‫المعهد التكنولوجي العالي ‪ -‬العاشر من رمضان‬

‫الفصل الدراسي‪ :‬الترم الصيفي ‪2020‬‬

‫قسم‪ :‬ميكاترونكس‬

‫البحث المرجعي الخاص بمادة‪:‬طاقة متجددة‬

‫كود المادة‪MEC 257:‬‬
‫رقم المجموعة‪61:‬‬
 Higher Technological Institute at 10th of Ramadan

Mechanical department

Mechatronics major

Research Article/ Research Project

Design of a standalone off-grid PV system on a farm in El-Alamein road

to cover the electrical loads demand for this case study.

Course Details

Term Jan./May 2020

Course Name ‫طاقة متجددة‬
Course Code MEC 257
.Group No 61

Reviewers Committee

1
2
3

Total points
100/

Student Code
 Abstract
In relation to the sustainability of operating methods, new ways of consuming energy
need to be developed and introduced. One of the easiest method to get electrical
energy is to install panels on the roof or elsewhere outside the house, providing a
partial energy requirement for residents today. To design a system, we need to
evaluate the appliances in the house and how much energy they consume, and it is
possible to design and install batteries and panels based on the energy consumption.

The system design will depend on the type of load used, as all devices in the Al-
Almin are AC devices and there are no DC devices and we will calculate formulas
that needed to understand and assess the performance of the panels. So choosing the
suitable component of the system is very necessary to get a valuable results. And the
most two important factors about designing the system is the budget and the
available space.

Everyday researchers try to develop the solar panels to increase its efficiency and
decrease its cost to be reliable and can be used instead of the fossil fuel as fast as
possible. To keep our planet clean and healthy for our children. And to avoid the
massive problem which will happen to the economics if we run out of fossil fuel and
other non-renewable energy sources. So the process of exchange must be done.

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 Acknowledgment

At first, ,thanks to God for everything he give us.

Thanks to Dr. Mohamed Salah for being very kind and friendly to our questions and
behave with us as a father to his sons
Big thanks to Eng. Hany Ibrahim who made a great effort to help the doctor in
explaining the videos and answering our questions

III
Contents
1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 PV panels concept .................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Types of Solar PV Systems ...................................................................................................... 2
2 Chapter 2 (load estimation) .............................................................................................................. 5
2.1 Loads calculation ..................................................................................................................... 5
3 Chapter three (System Design) ......................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Selecting the suitable panel ...................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Battery Selection: ..................................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Charger sizing .......................................................................................................................... 7
3.4 Inverter sizing .......................................................................................................................... 8
4 Chapter 4 ......................................................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Wiring ..................................................................................................................................... 9
5 Chapter 5 (cost estimation) ............................................................................................................ 10
6 Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 11
6.1 Solar panel cost ..................................................................................................................... 11
6.2 Charge controller cost ............................................................................................................ 11
6.3 Battery cost ............................................................................................................................ 12
6.4 Inverter cost ........................................................................................................................... 12
7 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 13

IV
Figure 1-1: Electricity generation cycle by using PV panel ........................................................................ 2
Figure 1-2:Off-Grid solar system ............................................................................................................. 3
Figure 1-3:On-Grid solar system.............................................................................................................. 3
Figure 1-4:On-Grid solar system with batteries ........................................................................................ 4
Figure 2-1(loads calculation table) ........................................................................................................... 5
Figure 3-1 (datasheet of the chosen panel) .............................................................................................. 6
Figure 3-2(Weather Atlas of Alex) ............................................................................................................ 7
Figure 3-3(charger controller MUST PC16-8015F) .................................................................................... 8
Figure 3-4(VICTRON QUATTRO 48/15000-200-100/100 15KW OFF-GRID SOLAR) ..................................... 8
Figure 4-1(schematic diagram of wiring) .................................................................................................. 9
Figure 5-1(price estimation table) .......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 6-1(solar panel cost) ................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 6-2(charge controller) ................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 6-3(battery cost) ......................................................................................................................... 12
Figure 6-4(inverter cost) ........................................................................................................................ 12

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VI
 1 Introduction

1.1 PV panels concept

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is a technology that converts solar radiation from sun into direct
current electricity by using semiconductor materials. When the sun hits the semiconductor
material within the PV cell, electrons are freed and form an electric current. (Bethel Afework,
2020)

PV cells are found connected to each other and mounted on a frame together called a module.
Multiple modules wired together to form an array, which can be scaled up or down to give the
amount of power needed.

PV cells can be made from different semi-conductor materials. The most commonly used material
is silicon, There are different types which being tested and are used to increase the efficiency of
converting sunlight to electricity as:

 Mono crystalline Silicon

 Poly crystalline Silicon
 Amorphous Silicon
 Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)
 Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS)

Photovoltaic process works through the following steps:

1. Photovoltaic solar cell absorbs solar radiation

2. When the sun rays interact with the cell, electrons begin to move and create a flow of
electric current.
3. Wires take and give this direct current (DC) electricity to a solar inverter to be converted
to alternating current (AC) electricity used to operate home applications.

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 Figure 1-1: Electricity generation cycle by using PV panel

1.2 Types of Solar PV Systems

1- PV Direct System
The simplest solar PV systems, with the fewest components: The Solar Panels and the load. They
do not have batteries and are not connected to the grid; they used for few applications like: water
pumping or attic ventilation fan.

2- Off-Grid system
Known as stand-alone systems, it is designed to be independent of the power grid because
batteries are used in it to store energy when the sun is not an available during cloudy days or at
night. This type of system will be attached to battery electrolyte levels and terminal corrosion.

