| PV
Basics |
|
Solar Site Survey ... Evaluating Your Site For Solar Energy
There are two basic questions to answer to determine if solar
can work well at your location:
1. Does your location get enough sun?
2.Do nearby obstacles (trees, buildings, etc.,) at your location
block too much sun?
Within
the US, almost all locations get enough sun to successfully use
solar energy, but some are better than others. This one page
solar resources map gives a rough idea of how good the solar
resource is in your area. More detailed month by month
information on the
sun
available at US cities. |
 Before
you embark on any of the solar projects listed below, you may
want to
do a solar site survey.However every location that has
sunshine, solar can be put to use. If you have obstacles just
clear them or place the solar panels in a position that has
direct line of site to the sun. Simple as that. The angle of the
sun changes throughout out the year from 19 degrees in the
summer, and 60 degrees in the winter. If you have adjustable
mounts or tracking mounts you can track and optimize your panel
angle. Or, you can put the panels at 45 degrees and split the
distance for fixed panels. Even flat panels work to collect
energy from the sun so don't let anything stop you from
utilizing solar energy. |
| A Consumers Guide to
Buying A Solar Electric System
EERE PV Guide (pdf)
|
 A
consumer guide for selecting a PV system. Quite a bit of useful
information whether you intend to have the system installed, or
install it yourself. |
| Solar Power Your Home
For Dummies
http://www.sunwindproducts.com/LearningCenter/Solar Power Your
Home For Dummies.pdf |
 This
friendly, hands-on guide is packed with tips for making your
home more energy-efficient though solar power—and helping the
planet at the same time. You’ll see how to survey your home to
determine your current household energy efficiency and use, and
evaluate where solar power would best benefit you. You’ll also
calculate what the return on your investment will be before you
make any decisions. Once you’ve decided on a project, you’ll see
whether it’s best to hire a contractor or do it yourself. We
leave no stone unturned |
|
A couple basics articles from Home Power:
Solar Electricity Basics:
http://www.homepower.com/basics/solar/
Solar-Electric Systems Simplified,
How to get articles from Home Power ...
Scott Russell, issue 104 |
 A
couple of introductory articles from Home Power magazine
A very basic description of each of the different styles of PV
systems (grid intertied, off-grid, …). |
|
Solar Energy Fundamentals and Modeling Techniques.pdf |
|
PVWatts -- A
Performance Calculator for Grid-Connected PV Systems
From NREL
http://www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts/
This is a really useful tool
|
 An
easy calculator you can use to find out how much power you will
get from a PV installation in your area. Also very helpful for
panel aiming studies.
It calculates PV system performance based on hour by hour
records for sun in your area.Version 1 is very easy to use,
and works worldwide.
Version 2 allows more detailed inputs, but seems rather complex
and puzzling at times to me. |
| BP PV System Economics
Calculator
http://bpsolar.cleanpowerestimator.com/bpsolar.htm
|
 This
appears to be a good tool for estimating the economic return for
installing a PV system for your area.
Allows you to change location, size & cost of array, and
financing.
Shows details on power output, cost savings, and return on your
investment.
While it is offered by a company selling PV equipment, it does
not appear (to me) to be overly optimistic on power generated or
savings. |
| PVGIS -- PV sizing
tool for Europe and Africa PVGIS sizing tool:
http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps3/pvest.php#
PVGIS home page:
http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/ |
 Very
nice PV array sizing tool and solar radiation tool for Europe
and Africa.
Includes effects of local weather, obstructions, ...
|
Photovoltaics Economics
Calculator,
Karen Pease and Elaine Mahler
www.daughtersoftiresias.org/progs/insolation/insolation.html
|
 This
is a brand new and very comprehensive calculator for solar
electric (PV) systems.
Based on your inputs, it provides monthly power
generation and dollar savings. It also provides the payback
period and investment return for the system.
The calculator takes into account local weather,
panel orientation, and temperature -- can do systems with
tracking.
The calculator is new, and I'm sure the
authors would appreciate your comments and helpful suggestions. |
|
Taking the Plunge! An Off-the-Grid Home Tour to Learn the
Basics of a Renewable Energy System, William Kemp (pdf)
|
 A
good primer on what's involved in planning for an living in an
off-grid home with solar electricity generation.
