Simple Solar Economics Graph

A Manual of Home Solar Power Management, & WHY 17.12.09

Please feed back, any small error or ambiguity is important, and new knowledge is always welcome!

NASA

As of 2008, improved Solar PV technology has reduced manufacturing energy payback time from >20 years in 1975, to >3 years, as per ‘PV Energy Payback’, Homepower Magazine #127 and HP Home Page, citing this significant EPBT/Estimated Pay Back Time reappraisal.

Homeﾧ

A Manual of Home Solar Power Management, & Why

Contents:

Forewordﾧ 2

Introduction to the Use of Solar Energyﾧ 4

Simple Solar Economics Graphﾧ 8

Sizing Domestic Solar Systemsﾧ 9

Solar Radiation Microburstsﾧ 13

Sizing Tables and Informationﾧ 14

Relative Usage Battery Chartﾧ 18

Thumbnail of the Multipurpose Solar Sizing Equationﾧ18

Flooded Lead Acid Battery Management Wall Chart ﾧ 20

Easy User's Guideﾧ 21

Battery Maintenance Summary ﾧ 26

Solar Installation and Safetyﾧ 29

Installation Check Sheetﾧ 32

Simple Solar Sizing Problemﾧ 33

Typical Faults and Problems When Managing a Secondhand Solar Systemﾧ35

The LEAST You Should Know about Managing a Domestic Solar Power Systemﾧ 36

Unanswered Questionsﾧ 37

Excerpts re Planté, Faureﾧ, AGM, and Gel LA Battery Typesﾧ38

Internet Sites and Useful Booksﾧ 42

Appendix 1: Definition and Nature of FLA Batteries 44

Appendix 2: Fuel Efficiency versus Energy Efficiency 55

Appendix 3: Feedback 63

Appendix 4: Customised Monitreg Data Example, see also Plasmatronics64

Appendix 5: Global Solar Maps, Australasia and Europe; see also 66

Advanced Energy Group, at solar4power.com ﾧ

Thanks are due, for their interest, support, and consent to initiate mutual links, to Homepower Magazine, and to Bill Darden

Flooded lead acid (FLA) batteries are the principle power storage units utilised for the purposes of this Manual. Please note, other lead-acid battery types may have differing operating ranges, voltages, chemistry, and/or charge regimes, see Excerptsﾧ. Australasian main grid power ratings are 240 volts AC at 50 Hz, this will vary in other parts of the world. (See also Eaton Powerware)

Additional Illustrations:

Charge/Discharge Curve, Lead-acid Battery 39

Typical Gel Battery 40

Greenhouse Effect 58

Atmospheric CO2 Graph 60

Solar Spectrum Graph 61

Our World by Night 62

Arctic Sea Ice Retreat 62

To printthis file as a booklet, the suggestion is, for single sides only, just to print all, or, for double sides, print Title and Contents pages separately, then pages 2 to X,first as odds, then as evens, and then collate. Page Setup: L&R 2.5cm, T&B 2cm.

Home

Foreword:

This Home Solar Power Management project all began in 2001, when a second-hand solar system, with all its faults and problems, was inherited, and there were no accompanying records or instructions, no trustworthy professional advice or support, no information in the then local public library or local high school, only the Net, and basic electricity and science texts and dictionaries to turn to.

There was plenty to chose from Net-wise, however, (but sadly, nothing easily found at the time from the then home country of Australia), so a healthy exercise in Web research ensued. After garnering and winnowing, the information had to be condensed, systematised, collated, tested, corrected, and properly written up, and so the Manual gradually emerged. Do it for one, might as well do it for anyone in similar need, and, what follows actually grew from early felt pen jottings on a handy wall.

The data utilised is standard, in the sense that electricity, batteries, charging, and PV technology, are standard, so a thank-you for all that was freely available, and this small Manual, by no means The Last Word on these subjects, is likewise free to all who may benefit from the information herein. This sort of information exchange really is the best facet of the Internet, linking shared interest and information for the common good, and more simply and easily than ever before.

The Manual is not, therefore, supposed to be an academic treatise, apart from common standard solar and electrical data being utilised, and, any specific or special references have been listed as required, or as deserving. So much scattered information was discovered, some was very generalized with important detail glossed over, some was out-of-date, some was very well-prepared, and some was garnered from textbooks and reference books, and the rest from home trial and error management. The impression was that the information-gathering process should not have been so complicated, having stemmed merely from a consumer Q&A exercise at the time, and this in an age when alternative energy, and the information needed to understand and mange it, should be much more accessible. Hopefully, the Manual will help to make this accessibility somewhat easier, for domestic solar power at least.

