subject: Why Your 1000 Watt Solar Panel Only Generates About 700 Watts [print this page] Why Your 1000 Watt Solar Panel Only Generates About 700 Watts
Which means you bought a 1000 watt solar kit to charge to your battery thinking that it'll deliver 1000 watts. Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you it'll probably only produce about 700 watts of usable power. Were you conned? No, you just need to understand 3 important information about solar cells.
The cell must be generating power at its maximum power point (MPP). Most solar power panels will be operated from their MPP depending on the set-up. The maximum power is only generated once the load resistance is at the right level to obtain the correct voltage and current flow. The strain may be the technical term for exactly what uses the power generated by the solar panel. In a perfect system just the device that you want to power is the load, for instance a battery you need to recharge, however in practice all the components that define the system, for example connections and wiring and voltage regulation devices, apply certain of that power and bring about the entire strain on the machine. When the system load moves away from the optimum load then the PV module's voltage and amps will get off the MPP and the solar module becomes less efficient, thus produces less power.
The solar panel should be fully bathed in sunlight. Most of the time the cell will not be facing directly into the sun, there might be clouds or shadows obscuring the sun and there might be debris on the cell obstructing the sunlight. Inside a 100% efficient solar module the sun's rays falling on an section of one square meter of solar panel would produce 1000 watts ( 1 Kw) but the average PV panel is all about 15% efficient and produces about 150 watts (15% of 1000) per square meter of area.
The solar cells temperatures must not exceed 25?C. Excessive heat has got the greatest effect on the voltage generated through the cells. Don't be fooled by the ambient temperature, because once the air is about 10?C, the solar cell is going to be at about 40?C. Solar cells can't stand heat, once the temperature rises then the cell produces less voltage. At 40?C a cell is producing 10% less voltage than at 25?C the like a typical summer day the cell might be at 65?C. and producing 80 watts rather than 100 watts.
Conclusion. All of these factors add to the total energy lack of the solar generating system. Use thicker rather than thin wire to lessen power losses and overheating. MPPT solar controllers will get probably the most power out of your cell. Deep cell batteries are better than car batteries for storing and taking advantage of electricity.