A lot of emphasis on the conservation steps needed to get demand
down. Not a lot of hands-on, but a very good introduction. |
|
Simpler Solar Power – Grid-Tied Solar
Systems Make Choosing Clean, Renewable Electricity Easier and
More Affordable Than Ever
Mother Earth News
Doug Liningston and Scott Hollis
http://www.motherearthnews.com |
 Mother
Earth News ArticleGood article explaining the basics of
grid-tied PV systems. Not a lot of “how-to”, but good
explanation of the basics. |
|
Plug into the Sun
Rusty Haunes and Lindsey Hodel
Mother Earth News
http://www.motherearthnews.com |
Mother Earth News
Article, Issue 199 This article provides an overview of the
financial aspects of building a solar PV system. Concentrates
primarily on obtaining government grants to reduce the cost of
the system. |
|
List
of good discussion forums... |
This is a list of discussion forums
I like. You can post questions on these forums and get
answers. As always on the Internet, the level of expertise
varies from very high to very very low, so be careful to confirm
the advice you get in some way. |
| What is the actual
output from a "1 KW" PV rig? Home Energy Magazine article
www.homeenergy.org (pdf)
|
 So,
how much output will a (say) 1 KW rated PV setup produce? This
Home Energy Magazine article reports actual measurements for 19
real PV systems. |
|
PhotoVoltaics: Design
and Installation Manual More:Photovoltaic
books on amazon |
 A
very good and detailed reference on designing and installing PV
systems -- the best that I know of.
About $60. or $38 on Amazon |
A Guide To Photovoltaic
(PV) System Design and Installation,
California Energy Commission, 2001
http://www.energy.ca.gov (pdf)
|
 A
lot of helpful and fairly detailed information on planning,
designing, and installing a PV system that is safe and meets
codes.Provides information on sizing, wiring, component
selection, ... Also, provides a detailed check list.
Some of the information is specific to California installations,
but most id broadly applicable. |
| 1BOG -- one block off
the the grid -- group discount program
http://1bog.org/
|
 The
1BOG organization puts together a group of people in a city who
want to install PV systems, and negotiates a group discount.
It seems like a potentially good concept that is worth
looking into. If you have had a good (or bad) experience with
the program, please
let me know...
(Thanks to Michelle for suggesting this) |
Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles,
Vasilis Fthenakis, Huung Chul Kim, and Erik Alsema,
ASAP Environ. Sci. Technol, Feb 200
The Energy Blog article this came from ... |
Every once in a while you still
find people saying that the energy and pollution involved in
making PV cells exceeds the energy use or pollution they prevent
during their life. This is completely and totally false -- here
is the latest paper verifying this. Conclusion of the study:
"Using data compiled from the original records
of twelve PV manufacturers, we quantified the emissions from the
life cycle of four major commercial photovoltaic technologies
and showed that they are insignificant in comparison to the
emissions that they replace when introduced in average European
and U.S. grids." |
|
Small Standalone PV Systems (cabins, mobile, and startup
systems) |
Solar Power Trailer,
Jeffery Yago
Backwoods Home Magazine, Nov/Dec 2007
www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago108.html
|
 Interesting
article by Jeff Yago on putting together self sufficient trailer
mounted PV rig. It can be used for camping or emergencies.
Part 1 of 2 in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue of
Backwoods Home Magazine -- all issues can be viewed online. |
| A 320 Watt Truck Mounted PV System
Full construction details... |
 This
is a really nice system that fits into a pickup truck. The 320
watts of PV fit on the existing roof rack, and the 400 amp-hours
of batteries in the side compartments. A pair of
Morningstar charge controllers complete the system.
Great system for camping, tradesmen, RVs, power outage
emergencies, ...
Full details on the construction and wiring... |
Walden Pond -- The Solar Version,
Jeffrey Yago
Backwoods Home MagazinePart i:
www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago99.html
Part II:
www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago100.html
Issue 102 article on solar fridges:
www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago102.html |
 Good
basic article on setting up a small cabin so it can be powered
by a small PV system.
Mostly about minimizing electric loads so that the PV system
does not end up costing more than the cabin.Backwoods Home
Magazine issues 99 and 100.
The issue 102 article is a rundown on efficient solar fridges
that run off simple PV systems. |
Small and Simple in the
North Woods
Joan R. Surber and Roberta L. Corrigan
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 75Design and implementation of
a DC only PV system for a small cabin. The system has 150W of
PV panel, 660AH of battery capacity, and cost $2500. |
|
My Solar Casita – solar pumping, Heating,
Cooking, and More!
Samuel Gray
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 100
Description of a small off grid PV system with solar pumping.
