Class Lecture- 4

Course Title: Renewable Energy

Professor Dr. Md. Zamil Sultan

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Types or classification of solar PV systems:
❑ Photovoltaic power systems are generally classified according to their functional and operational requirements, their
component configurations, and how the equipment is connected to other power sources and electrical loads.
❑ There are three main types of solar PV systems:
i. Stand-alone PV systems (also called off-grid systems) ii. Grid connected PV systems (also called on-grid systems)
iii. Hybrid systems

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 Basic information:
❑ A free standing or Stand-alone systems are not connected with utility
power lines and these are self sufficient systems.
❑ These systems could either be used to charge the batteries that serve
as an energy storage device or could work directly using the solar
energy available in the daytimes.
❑ Stand alone PV systems are ideal for remote rural areas and
applications where other power sources are either impractical or are
unavailable to provide power for lighting, appliances and other uses.
❑ These are generally designed and sized to supply certain DC and/or
AC electrical loads.
❑ Advantages:
➢ It is more cost effective to install a single stand alone PV system
➢ A “stand alone PV system” of this type offers independence from
the electricity grid and power companies.
❑ Disadvantage:
➢ The batteries will eventually discharge if used for long periods or
there is no backup power source

Fig. 1
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 ❑ Basic information:
❑ Also known as a “grid-tied”, or “on-grid” solar system.
❑ A grid connected PV system is one where the photovoltaic panels or
array are connected or tied to the local mains electricity grid Or
utility grid through a power inverter unit and allowing them to
operate in parallel with the electric utility grid.
❑ Grid Connected PV Systems have solar panels that provide some or
even most of their power needs during the day time, while still
being connected to the local electrical grid network during the night
time, or on cloudy dull and rainy days.
❑ Solar powered PV systems can sometimes produce more electricity
than is actually needed or consumed, especially during the long hot
summer months. This extra or surplus electricity is either stored in
batteries or as in most grid connected PV systems, fed directly back
into the electrical grid network.
❑ Advantages:
❑ The main advantage of a grid connected PV system is its simplicity,
relatively low operating and maintenance costs as well as reduced
electricity bills.
❑ Disadvantage:
Fig. 2
❑ The disadvantage however is that a sufficient number of solar
panels need to be installed to generate the required amount of
excess power.
Hybrid systems :
❑ System with more than one source of power is called Hybrid system. It is often desirable to design a system with additional source of
power.
❑ The most common type of hybrid system contains a gas or diesel powered engine generator. Another hybrid approach is a PV/Wind system.
Adding a wind turbine to a PV system provides complementary power generation.
❑ These systems consist of the following:
❑ Solar panels mounted on the roof or in open spaces. Photovoltaic modules produce direct current (DC) electrical power.
❑ Batteries to store DC energy generated by the solar panels.
❑ Charge controller to prevent overcharging the battery.
❑ Specially designed inverter to transform the PV generated DC electricity to the grid electricity (which is of AC) at the grid voltage.
❑ The following diagram shows PV system powering AC loads. This system is connected to utility power supply & diesel generator and
having battery storage for backup.

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Basic Components/Parts of Simplified Stand-alone PV Systems with battery :

Fig. 4
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Basic Components Parts Of Simplified Grid Connected PV Systems with Battery :

Fig. 5 Fig. 1b 7
Basic Components/Parts of Simplified Hybrid systems :

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Fig. 1a Fig. 1b
Size design of stand-alone PV system:
❑ Load calculation, inverter size, battery size and number, charge controller size,
number of PV modules calculations

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Size design of stand-alone PV system:

Some terms used in this calculation are illustrated in slides:

DC bus:

❑ DC bus is a type of circuit that serves as a common communications pathway shared by several components
and which uses a direct current voltage.
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Size design of stand-alone PV system:
Some terms used in this calculation are illustrated in slides:

Battery bus voltage:

Battery strings:

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Size design of stand-alone PV system:

Some terms used in this calculation are illustrated in slides:

What is Depth of Discharge?

❑ To determine depth of discharge, we must first establish the term battery capacity.
❑ Battery capacity is the total electrical energy supply available from the battery, expressed as a unit of power over
time, such as kilowatt-hours (kWh).
❑ The depth of discharge is the percentage of the battery that has been discharged relative to the total battery
capacity.
❑ For example, if you discharge 6 kWh from a solar battery with a capacity of 8 kWh, the battery’s depth of discharge
would be 75% (6 kWh / 8 kWh)

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Size design of stand-alone PV system:
Some terms used in this calculation are illustrated in slides:

PV cell, modules and arrays:

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Size design of stand-alone PV system:
Some terms used in this calculation are illustrated in slides:

PV modules strings:

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Mathematical Problem on Size design of stand-alone PV system:

Reference Paper

Paper title:
Design of Standalone PV System for a Typical Modern Average Home in Shewa Robit Town-Ethiopia

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Thank you

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