of solar inverters, 1) PWM – relatively low efficiency 2) MPPT Based – high efficiency PWM Based – it stands for pulse with modulation, these inverter low on efficiency but prices are very low. For smaller needs, PWM based inverters are recommended for smaller use such as running 3-4 fans, 8-10 lights, 1-2 Television, 1 Refrigerator in day and night. MPPT Based – it stands for Maximum power point tracking. If your purpose of investment in solar is to save electricity bill, then it is strongly recommended to opt for MPPT based inverters.