700 WH per day demand. 110 Watts of PV
panel total. Good construction detail. A solar passive design
adobe Casita – 120 ft^2. |
|
Portable Solar-Powered Workshop
Jon Haeme
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 47Article on a complete, PV
powered, workshop in a trailer. |
|
Backyard Solar Electricity, Made Simple
Mickey Mestel
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 93Good article on a very small
PV system that can be easily removed and taken along to a new
house. 32 W PV panel, 64 AH of battery capacity in a box, and a
1700 W inverter make up the system. The total cost is $1350. |
|
Office-Sized Solar-Electric System for
Renters
Eric Grisen
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 96Interesting article on a
“moveable” 300 W PV system with batteries. Most of this system
fits in and on a wood box. Covers load analysis, component
selection, and building and installing the system. Cost $4K. |
|
90 Solar Powered Portable Workshop
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 90Interesting
article on a portable, PV powered workshop in a trailer. Uses
one 120W PV panel, 2 Trojan T105 batteries, and an 1800 watt
inverter to power a wide variety of tools. System cost $2600. |
| PV Systems On RVs
www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm
|
 A
good write-up on designing, installing, and maintaining a PV
system for an RV. Lots of emphasis on choosing and maintaining
the batteries.
While its RV oriented, most of the information is applicable to
and small PV system.
Note that the PV material is in Part 2 of the article.
thanks to Mark for suggesting this) |
|
Off Grid PV Systems
Homes powered by these systems are not connected to the
utility grid at all. The systems have PV panels for generation
of power, and batteries to store power for when the sun is not
shining. In some cases fossil fuel powered generators are used
to supplement the solar power. As you can see from the examples
below, these systems can range greatly in size, complexity and
price. |
|
Off the Grid Starting Small
Daniel Bisbee
How to get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 92Good article about an off
grid house PV system that started very small and grew to a
modest 240 W of PV panels, 660AH or battery capacity, and a 1500
W inverter that meets all their needs. The system cost $3K and
avoided a $37K charge from the utility company to extend the
power grid. Maybe you really don't need to use 30KWH per day? |
| RE Earthship Design:
on-the-job-training Linda Brotman-Evans & Jeff Evans
HP article on Earthship PV (230K pdf)
|
 A
good Home Power magazine article on sizing and living with an
off grid PV and wind system for an Earthship.
Good material for planning how to live on a relatively small PV
system -- 1997. |
|
A Simple Solar Solution
Mother Earth News
http://www.motherearthnews.com
|
 Mother
Earth News Article, Issue 199Good article on planning,
building and living with a solar PV system in an off grid house
in Colorado. |
|
HP99 Solar Comfort in the Idaho Wilderness
Ed Marue
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 99Good article on an off grid
system for a mountain cabin. The system has 960 W of PV panel,
530AH of battery storage, and a 7KW backup generator, all at a
cost of $15K. The owner of the system covers planning,
designing, and installing the system in good detail. |
|
Taking the Off-Grid Plunge
Dane Wigington
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 98Article describes a large,
off-grid system capable of supporting large electrical loads.
5.1KW of PV panels and 2400 AH of battery capacity.
Supplemented with two wind generators. |
|
Off Shore and Off Grid – Island Life
Unplugged
John McNicholas
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 106Good detailed description of
a large, off grid PV system for a Florida island house with
large loads. 3600 W PV panels, 2500 AH battery system, 20KW
generator. $61K worth of components. |
|
Grid Tie PV Systems Without Battery Backup Homes on these
"grid-tied" systems are connected to the utility grid. When the
PV panels are producing more electricity than is being used in
the house, the meter runs backwards, and the excess power goes
into the utility grid. These systems do not have batteries for
storage of electricity. When the utility power fails, the
lights go out in these houses, even if the sun is shining. But,
the significant cost and maintenance issues owning batteries are
avoided. |
| Designing and Installing Your Own
Grid-Tied PV System
Much detail on our system...
Near real time performance records...
|
 This
is a very detailed account of planning, designing and installing
our own new 2150 watt grid-tied PV system.
A lot of detail is provided on the full process, including
deciding on type of system, how big to make it, where to put the
panels, solar site survey, what kind of mounts to use, building
the mounts, installing the components, doing the wiring, and the
performance and economics of the system.
The system uses the same Enphase micro-inverter scheme as Guy's
system (just below), so between these two entries there should
be enough detail to keep you busy for quite a while! |
Installing a grid-tie solar
electric power system,
Guy Marsden
Full, step by step description of the system:
http://www.arttec.net/SolarPower/index.htm
Real time output data:
http://www.arttec.net/SolarPower/9_Stats/index.htm
|
 Guy
Marsden describes the whole process of selecting, designing and
installing his new grid-tie PV system. Since Guy and friends
did the whole installation, there is a lot of detail.
Guy's system uses the new Enphase micro inverter system in which
each PV panel gets its own inverter. The Enphase system reduces
installation labor, and allows easier future expansion. Guy
also provides
real time system output stats.
Guy has done several fine renewable energy and solar projects,
and has detailed tutorials on each one -- a look through his
whole website is very worthwhile. |
| Mick and Janet's Photovoltaic Solar
System
http://www.users.on.net
|
 Nice
personal website describing a grid tied PV installation.
