How to calculate size of solar system in

India?
Most of the solar installations in India are off-grid because our country, India, faces frequent
powercuts. Off grid solar installation has 3 key components: solar panels, battery and
solar PCU (solar PCU is a solar inverter with built-in solar charge controller). To
calculate size of solar system, it is important to follow these steps:

Step 1: Calculate your total load that you want to run

You should know how much power (in watts) your electrical appliances consume. For
example, a tube light consumes 40watts, fan consumes 80 watts etc. You should add the
electrical load (in watts) that you wish to use. Let’s assume that you added everything and
the figure that you get is 1000 watts.

Step 2: Size your solar inverter based on electrical load

After you know the total electrical load, the next thing that you have to do is find a solar
inverter that can power the load. In this case where your total electrical load is 1000
watts, you should choose an inverter of 1600 watts. It is advisable to oversize the
inverter because unfortunately DC to AC conversion that solar inverters do causes loss of
energy. It is also good to know that a 1600 watts inverter comes in 24v (v = voltage).
Remember this because we are going to use this fact ahead in our calculations.

Step 3: Calculate the total current of your load

This is easy! Go back to the formula we taught you in the beginning.

Power (in watts) = Voltage x Current

In our example, the power (watts) is 1000 and we already know the voltage to be 24v. Let’s
insert these figures into our formula.

1000 (watts) = 24V x current

1000/24 = 41.66 amps

Let’s round it off to 41 amps. Now our solar system needs to generate at least 41 amps of
current to power the connected electrical load. Keeping this figure in mind let’s go to our
next step.
Step 4: Decide how many hours of battery backup you need – buy battery based on
that

The next step in calculating size of solar system in India is to think how many hours of
backup you need. Remember, solar PCU/inverter will directly power your electrical load
through solar. However, when solar is not available, the solar energy stored in batteries can
be used to power load. Let’s say you need backup of 5 hours. Now there is a very simple
formula to calculate size of battery based on your total load and backup time required.

Total load (in watts) x hours of backup needed / 24

Why should we divide by 24? Because our inverter is 24v.

Let’s put the figures from our example in this formula:

1000 (watts) x 5 hours / 24 = 208

Let’s round it off to 300AH because it is OK to have extra backup

You can install 2 batteries of 150Ah.

Yes, sizing of solar panels comes at the last because panels are either going to feed the
battery or run electrical load. They need to produce enough voltage and current to charge
the battery properly and to run electrical load. So how do we decide the size of solar
panels?

Step 5: Calculate size of solar panels based on battery size and current of electrical
load

Yes, sizing of solar panels comes at the last because panels are either going to feed the
battery or run electrical load. They need to produce enough voltage and current to charge
the battery properly and to run electrical load. So how do we decide the size of solar
panels?
Time to remember our fundamental formula again:

Power = voltage x current

And let’s give you another golden formula which will help us here:

Charging Current of Battery = 1/10th of its Total AH.

In this case, we have 300ah so if we divide it by 10 we get 30amps. Our solar panels need
to make 30 amps of current to feed our battery bank.

But what about the electrical load? Let’s not forget about that. We already calculated that
our electrical load will need 41amps to run. We need to add this to the amps that our battery
bank is going to take: 30+41 = 71amps.

Our solar panels should make 71amps.

Fact: On an average, 250 watts solar panels have a voltage of 30v.

Now, let’s put everything together in our fundamental formula:

Power = Volts x Amps

Amps: We calculated in the last step that we need 71amps (30amps to feed the battery
bank and 41amps to run the electrical load directly through solar).

Power = 30x71amps = 2130 watts. Let’s round it off to 2500 watts because you can’t have
2130 watts panels.

This is our answer: We need to install panels of 2500 watts to feed our battery bank
and run electrical load.

You can go for 10 panels of 250 watts each.

Simple! Wasn’t it?

Note: Please consider this as an honest attempt from our side to simplify complex ideas and
calculations. We do not claim that this is 100% accurate. There are other things to consider
such as power factor of inverter and other technical things. When you call us for installing
solar at your place, our trained team sizes the solar system based on your unique needs.

How much energy can your battery store?

Battery capacity is measured in Amp Hours (e.g. 17AH). You need to convert this to Watt Hours by
multiplying the AH figure by the battery voltage (e.g. 12V). this is just the simple calculation below

 X (Battery size in AH) x Y (Battery Voltage) = Z (Power available in watt hours

 For a 20AH, 12V battery the Watt Hours figure is 20(X) x 12(Y) = 240 WH (Z)
 This means the battery could supply 240W for 1 hour, 120W for 2 hours or even 2w for 120 hours i.e. the
more energy you take, the faster the battery discharges.

However you are never really able to take all the power from a battery as once the voltage drops below your
equipment’s requirements it will no longer be able to power it. There is a simple rule of thumb for this but
please check your battery’s specifications to make sure.

 Lead acid battery’s will give you around 50% of their rated power. (i.e. a 10Ah battery has 5Ah of
usable power)

 Li-ion battery’s will give you around 80% of their rated power. (i.e. a 10Ah battery has 8Ah of
usable power)
A common question that people ask regarding the battery’s is,
Q. Are car battery’s just as good for solar as leisure battery’s?