2
 Figure 1-2:Off-Grid solar system

3- Grid Tied System

They are known as on-grid, grid-tied, grid-intertied, or grid-direct systems. They generate solar
electricity and deliver it to the loads and to the grid, offsetting some of electricity usage. System
components consists of the PV array and inverter. Grid-connected system is like regular electric
powered system except that some or all the electricity comes from the sun. The disadvantages of
removing these batteries that they provide no outage protection when the utility grid fails, these
systems cannot operate.

Figure 1-3:On-Grid solar system

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4- Grid-tied with battery-backup system
This type is like an off-grid system, but adds to the utility grid, Reducing the need for the system
to provide all the energy all the time.

Figure 1-4:On-Grid solar system with batteries

4- Hybrid system
Hybrid system combine multiple sources of power to increase availability of power. It may use
energy from sun, wind, or diesel generator and back it up with batteries.

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 2 Chapter 2 (load estimation)
2.1 Loads calculation

Appliance Type Description Period Pw/D Pw/week

Lights AC 20,9W Daily 10 1800 12600
Lights AC 50W Daily 10 500 3500
TV AC 150 W Daily 4 600 4200
TV AC 300 W Daily 4 1200 8400
Water pump AC 2HP 6 8948.4 62638.8
Daily=2*745.7w
Washing AC 1000 W , once a 4 ------ 4000
machine week
fans AC 4,90W Daily 5 12600 12600
Refrigerator AC 200 W Daily 12 16800 16800
Figure 2-1(loads calculation table)

𝑃𝑤
∑81 ( )
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 = 121138.8 = 17305.54 𝑊ℎ/𝑑
7 7
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
= ((20 ∗ 9) + (50) + (150) + (300) + (1491.4 ∗ 3) + (3 ∗ 1000)
+ (4 ∗ 90 ∗ 3) + (200 ∗ 3)) = 9834.2 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = 17305.54 ∗ 1.3 = 22497.202 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡

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 3 Chapter three (System Design)

3.1 Selecting the suitable panel

Selecting the suitable panel depend on the cost and size so by comparing many types
online. I preferred {{CANADIAN SOLAR KUPOWER CS3K-320MS 320W}}
because it is cheap in price and give very acceptable power 320Watt and 19.26%

Figure 3-1 (datasheet of the chosen panel)

efficiency.
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠 ∗ 1.3
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠 =
𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ∗ 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐 ∗ 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 ∗ 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

So first we need sunshine time by using website weather atlas (atlas, 2020) Then the
sunshine time is about 9 hour. But we still don’t know solar radiation we need atlas
of Egypt by taking the approximately values of each month and get the average by
using the atlas book (TEAM, 2018) the average solar radiation (GHI) 277Wh/day

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 Figure 3-2(Weather Atlas of Alex)

17819.82 ∗ 1.3
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠 = = 29.04 = 30 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙
9 ∗ 0.1927 ∗ 1.66𝑚2 ∗ 277
3.2 Battery Selection:

I chose 24V, 200Ah Lithium Battery with efficiency 80% and depth of discharge
50% which fair cost and high features.

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 ∗ 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 =
𝐵𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 ∗ 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒
17819.82 ∗ 3
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 = = 133648.65 𝑊ℎ
0.8 ∗ 0.5
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 =
𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ∗ 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒
133648.65
𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 = = 27.8 = 28 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦
200 ∗ 24

3.3 Charger sizing

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 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠 ∗ 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 ∗ 1.3
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 = 28 ∗ 10.4 ∗ 1.3 = 387.56 𝐴𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒
Choosing charger controller of 80A so we need 5 chargers in series connection

Figure 3-3(charger controller MUST PC16-8015F)

3.4 Inverter sizing

𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 = (𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝐴𝐶 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 ∗ 1.3) = 9834.2 ∗ 1.3 = 12784.46 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡

The suitable inverter is 15 Kw so I chose VICTRON QUATTRO 48/15000-200-
100

Figure 3-4(VICTRON QUATTRO

48/15000-200-100/100 15KW OFF-
GRID SOLAR)

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 4 Chapter 4
4.1 Wiring

Two series panels of 12 volt to give 24

volts and connect the other panels in
parallel in the same way

5 series charge controllers

28 Batteries

Inverter Loads

Figure 4-1(schematic diagram of wiring)

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 5 Chapter 5 (cost estimation)

Component name Number of items Price of each item Total price

Solar panels 30 3317 99510
Charge controller 5 4450 22250
batteries 28 6200 173600
Inverter 1 49584.5 4958.5
TOTAL 64 300318.5 LE
Figure 5-1(price estimation table)

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 6 Appendices

6.1 Solar panel cost

Figure 6-1(solar panel cost)

We need 30 panels then total cost =99510 LE

6.2 Charge controller cost

Figure 6-2(charge controller)

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6.3 Battery cost

Battery cost

Figure 6-3(battery cost)

6.4 Inverter cost

Figure 6-4(inverter cost)

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 7 Bibliography

atlas, w. (2020, 21 9). weather atlas. Retrieved from weather atlas:

https://images.app.goo.gl/dn8YhAhGajhkmgEq5

Bethel Afework, J. H. (2020, 9 22). energy education. Retrieved from energy education:
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Photovoltaic_cell

date, t. a. (2020, 21 9). time and date. Retrieved from time and date:
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@361612

TEAM, T. G.-C. (2018). Solar atlas of egypt. Chapman: alexandria unversity .

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