Provides over a year of performance data. Pictures of
installation with good detail on panel mounting. |
| Grid-Tied Soar In Small Town, USA
www.andykerr.net/Energy/KerrSystemHP101CD.pdf (2.3MB pdf)
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Good
Home Power Article on authors attempt to be "Carbon neutral"
through conservation, less fossil fuel, solar active and passive
strategies, and a grid tied PV system. Most of the article
details his experiences with installing a grid tied PV system in
Ashland, OR -- a pretty positive experience all-around. |
|
Getting Off the Lifetime Utility Payment
Plan
Daren Webster
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 95Good article on a large,
suburban California, grid tied, batteryless system. Covers load
estimation, system design, and installation (by owner). The
$28K system has 4KW of PV panels. |
Grid-Tie Solar Powered Farm,
Jefferey Yago,
Backwoods Home Magazine, July/August 2005
The full article ... |
 An
article in Backwoods Home magazine by Jeff Yago on a grid tie
system with some useful design and install information.
Note how simple the modern grid-tie inverters make these
systems. |
|
Solar Electricity in Spite of the Fog
Greg Bundros
How to get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 99Good article on an grid tied
PV system in Northern California. The system has 1320W of PV
panels and cost $22K before rebates. The author installed the
system, and covers design and installation of the system. He
also provides very detailed performance records for the system. |
|
Solar Electric Vision Becomes Reality
Alan Stankevitz
www.scribd.com/...
How to get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 105
Description of a 4KW grid intertied, batteryless PV system. A
full description of the system is provided including costs. The
system was installed by the owner, and some of the details of
the installation an permitting process are described. |
|
From The Ground Up – My RE System Design
Choices
Linda Pinkham
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 106Good article on going
through all the decisions to be made in implementing an medium
size, grid tied PV system. Size, siteing collectors, tracking
or not, batteries or not, component selection, … |
|
Solar Solidarity – An IBEW-Supported PV
System
Vincent Endter
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 97Good article on installation
of a 5KW, grid-tied, no batteries system for a residence in
California. Quite a bit of detail on the design and
installation of the system. |
| Illustration of 8 KW (DC) GT Solar
PV System Install for Residence in Urban Area
www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/showthread.php?t=6394
|
 This
is a many page post on Northern Arizona Wind & Sun forum. It
covers the installation of an 8.1KW grid-tied PV system.
Lots of detail is provided, and there is some good discussion of
the system. |
| Video: Photovoltiaic Power -- One
Homeowners Solution
Google Video |
 Pretty
good home owner video on planning for and installing a small,
grid tied PV system.There is a long intro on the benefits of
PV, followed by some detail on the installation. |
|
Cold Springs Solar Power
|
 This
is a huge solar electric installation at the Cold Springs
Station on Hwy 50 in a very lonely part of the Nevada desert.
It is a 30KW grid tied PV installation that sells excess power
to the utility.
Some nice construction details in the photos. |
|
Grid Tie PV Systems With Battery Backup These homes are
connected to the utility grid, and work in the same way as the
"grid-tied" homes above, but they also have batteries, which
allows the lights to stay on when the utility power goes down.
On the negative side, the systems are more expensive, and the
batteries must be carefully maintained. |
| Note that new inverters that are
designed specifically for grid-tied with battery backup systems
have recently come out -- these include:
Outback GVFX series
Xantrex XW series |
|
| Bob's Solar Project
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ebgoodsel/solar/blog.htm
|
This is Bob's blog on installing a grid tied with batteries,
Unisolar PV shingle system. It is very detailed and should be
very helpful to anyone considering doing this.
All the details on the design, solar shingle installation,
wiring, and equipment installation are covered in detail. Thank
you Bob! |
| Grid Tied PV and Wind System with
Battery Backup
http://www.rockriver.us
|
 A
very good personal website on designing and installing a PV and
wind system that is grid tied with battery backup.
Lots of detail and helpful information on design, components,
installing, wiring, suppliers, permitting, ... |
| Building a Grid-Tied Solar Electric
System
http://altenergy.blog-city.com/gridinteractive_system.htm
|
 A
detailed account of the design and installation of a grid-tied
PV system with battery backup.A home built ground mount
system from treated lumber is also described. |
|
Grid Tie, Battery Backup, and System
Monitoring
Brent Simons
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Article, issue 94Very good article on planning,
designing and installing a 4.8KW grid-tied PV system with 400AH
battery backup, and a 4KW inverter. The system also includes
instrumentation to monitor the performance of the system. Quite
a bit of component and installation detail. |
| PV
Tracking and Mounts and Soft Concentrators |
An HP Article on PV Tracker Basics,
Richard Perez
http://zomeworks.com/...
|
 An
article explaining the basics of PV tracking. Contrasts the
passive trackers with the electronic trackers. |
Field Test Results of the
Archimedes Photovoltaic V=Trough Concentrator System,
Klotz, Mohring, Gruel, Sherborne, Bruton, Albella, and
Tzanetakis
Archimedes Paper (pdf)
|
 Very
good paper with results on testing a simple scheme that uses one
axis tracking coupled with high acceptance angle V troughs to
provide average daily concentrations around of around 2.
