Solar design for a house in Weymouth UK

One of our engineers was requested to make a full design for the implementation of thin film PV panels for a house in Weymouth UK. Per request of the client, the design was to be grid connected and provide a 7KW emergency solar power for such applications as solar water heating of the house using thin film PV panels. Challenges: The client had already purchased many of the components so the design had to consider using these components. Since the house was not originally planned and constructed for maintaining a 7KW power solar design, its total roof area was limited and had to be extended. The direction and the location of the house had to be properly considered to provide the most efficient PV configuration and direction for a good yearly solar power output. Solution: In order to find the best PV configuration, software simulation of the design using such software as HOMER and RETScreen was made. This analysis helped to find the best azimuthal angle for the PV frames. Also, For a solar design for a house in the south-east of England, flex panels and a high input voltage inverter was considered. All the PV panel outputs were connected to optimizers. The optimizers were in charge of maintaining the proper input voltage for the inverter under all conditions. Using optimizers, the number of panels on each string was not a critical factor since they could compensate for shaded or defected panels. This system was connected to a computer so the live monitoring of all panels and their functional condition could be made. Considering the requested power, 54 120W flex MiaSolé flex PV panel was used. In order to compensate lack of roof area for installation of these 54 panels, part of the walls that were directed towards the sunshine was also used. Component used for the design: Some of the components used in the design are as below Panel type: 120 W MiaSolé flex PV panel DESCRIPTION Result and feedback: The work was finished successfully and was later transferred to a local solar power company to provide the appropriate components and also get the local utilities permission. Having installed the components he notified us about the function of the installation as the following. “When the sun is out and all 27 optimizers are producing the power we have got up to 1.7KW being generated. Nick said he thought that was good for January. The battery isn’t connected yet as a Tesla installer needs to do that. The client finally provided the following feedback for the work: “Self-building an innovative thin-film solar PV system was made considerably less stressful with the help of an MEEE consultant who gave timely and helpful design, communication and support all of the way to completion. I recommend them highly.”