A. The answer to this is no they are not. The reason is because a leisure battery has been designed to
be discharged and recharge, a Car battery is designed to provide a lot of power quickly but it’s not
able to cope with a low internal charge and recover fully.
We provide a wide range of sealed led acid batteries that are ideal for solar applications here

2 : How much energy will your appliance(s) use over a period of time?
The power consumption of appliances is generally given in Watts (e.g. A small portable TV is around 20W
this information can be found on the data sticker that most electrical items have). To calculate the energy
you will use over time, just multiply the power consumption by the hours of intended use.
The 20W TV in this example, on for 2 hours, will take 20 x 2 = 40WH from the battery.

Repeat this for all the appliances you wish to use, then add the results to establish total consumption
like below.
TV 20w on for 2 hours per day = 40w per day
Radio 10w on for 5 hours per day = 50w per day
Water pump (20w) on for 20mins per day = 6.66w per day
Main Light 30w on for 3h per day = 90w per day
Spot lights 10w on for 1h per day = 10w per day
Total = 196w per day
An easy way to lower your power usage is to swap out halogen lights for LED lights. LED lights generally
use 80% less energy for a similar light level. We have a range of 12V LED lights here
3 : How much energy can a Solar panel generate over a period of time?
The final part to sizing your solar system is the solar panels. The power generation rating of a Solar panel is
also given in Watts (e.g. our part number STP010, is a 10W solar panel). In Theory, to calculate the energy
it can supply to the battery, you multiply Watts (of the solar panel) by the hours exposed to sunshine.
In practice it’s not a great way to calculate the output from a solar panel so we work to a few simple rules.

· We would generally advise that an average UK winters day will only give you 1 hours
sunshine
· An average UK summers days will give you 6 hours of sunshine.
So in winter a 10w panel will provide 10w worth of energy back into your battery. (10w x 1 = 10w)
In Summer a 10w panel will provide 60w worth of energy back into your battery. (10w x 6 = 60w)

Using the above calculation takes into consideration any losses in the system from the regulator, cables and
battery you may be using.

We can supply you a range of solar panels form a small 5w unit all the way to 150w units, for more
information on this look at our web site here

4 : Putting it all together to size your system.

Knowing your power requirements and the time of year you want to use the system is vital to this step. We
will use the example above with a power requirement of 196w per day.
If this is the requirements for late spring to early Autumn use we could use this equation

Watts required / time of year sunshine hours = panel size → 196 / 6 = 32.6W panel

As we don’t make a 32.6w solar panel we would recommend looking at a 30w or 40w solar panel for this
application.
However if this was an all year requirement i.e. also needed in the UK’s winter the numbers would change

Watts required / time of year sunshine hours = panel size → 196 / 1 = 196W panel

As we don’t make a 196w solar panel we would recommend looking at two 100w solar panels for this
application.

For example if you have a fixed panel wattage of 1000 watts and use a MPPT controller the
maximum charge current vs battery voltage is:

12 volts @ 80 amps
24 volts @ 40 amps
48 volts @ 20 amps

OK if you had a 1000 watt panel, the minimum size battery for a C/8 charge rate where C =
the battery AH capacity is

12 volt @ 640 Amp Hours

24 volt @ 320 Amp hours
48 volt @ 160 Amp Hours

All three batteries above have the exact amount of energy expressed in Watt Hours. With
respect to batteries battery Watt Hour Capacity = Battery Voltage x Battery Amp Hour. So try
all three and you will get 7680 Watt Hours. In addition all three example will receive the exact
same charge rate of C/8, but that C/8 current is the same.

What you are missing is the relationship of Power, Voltage, and Current. Power or Watts =
Voltage x Amps. For example the largest MPPT Charge Controller is 80 amps. So the
maximum panel wattage vs battery voltage is thus"

1000 watts @ 12 volt

2000 watts @ 24 volt
4000 watts @ 48 volts.
To conclude operating at higher voltages give you too things
1. The higher the voltage, means less current for a fixed power. This means it is more efficient
because line losses are less.
2. Allows higher power inputs for a Charge Controller rating. Example above if using a 80 amp
controller you are limited to 1000 watts max at 12 volt battery. With 48 volts you can grow up
to 400o watts.

So your installer comment is pure rubbish I can give you any amount of battery capacity you
want at any voltage. Capacity is the size of the TANK he referred to. You want 10,000 watt
hours at 12 volts you need a 833 AH battery. If you want that same 10,000 watt hours @ 48
volts is 208 Amp Hours. Both are the exact same size TANK. The difference is at 12 volts
takes 4 times more current than at 48 volts, but the lower current makes 48 more efficient.

Here is a good example that will click and you can ask your installer. Let's say you need a
battery capacity of 4800 Watt Hours. At 12 volts the battery is 400 Amp Hours, and at 48 volts
is 400 AH. We go to the store and we find 12 volt 100 AH batteries at a good price and you
buy 4 of them . Well for 12 volt system we configure all 4 batteries in parallel which makes 12
volts @ 400 Amp Hours. Or we take the exact same 4 batteries and configure them in series
to make 48 volts @ 100 Amp Hours.