Simple aluminum cooling fins are used to keep cell temperature
comparable to non-concentrating commercial PV panels.
(My thanks to Greg for suggesting this) |
| Low Cost Tracking Ridge
Concentrator
http://www.pvpumps.com/
Picture Gallery of Examples:
http://www.solar-trackers.com/pictures.htm |
 Simple
tracker and concentrator design might nearly double PV panel
output.The website(s) are a bit confusing, but provide some
useful material.
I'd like hear from anyone who has had experience with these.
|
Pumping Water for Irrigation Using
Solar Energy
H.J. Helikson, D.Z. Haman and C.D. BairdUniversity of Florida
-- Extension Service
Pumping Paper (pdf)
|
 Interesting
1992 paper on PV powered pumping for irrigation wire. Good
analysis of system.Interesting reflector/tracking arrangement
on the PV panels that increases panel output significantly. |
| RedRok.com LED3Xc3 Solar Tracker
Assembly
http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm#led3xforsale
|
 Duane
at RedRok.com offers a $35 tracker that can drive a simple
satellite dish linear screw actuator to make an inexpensive
tracker for PV and other applications.The page gives examples
of many systems using the RedRok tracker. |
|
$35 DIY PV Tracker |
 This
home made tracker for PV panels is made from a satellite dish
antenna and the RedRok.com $35 tracker, plus an old bed frame!
|
Mother's Super-Simple Solar Tracker
Dennis Burkholder
http://www.motherearthnews.com
|
 Mother
Earth News Article, Issue 48, Nov/Dec 1977.
This article provides some how-to information on designing and
building solar array trackers that use canisters of refrigerant
to passively track the sun. This is similar to the very popular
ZomeWorks trackers. Several designs are discussed.
The trackers in the article use Freon -- in a new design you
would, of course, have to substitute a different refrigerant. |
Water-Powered PV Tracker
Bill Spurlock
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power magazine article, issue 85An interesting mix of high
tech PV and low tech genius to implement a water powered PV
array tracking system. |
| Canuckle Tracker
http://www.greenwatts.info/
|
 Light
duty solar trackers that you can make from computer parts and
ABS tubing.And, a simple Sun Switch sun sensor and motor
driver. |
| Home Built Solar Mount
http://altenergy.blog-city.com/mount.htm
My home built PV mount... |
 Pretty
good looking and well anchored wood mount for PV panels. |
| Installing PV
Systems -- How-To |
Some of the articles above that
describe example PV systems have some construction detail, so
see these as well.
PV systems have become more straightforward to install as
equipment has been refined over the years -- grid-tie systems in
particular have become much simpler. But, this does not mean
its an easy DIY project. There are serious safety issues that
you must fully understand -- even folks with considerable AC
system wiring experience should be very careful to learn and
understand the hazards of working with strings of PV panels that
will produce several hundred volts whenever the sun is on them.
In addition to the safety issues, there are permits and utility
companies to deal with -- some areas may not even allow a home
owner to install his/her own system. So, as always, do your
homework! |
| See the entries in the other
sections on "Off Grid", "Grid Tied", etc. These articles
contain lots of detailed accounts of DIY installations. |
|
Solar System Install Guide
The full tutorial:
http://www.pasolar.ncat.org/lesson01.php
The PV part starts in Lesson 5:
http://www.pasolar.ncat.org/lesson05.php |
 This
is a good and detailed installation tutorial for installers and
do it yourself home owners.
Tutorial and install instructions to retrofit solar water
heaters and solar pv arays. |
Photovoltaic Power Systems and the
2005 National Electrical Code: Suggested Practices
John Wiles, Southwest Technology Development Institute, New
Mexico State University
www.nmsu.edu/~tdi/PV=NEC_HTML/pv-nec/pv-nec.html
Suggested Practices for PV System Wiring 2005 ... (pdf) |
 A
set of quite detailed suggested practices for wiring PV systems
to comply with the National Electric Code.
Kind of tough sledding if you are not a code devotee, but
accurate and authoritative. |
Inspector Guidelines for PV
Systems,
Prepared by Brooks Engineering for PACE University
Inspector Guidelines for PV Systems (pdf) |
 This
is a very helpful set of guidelines on PV system equipment, and
particularly on wiring of PV systems.
