What are the elements of a Solar PV system?
A solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) system includes the following elements:
- Solar PV panels
- Racking and mounting system for PV panels
- Batteries
- Inverter
- charge controller
- wires
- switches
- performance monitoring system
Photovoltaic panels (or simply solar panels or PV panels) collect sunlight and convert it into electricity. Sometimes it is mounted on a roof, but it can be placed anywhere there is sun. The larger the surface of the solar panel, the more electricity it collects when the sun shines. If the sun shines brightly, a lot of electricity is generated in a short time, while if it is cloudy, only a small amount of energy is collected in the same time. Click here for SunStore's Solar PV Panels.
The racking and mounting system is used to fix your solar panels either to your roof or to the ground and allow you to position the panels at an angle that is best for capturing the sun’s rays. To perform at their best in South Africa, solar panels should be installed at an angle of around 30 degrees.
The battery stores solar energy and provides electricity when it is needed even when the sun is not shining. If the sun shines a lot and there is little use of electricity, then the battery fills up quickly. If people use electricity when there is little sun, the amount of electricity in the battery gradually falls and soon the battery will be empty. Click here for SunStore's Lithium Solar Batteries.
An inverter converts the DC electricity from your PV panels to Alternating Current (AC) electricity; this AC electricity you can connect to your sockets at home and use for your appliances. Follow this link to see all of SunStore's Inverters and Chargers.
A charge controller and switches control the electricity flow in a PV system and control how much energy will come in and out of the battery and into the appliances. Click here to shop for your MPPT Solar Charge Controllers.
Wires are responsible for transporting electric charges, large wires let electricity flow more easily than small wires.
There are several switches in a solar PV system; disconnect switches will allow you to switch off either the DC or AC current, mainly for safety reasons. Other automatic switches will turn the system off in case of electric faults in the system.
Performance monitoring systems provide you with detailed information about the performance of your solar panel system. With a monitoring system, you can measure and track the amount of electricity your system produces on an hourly basis. Follow this link to see all of the Solar Monitoring Systems on SunStore.
Read more:
SunStore Solar System Sizing Calculator
9 Easy Steps towards installing Solar
Solar panels - What to Look for when Buying Panels
Wiring solar panels: Series or parallel?
What DC Wire Sizes to use for your Solar PV System?
What size of inverter do I need?
What are the elements of a Solar PV system?
Iron or Ion ???? Lithium batteries explained...
(source: adapted from: https://www.energysage.com)