More knowledgeable people are most welcome to contribute corrections or enhancements, the Unanswered Questions do need expert attention, and there will be errors in the text to be attended to. Please help if you do have the expertise, the Manual is for the benefit of all who seek basic domestic solar knowledge. For those seeking a glimpse of the cutting edge, go to any website that carries technical manuals pertaining to monitor-regulators, (monitregs), and there, you will really see the scope of state-of-the-art solar power technology, eg,Plasmatronics.

Certainly, as part of this solar beginner's experience, there was respect gained for relatively old, simple, and very useful technology, viz., the 50 year old solar cell, and the 150 year old 2 vpc flooded lead acid battery, still being the cheapest, most basic, electrochemical storage technology, yet still mostly forgiving of, at least, moderate mismanagement. There was also the realisation gained of how complacent main-grid fossil fuel dependence has made us all. Even with outages, only time intervenes before the switch is flicked on once again. The new habits of imminent urgent energy conservation will be hard learnt by us all, but learned they must be, and the sooner the better. Only 20 years ago, best climate science was predicting a mini ice-age, and in that time world population has increased 40%. There are now far too many of Us!

The simplest way to decentralise and yet still enhance energy generation is to initiate de-centralised alternative energy, from single houses to energy farms, to take the burden from the grid, to eke out what fossil fuels there are still remaining, and to attempt to right some of the wrongs done that are altering the world's climate so dramatically. Sun, wind, water, waves, biofuels, and biomass, will come into their own in the service of all our increasingly energy-dependent societies, and individuals and groups must act; governments seem to have no real sense of urgency or responsibility as yet.

Note also that ‘biofuels’ require energy to grow, harvest, and process, and do produce greenhouse gases when burned, albeit less damaging that fossil fuels, and there is pressure now to commandeer agricultural land and resources for these biofuel crops. Once again, solar, water, and wind power need greater development support, and the use of biofuels should only be within the perspective of limiting their respective greenhouse gas emissions. Biomass, from which gas fuels, such as methane, are produced, can be collected from organic waste, albeit with CO2 being an end-product of gas combustion.

Meanwhile, in Australia, for example, salaried leadership with healthy expense accounts and Superannuation continues to ignore the impending fossil energy crisis, and climate change, largely in the short term interests of re-election. In August 2003, a senior Federal Government politician was seen, and heard, smugly saying that Australia would only co-operate with reducing global emissions if the rest of the world did so as well. So, nothing learnt, a cute pollie Catch 22 avoiding electorally unpopular decision-making, and all during the worst Australia-wide drought ever, with constant TV bulletins of climatic extremes and shaky energy grids from the rest of the world. In 2005, the Kyoto Protocol languishes, and the USA also refuses to sign, positing that high-tech solutions are the answer, when that leadership really means to continue ‘business as usual..’?

The winter of 2003, in the NSW Southern Highlands, some trees were blooming a week after the shortest day, (and where were the bees..?), but at least, on 2 September, 2003, Global Warming was finally declared Official, albeit proceeding at many times the rates of previous Interglacial periods. In March 2004, the Coalition was chided by its own Auditor for not spending the budget set aside for research into Global Warming, just after the hottest February on record in Australia. Australia did not ratify Kyoto because Australia has no contingency plans for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, or for dealing with the consequences of global warming, at least at Federal level, simple as that. NZ also does not pay proper attention to alternative energy priorities either, especially in regard to solar power potential, despite good natural resources and potential. See also Countering Alternative Energy Misinformation Extant in NZﾧ, Epitaph for a Planetary Biosphereﾧ.

Tendency for exponential energy growth is a proportionately linked property of both unchecked human population growth, (and attendant increasing energy consumption), and of increased global warming.

The latent heat capacity of the oceans and Antarctica are our present under-acknowledged buffers, but even these are being overcome, so changes that could reverse global warming will only now do so over an increasingly extended period, and world temperatures may never return to pre-industrial levels. The oceans also act as a carbon sink, but there are limits to this facility also, for both organic and chemical reasons, which interact to further exacerbate the effects of global warming. Part of the WHY of alternative energy use is bound up with climate change and over-use of fossil fuels, so this Manual attempts to incorporate this reasoning to help convince responsible people, with some perseverance, to convert to alternative energy, and to educate and convert others as well. (See Appendix 2ﾧ, Fuel Efficiency Is Not the Same As Energy Efficiency)

See also, for a detailed description of our anthropogenic greenhouse, the still-relevant and most useful book, Hothouse Earth, John Gribbin, Bantam, 1990, not least because the predictions noted therein have very real manifestations in 2005. The Breakdown of Climate, P. Bunyard, Floris 1999; The Ice Chronicles, P. Mayewski & F. White, UNH 2002; Coal, B. Freese, Perseus 2003, ISBN 0738204005, (chronicles the beginning of human fossil fuel dependency); and,Hothouse Earth, all should be compulsory reading for any putative national or world leader! Plus Epitaph for a Planetary Biosphereﾧ

A Nobel Peace Prize has now been awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC, October 2007, for publicizing the need to counter climate change, so there are now no excuses for ignorance of the issues these days, and hopefully, world leaders, especially leaders of major greenhouse gas emitting countries, will take note, and co-operate on reducing the world-wide effects of Anthropgenic Greenhouse Warming. Mind you, there have been many Nobel Peace Prizes awarded in the past, but there are still new and ongoing wars..?