I found it helpful in both the planning of the details of the
component locations and the wiring, and as a good checklist on
what inspectors will be looking for. |
| NABCEB (North
American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners)
NABCEB ...
NABCEB
Resources... |
 The
NABCEB offers certifications for installers of PV systems.
Their web site Resources page has much information of interest
to people want to install a system or want to be knowledgeable
about what a good installation should look like.
The "Study Guide for Photovoltaic System Installers" is a good
one. (thanks to Doug for suggesting this) |
A Guide to Photovoltaic (PV) System
Design and Installation,
California Energy Commission, June 2001
www.energy.ca.gov/reports/2001-09-04_500-01-020.PDF
|
A
pretty detailed guide written for installers of PV systems in
California. largely applicable to other areas. |
Residential/Commercial Solar PV
Installations,
Basic information and installation guides for roof mounted
systems,
Ed Larsen, June 2008
City of Flagstaff/Project Review Section
Residential/Commercial Solar PV Installations ...
(PowerPoint)
|
 A
Power Point set of guidelines for roof mounted PV installations.
Some good planning, design, and installation detail. Quite a
bit of detail on installation.
Written for Flagstaff, but generally applicable. |
| How to Install A Pole-Mounted
Solar-Electric Array
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power magazine two part article in issues 108 and 109 on
installing a pole mounted PV array.A very detailed how-to --
lots of good advice. |
PV Combiner Box Buyers Guide,
Lena Wilensky
How to get articles from Home Power ...
This article covers a lot of the issues of
wiring the array to the inverter. |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 132, Aug-Sept 2009.Good
article, not only goes over available combiner box offerings,
but covers the wiring, fusing, and sizing procedures for the
boxes.
Also tells you when you don't need one at all. |
| Maverick Solar DIY Workshop
http://www.mavericksolar.net/
|
 A
collection of helpful articles and references for DIYers on PV
systems.Includes some fairly detialed examples of several
systems, and some good "how-to"s on wiring etc. |
| PV Components |
| Renewable Energy Design
Guide and Catalog
http://www.alt-energy.com/online-solar-catalog.html
|
 This
is a very helpful reference and catalog for renewable energy
systems. It covers PV, wind and small hydro with emphasis on
PV.Right up to date and with lots of information on PV system
components and lots of good reference material.
PDF version is a free download. Hardcopy can be ordered
here ... |
PV Combiner Box Buyers Guide,
Lena Wilensky
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
Home
Power Magazine article, issue 132, Aug-Sept 2009. Good
article, not only goes over available combiner box offerings,
but covers the wiring, fusing, and sizing procedures for the
boxes.
Also tells you when you don't need one at all. |
|
106 What’s Going On – The Grid? A New
Generation of Grid-Tied PV Inverters
Joe Schwartz
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 106Rundown on the latest in
inverters for grid tied PV systems. What to look for, and how
they rate. |
|
Deep Cycle Battery FAQ
|
 This
is a good rundown on the type of batteries normally used in PV
systems.
Lots of good information. |
| Off Grid
Cooling |
| Cooling for off-grid homes can be
difficult due to the need to minimize electrical power use.
This section has a couple of low electricity use cooling
schemes. A whole house fan that operates on DC would be
another good one, but I have not seen one.
Many of the passive techniques listed in the
Cooling Section apply VERY well to PV powered homes since
they use no power at all. |
| Ceiling fans with aerodynamically
designed blades
http://www.fanworks.com/vari-cyclone.htm
|
 Ceiling
fans with "Gossamer Wind" technology blades move about 40% more
air for the same power use.
Models are available that operate at 12 or 24V, and can be
operated direct PV or battery.
FSEC paper:
Performance and Applications of Gossamer Wind™ Solar Powered
Ceiling Fans |
| PV Powered Evaporative Coolers
www.nvo.com/southwestsolar/productcatalog/
Some notes on a DIY one:
www.voltscommissar.net/competitive_edge.htm |
 These
evaporative coolers use low HP 12V fans that can be powered by
PV arrays. |
| Off Grid
Refrigeration |
Refrigeration is one of the major electric loads for an off grid
home.
Some of the solutions people are using:
- Use a modest size Energy Star rated conventional
refrigerator. This approach has a low initial cost, and
pretty good energy efficiency. See the Energy Star link
below for for the best ones.
Conventional freezer above and fridge below are the most
energy efficient and make best use of space.
- Use one of the brands that specialize in high efficiency
fridges for PV use, such as SunFrost or SunDazer. Less
energy use, but higher initial cost.
