Solar PV renewable energy systems are beneficial and adopted globally because of the feed-in-tariff procedure. Under this program, homeowners attain significant rate for feeding excess energy generated from their renewable source to the grid. The demand has influenced PV manufacturers to modernize solar panels.
In addition, competition has significantly reduced the solar panel costs in last 4 to 5 years from $4 per watt to $1 per watt or less. Due to reduction in price, there is an increase in sales for related products like inverters and batteries.
Sudden increase in solar PV off-grid and grid-tied system has caught local installation segment unprepared. Installing solar PV system appears straightforward, but how the structure generates electricity is confusing. Poor design can impact the performance, which can only be known after installation.
To avoid this condition optimize PV system structure in advance, especially –
- Inverter compatibility
- Voltage verification
- Array orientation
Why optimize PV system?
Optimization can dramatically change the performance of the bad design. Optimizing strategy allows an originally created PV array design to generate significant amount of power. For more information about optimizing solar panels visit – los-angeles.solar The market has various solar panels like thin film, mono-crystalline and polycrystalline. The following four factors can impact the effectiveness of all solar panels.
Four factors affecting solar panels
- Solar isolation – This includes the measure of sunrays received by solar cells. Obviously, more is better, especially for people living in cold climate further north and attain significant amount of sunrays.
- Roof slope & direction – The roof slope impacts the quantity of sunrays received by the system. Moreover, roof slope changes depend on location latitude. For example, if you reside near the equator, roof needs to be flatter because the sun is directly overhead. In pole centric residence, roof needs to be steeper because sun shines at an angle. People living in the United States need to install a solar system that faces south with slope between 20° to 60°.
- Shading – Panels stuck under shade will not attain appropriate amount of sunlight. Therefore, make sure to find a spot on the roof without any blockages like power poles, trees, and buildings. Shading is measured in half an hour increase throughout the day.
Even if one panel is shaded, it can impact the performance of the whole system because it is connected to a single inverter. Fortunately, trimming trees regularly is a good option or connect each panel to individual small inverter, so that each panel works on its own effectively in spite of shading.
- Dust & dirt – Solar cells are very fragile and are positioned in a glass case framed by aluminum. Basically, they are designed to withstand weather related risks. However, dust and dirt can affect its performance overtime, if you ignore cleaning them.
Remember
Even if solar panels are installed properly with the help of professional installers there may be some electrical loss experienced. It may be due to system wiring distance and conversion of DC current to AC power.