Global dimming, due to particulate atmospheric pollution, is the newest terrestrial greenhouse twist, masking global warming by inhibiting insolation, >20%-30% in some areas. However, given that greenhouse gases are to be reduced as the effects of this pollution are countered, solar power thus has an even ‘brighter’ future, especially in the higher latitudes, as the sun literally shines more brightly than before!

Meanwhile, to garner data for the Manual, formal and informal approaches by one ordinary individual, when in Australia, to two battery companies, several solar professionals, one state government, one university of technology, one town council, two technical colleges, and one national daily newspaper, all in the name of information gathering and basic public education in solar technology, have been ignored. With no responsible leadership example, and no sense of urgency, what else could be expected? Lop that poppy!

Some sections of private enterprise dealing in alternative energy, sadly, may think short term that they benefit from consumer ignorance, not understanding that public education will lead to public confidence, confidence to demand, and demand to a market that will grow indefinitely. Consumer education is not a form of industrial espionage! The customer base only needs education and example to foster infinite market growth, and this growth will in turn foster more research and development when this is most urgently needed. Solar technology, although not new, is nowhere near its potential, in materials or performance, or in optimum educational standards for the general public.

For this Manual, information has been collected from many sources, and any lessons hard-learned are included. The Internet, and some trusty reference books, also came to the rescue. Tablesﾧ, data, and calculation examples discussed have been tested in real situations, and new data is always added when available. Other information sources are listed, and/or suggested, and the Web is always there to help. Heuristic hands-on, with much learned from dealing with one failing secondhand system, also played a major role. Research, plan, prepare, and, seek optimal advice, in your own turn!

Also, every solar energy system is unique, both in the power needs, and in the final site characteristics, geographical and latitudinal, both of which need to be taken into consideration. As well, there will always be those ubiquitous budgetary considerations. The solar sizing guidelines listed are necessarily conservative, and there is plenty of other conservative, and hopefully, commonsense advice, that will help with planning and decision-making. Power needs, present and future, must be known, PV specifications are then based on these needs, and battery decisions and any ancillary charge planning will follow. Grid interface, even just for solar farming and power reselling, is a further consideration if circumstances permit. Decisions are always easier, and easier to live with, if optimum information is available at the time, and decisions needed to proceed with a home solar energy project are a good example of this principle.

However, the final arbiters of your PV system’s overall effectiveness will be the verdict of your voltmeter, and especially, that of your ammeter. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you do some surveying of existing systems, if possible, to gain information about overall performance in relation to size, especially useful when proposing solar power system operation in a similar local or regional setting. In a unique location, you may need to experiment with a portable or mini-system over an entire year before committing to major solar system deployment, including, of course, the consequent capital investment required.

Finally, the intention of the Manual has not been to re-invent the solar power “wheel”, or rewrite the textbooks, but simply to give the increasingly important reasons why of basic solar power management, illustrated by a modicum of technical description involving standard solar energy data, plus the emerging environmental implications, thus enabling more reasonable levels of consumer confidence and decision-making.

Whenever a grid goes down, you will at least have lights, radio, TV, computer, internet, and telephone, which are now regarded as basic essentials for modern living. This ready energy access will enable keepingin touch with the rest of the world, (as well as keeping at bay literal and figurative ‘darkness’), and maintaining that unique facility for extensive communications which define, so aptly, the best accomplishments of our modern society.

So, for all those anywhere in the world interested in alternative energy and climate issues, in particular solar energy generation and storage, and with the foresight and common sense to change their energy technology, this humble Beginner’s Manual is for you, too, and welcome!

Contents Return

An Introduction to the Use of Solar Energy:

Climate change, greenhouse gases and finite conventional energy resources now means a new emphasis on the mainstream use of alternate energy. For those contemplating the switch to solar energy, the most immediate advantage is independence from the grid, especially from power fluctuations, surges and blackouts, which apart from inconvenience, are bad for modern electronic equipment. Even if used, grid-dependent uninterruptible power supplies cannot fully replace actual uninterrupted power supplies. Also, most convenient of all, when there is no access to the grid because of distance, terrain, or cost, solar power will dramatically reduce generator use to back-up status and minimising associated noise and fuel cost.