- Also listed below are some less conventional solutions
that use even less power, and are inexpensive.
- Another option is a propane powered fridges. These are
very energy inefficient fridges, and (I think) are best
avoided -- but some like them a lot.
(as near as I can tell looking at energy
stats from sellers, propane fridges use about 5 times more
energy than energy star electrics of the same size)
|
| Energy Star
Energy Star Ratings ... |
 Energy
ratings and energy use for appliances. Energy advice and
online audit for homes. Energy star appliances and homes.
In my view, the Energy Star program could be more aggressive,
but its certainly a good place to start. For example, they have
no plans to require more efficient refrigerators until 2012 at
the earliest -- let them know you would like to see a more
aggressive approach. |
| Efficient Refrigerators
for PV SunFrost
http://www.sunfrost.com/refrigerators_main.html
SunDanzer
http://www.sundanzer.com/
|
A couple of brands that specialize
in low power consumption fridges and freezers for PV.
SunFrost SunDanzer |
| Very Efficient Chest
Refrigerator
Chest Fridge Full Article (68K pdf)
This article is from the Mt Best -- Australia solar house
site:
http://mtbest.net/ A very interesting solar house with
several unique features, and a bit more info on the chest
fridge.
Another approach here:
http://eveningrainfarm.com/?p=5
Uses added thermal mass and a simple timer switch -- the thermal
mass is intended to allow the fridge and inverter on an off grid
site to be turned off overnight to save the idle inverter load
on the batteries.
The thermostat shown on this page is reported to allow you to
use a chest freezer as a refrigerator with large energy saving:
Beer Fridge Thermostat
|
 This
refrigerator, which is a converted chest type freezer uses only
about 0.1 KWH per day. See the article for details. Latest
update includes a design for a low standby power thermostat.
Apparently not all chest freezers are created equal, as some do
not report quite as dramatic an energy saving as Tom reported in
his paper -- so if you are getting a new chest freezer for this,
pick an efficient one to start with.
One person reported 0.3 KWH per day (108KWH/year) on a newer
Kenmore freezer that was EPA rated at 279KWH per year. So,
something like a quarter of a typical, similar size conventional
(upright) refrigerator seems easily achievable. |
Solar Powered refrigerators,
Jeffery Yago, Backwoods Home Magazine
www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago102.html
|
 Good
article on efficient, solar powered refrigerators.
Most run directly on 12 VDC, and are easy on solar PV
systems. |
| Make a Fridge?
Description of the fridge making kit and instructions for making
a fridge from it ...
More Details (pdf)
Another kit fridge -- DIY System Kits:
http://www.rparts.com/Catalog/DIY_Kits/
(note that this one requires charging, which takes special
tools) |
 This
is just a thought. NovaKool (maybe others?) offers a kit for
people who want to make their own fridges. It consists of a
compressor, evaporator, condenser, controls, and pre-charged
tubing -- all the guts of a fridge. It is intended for boat or
RV owners who want a built in fridge. It uses the DanFoss
compressor, which is reputed to be efficient.
If you wanted to make a very efficient fridge, this kit would
allow you allow you to build the box with as much insulation as
you want, it could be top opening, and the compressor could be
located in an optimal spot. On just a rough guess from their
specs, you might get down to 0.1 KWH per day for a very well
insulated 8 cubic foot fridge. Unfortunately the kit is not
cheap, but this still might pay well for off-grid PV users.
If anyone has tried this (or similar), please let me know how it
turned out --
Gary |
| Refrigeration Off Grid
http://eveningrainfarm.com
|
An interesting technique for
technique for powering a 9 cubic foot fridge for only 0.35 KWH
per day (130KWH per year), and at the same time going easier on
battery use. |
| Passive
Refrigerator/Icebox
http://fourmileisland.com/IceBox.htm
Note: I would not try this unless you have a lot of time
to tinker -- I am guessing there is a significant learning curve
attached to getting one of these operating well. |
 This
fridge uses a well insulated 300 gallon water/ice container that
is cooled by an outdoor finned tube baseboard unit to supply
year round refrigeration with no energy use. No moving parts.
Other interesting projects on the same site.
|
| Off Grid
Appliances |
Finding
efficient appliances for off grid can be difficult, since the
power draw is very important, but you still want an appliance
that does the job well -- this section will collect a few
appliances that off-grid people favor:
|
| How to build a wood
fired clothes dryer
Full details ...
Ray's site has many other interesting projects... |
 Ray
was looking for a way to dry clothes in the winter for his
off-grid home. He came up with this design that captures heat
from a wood burning boiler or stove chimney so that the only
electricity needed for the dryer is motor and controls. He
provides full details for converting an electric clothes dryer
to use heat from burning wood. |
| Other
Interesting PV Applications |
| Solar Scooter
Full Scooter Plans from Don
Article on the scooter in Tree Hugger with some additional
pictures:
http://www.treehugger.com |
 A
solar scooter by Don Dunklee. Street legal, affordable and
dependable.
