We can all agree that electricity is a basic necessity. It is required for a wide range of home, commercial, and industrial needs. Each of these applications needs the usage of an appropriate electric power source. Traditional electricity generation methods include hydropower, thermal power, and nuclear power.
Alternative methods of generating electricity, such as solar and wind power, are becoming increasingly popular these days due to the renewable nature of the major source of energy. Setting up a commercial solar power plant in India while using applications like a solar rooftop calculator is a common technique to provide electricity derived from solar radiation.
Solar power facility in action A solar power plant’s typical operation entails a bank of solar panels receiving sunlight and converting it into DC electricity via the photovoltaic (PV) effect produced by the PV cells in the panels. This DC electricity is then transferred into a battery, which in turn stores it all. This DC power is converted to AC power by an inverter, and the inverter’s AC output is sent into the mains, from which various applications take power.
Consider the following factors:
A solar power plant layout suited for commercial use must be meticulously planned to ensure that the solar power plant’s investment is correctly utilised. The following elements should be considered while constructing a commercial solar power plant:
Required Output
The first thing to figure out is how much power is needed to run the various machines and equipment in the business. This is critical in determining the number of solar panels required to meet the establishment’s electricity needs. To begin, compute the average daily load, which is given in watts. In addition, the type of electricity required should be established – single-phase, three-phase, AC or DC.
For example, if a solar panel can create 300 W after 1 hour of exposure to the sun, it may produce 2400 W after 8 hours of sunlight. This will help the solar calculator indicates that this solar panel can generate 2.4 kWh in an 8-hour day, which is enough to power lighting and electrical appliances in a typical Indian home. Commercial applications, on the other hand, would have a greater requirement and more panels. If a small-scale facility uses 240 kWh of electricity per day, a solar power plant with 100 solar panels would be needed to meet the daily demand.
If each panel is 77 x 39 inches (about 21 square feet), the total area required to hold 100 panels is 2100 square feet. This might be a backyard or a rooftop. Furthermore, since each solar panel weighs about 50 pounds, the rooftop or backyard must be able to sustain about 2 tonnes of total weight.
This is significant because solar panels account for 50-60% of the overall cost of a commercial solar power plant.
Battery
The power generated by the solar panels can be utilised to charge a battery or batteries connected to the system. The most common type of battery is the lead-acid battery, which comes in two voltages: 6 V and 12 V. This power of the same is calculated while using a solar rooftop calculator.
Inverter
Solar power plants generate DC power from solar panels, which must then be converted to AC power before being used to power various machines in a business unit. An inverter is used for this purpose, and the electricity delivered must match the voltage and frequency requirements of the industrial unit’s machinery and equipment.
Network
The various components of the solar power plant must be interconnected through appropriate cables, various types of switches, fuses, protective devices, and earthing cables in order to assure the required electric power. The solar power plant’s output can be fed into a business unit’s mains to offer needed electric power whenever it is needed.
There are three types of commercial solar power plants: on-grid, off-grid, and hybrid, each of which can be tailored to meet specific needs.
The on-grid type is compatible with the grid supply’s AC power. This system gets its power from the solar power plant during the day, and when that supply is insufficient, it gets power from the grid. This method also allows for money generation by sending excess power to the grid via net metering.
The off-grid system is not reliant on grid power. This is beneficial when grid supply is intermittent or non-existent.
The hybrid system combines off-grid and on-grid technologies. This has a number of benefits, including serving as backup power and producing cash when surplus power is given to the grid.
As can be seen from the above, there are numerous considerations to be made while establishing a commercial solar power plant in India. These factors also influence the cost of commercial solar panels in India, and it is critical to evaluate all of them when constructing a solar power plant.