Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Hybrid PV system in hill stations

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Hybrid PV system in hill stations

    Aim : to design a hybrid PV systems for a resort in Tamil Nadu (india)
    The site is located in a hill station (pl hint if any extra measures has to be taken care of)

    Some info about the project

    There are 11 rooms (Basement +1 floor), 1 Kitchen, 1 attic and 4 out-house
    All of them have lighting and geyser (water heater) loads with 3-4 rooms having refrigerators and heaters
    The overall connected load of the premises is approx around 28 kVA (detailed load sheet attached)
    utility grid power is highly unstable (hence on-grid systems are not very attractive)
    net metering facility can be availed for this site
    Roof space availbale (shade free) = 19.5 x 5.2 = 101 sqm (close to 8-10 kWp possible)

    Please give me your suggestions / what and why to do next ?

    I am here to learn and grow / Thanks in advance
    Attached Files

  • #2
    Without knowing much about your environment, the first questions that come to mind are

    1) can you use grid power when it is available?

    2) I don't see a generator mentioned, why not? (Is there sun every day and/or is the grid reliable enough that a short battery backup suffices?)

    3) Have you considered heat pump style hot water heaters?

    4) Have you considered minisplit heat pumps instead of (or in addition to) normal heaters?

    5) Have you considered LED lighting? (It looks like you're using fluorescent?)

    6) How many days of darkness / grid failure do you need to handle?

    Good luck!

    Comment


    • #3
      Mr DanKegel,

      Thanks for your response. Please refer my comments below in
      BLUE ( Please bear with me for my stupid/silly comments)

      Originally posted by DanKegel View Post
      Without knowing much about your environment, the first questions that come to mind are

      1) can you use grid power when it is available?
      Yes, we can use it (very unreliable though. during rainy seasons, power outages are seen more)

      2) I don't see a generator mentioned, why not? (Is there sun every day and/or is the grid reliable enough that a short battery backup suffices?)
      They have a small portable generator (2 kVA) Not using it much though

      3) Have you considered heat pump style hot water heaters?
      No, they are electric resistance heaters. You mean to say it is better to change it to heat pump style ? I have to get some practical knowledge on it (cost / installtion / efficiency / in india)

      4) Have you considered minisplit heat pumps instead of (or in addition to) normal heaters?
      No, they have only normal heaters

      5) Have you considered LED lighting? (It looks like you're using fluorescent?)
      OK. Noted

      6) How many days of darkness / grid failure do you need to handle?
      This is a difficult question to answer. There are no schedules power cuts. The infrastructure is not great (especially during the rainy season).
      However, the owner of the resort mentioned that the worst case happened last year (during rainy season) where there was no power for more than 2 days

      Good luck!

      1) So basically as i understand, the 2 main points you are advising me is to go with heat pump style methods for water heaters and LED for lighting loads ( to bring down energy consumption) ? agreed (pleaes correct me if am wrong)
      2) reg PV installtion what is your recommendation ? (refer below dia/ as per our plan)

      The main objectives are
      - Reduce dependency on grid (mainly to use water heatres during the winter time). a 5 hour battery back-up is good to go with initially
      - as this resort also has the facility to send back excess energy back to the grid ( during off-season time when the rooms are vacant), net metering to be facilitated (thats the reason for making the system hybrid)

      Thanks for your support Looking forward to hear from you
      Bharath


      Capture.PNG




      Comment


      • #4
        Good to hear they have a generator and don't need to use it much.

        I'll let one of the battery experts comment on options for your five hour battery backup plans.
        (If nobody comments on it soon, try posting in another subforum, there are offgrid and battery areas of this forum that might get their attention.)

        I'm not telling you to definitely go LED and heatpump - I'm just alerting you to the possibility. Whether they would be a good choice depends on what you can find locally for a reasonable price.

        LED lighting has become very common here in the United States; it lasts longer and uses about half as much power as fluorescent lights -- though there is some overlap, don't assume that LEDs are always better. If you can find LED lights locally, they're worth investigating. (When I went solar recently, I replaced all the lighting with LEDs, and we're happy with both the energy it saves and the light it produces.)

        Likewise, heat pumps are becoming more common in the US for heating rooms and water (and even drying clothes and heating cars!), and use something like half the energy as resistance heaters. They're more expensive and a bit fussier, so be cautious, you might not want to install them if nobody uses them in your area yet.

        I'm not sure what you're asking about re the PV installation, are you asking for equipment recommendations for e.g. panels and inverters?

        I realize I didn't ask the most important question: have you figured out what the payback time on your proposed system will be?

        Comment


        • #5
          Since none of the battery guys have commented:
          batteries are very expensive (see neighboring posts, eg https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum...rator-question ).
          You might want to reduce battery load radically by putting all heaters (water, room, hair dryer) on a non-battery-backed up circuit.

          Have you priced any equipment?

          Comment


          • Bharath
            Bharath commented
            Editing a comment
            Thank you for your response ! I am yet to work in the pricing and pay-back period. Will keep this loop posted

            Till then,
            Cheers
            Bharath

        • #6
          Sadly, you have large loads, and even shifting the heaters to utility or generator power only, you will still need a LARGE battery bank to supply the inverter even for 5 hours.
          (this from a off grid user)
          Inverters need 100Ah of battery for each 1,000w of rated output, to prevent excessive DC ripple from damaging the batteries. (48V system is the only option for you)
          Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
          || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
          || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

          solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
          gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

          Comment


          • Bharath
            Bharath commented
            Editing a comment
            Thank you ! Will keep the loop posted with the progress
        Working...
        X