Thanks to Don for making the plans available! |
| "Big Belly" solar powered trash bin
http://bigbellysolar.com/
|
"Big Belly" is a trash bin with built in compaction. It is
solar powered and requires no power connection.
The compactor reduces trash volume by up to 8 times -- this
reduces the number of garbage truck pickups, which in turn
reduces energy use and GHG emissions. Big Belly has very
carefully designed power management, and can go for many cloudy
days without running out of power. |
|
Roof-Integrated PV From Sunbeam To Standing
Seam
William Ball
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 105
Description of using Uni-Solar
laminated PV bonded to a metal standing seam roof produces an
almost invisible PV installation. Detailed description of the
laminated PV installation and of the PV system |
Water Pumping PV with Interesting
Reflector System To Increase PV panel Output
H.J. Helikson, D.Z. Haman and C.D. BairdUniversity of Florida
-- Extension Service
Pumping Paper (pdf)
(much more on PV water pumping) |
 Interesting
1992 paper on PV powered pumping for irrigation wire. Good
analysis of system.The very simple reflector system used to
increase solar radiation on the PV panels increases output put
30% while adding little to the cost. |
| Build A Simple Solar Powered
Outdoor Light, Jeffery Yago, Backwoods Magazine
www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago92.html
|
 Backwoods
Magazine Article on building a solar PV powered "street light". |
|
The Biggest Solar Electric Boat this Side
of the Mississippi
Steve Cooper
How to get articles from Home Power ... |
 Home
Power Magazine article, issue 57Interesting article on using
solar PV to provide auxiliary power on a 30 ft sailboat. |
PV and EV -- My Solar-Electric
House and Car
Mark Jensen
Home Power Magazine Article, Issue 113
How to get articles from Home Power ...
|
 Good
Home Power article. Mark describes the large PV system that
runs his house, as well as keeping his Toyota RAV 4 EV
(Electrical Vehicle) charged.
These EV's are no longer offered by Toyota, and after reading
the article, one wonders why? |
| Energy Tile -- PV modules that look
like roof shingles
http://www.bp.com/...
|
 PV
modules that resemble roof shingles and tend to blend in with
the roof. |
Make Your Own
PV
Here are some detailed articles on how to
build your own PV panels from individual PV cells.
If you think that you want to roll your own PV panel, these are
the best descriptions I could find -- some of them are very
detailed.
Careful weather sealing needs to be addressed. |
|
How To Make Homemade Solar Panels Video Tutorial (18 parts)
Robert is putting other non free books and videos to shame.
Youtube Tutorial aprox 180mins
|
 Robert
Smith does a fantastic job with a very long detailed video
tutorial. He even does math and voltage, amps, and watts math
for you. All on youtube for free. |
|
How To Make Homemade Solar Panels Video Tutorial (3 parts)
youtube tutorial aprox 30mins |
 Good
youtube video series. Pretty good video. I like the Robert Smith
video better though. |
| How to Make Inexpensive DIY
Home-Built Solar Panels with Damaged Solar Cells from Ebay
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/how-to-make-diy-cheap-inexpensive-solar-panels-ebay.php |
Short
Treehugger.com article |
| Home Build Solar System
Full Details... (pdf)
|
This
is a very well done article on building not only your own PV
panels, but adding the additional components to make a full
system.
Home
Build Solar System is Hans website, and has additional
materials on this and other renewable energy projects. |
| Solar Panel Do-It-Yourself
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hante/index-en.html
|
 This
website from Hante provides very detailed and carefully thought
out techniques for assembling your own PV panels from individual
cells.There is also material on adding the other components
needed to make a full system. |
How I built an electricity
producing Solar Panel,
Mike
http://www.mdpub.com/SolarPanel/index.html
|
 Another
quite detailed run down on making your own PV panels from
individual solar cells purchased on ebay. |
Homemade Solar Panels
Post on Fieldlines
http://www.fieldlines.com
Another Detailed How To on making PV panels:
Homemade Solar PV Panel... |
 This
is a fairly detailed post on the Fieldlines forum describing how
to build your own PV panels from individual solar cells.
I've also heard a couple stories about early failure of homemade
panels from moisture penetration due to weather exposure --
don't know what the design of these panels was. |
| Home DIY Solar
http://www.homediysolar.com
|
 Another
good and free source of information on how to make PV panels.
Sean uses a vacuum bag technique to seal the PV panel together.
|
