Secret Beach, Belize is an off-grid community. Meaning that all the homes require alternative energy for electricity. When it comes to determining how much solar power you need it’s best to work with a reputable solar contractor and installer.
But to give you some guidelines on what to look for and what to consider when it comes to buying and installing a solar system for your home at Secret Beach or anywhere off-grid construction is being done; this article will give you some guidelines to follow.
Understanding your usage and power needs is important. Consider all the things you want to power and how much electricity you will consume on a daily basis. Once you understand your daily energy needs you can use these guidelines and calculations to help you figure out the size your solar system will need to be.
As more people become conscious of the impact they have on the environment, more and more homeowners are looking for alternative energy sources. Solar power has become a popular choice for homeowners, but designing a solar system for your home can be a daunting task.
For homeowners in Secret Beach and other areas of Belize, a solar system is a necessity. In this article, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide to help you design a solar system that is tailored to your specific needs.
Step 1: Determine your energy usage
The first step in designing a solar system for your home is to determine your energy usage. You can do this by looking at your electricity bill and identifying how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) you use on average per day. This number will give you an idea of the amount of energy you need to generate with your solar system.
For example, let’s say that your average daily energy usage is 30 kWh. Then you will want to design a system that offers a comparable capacity.
Step 2: Evaluate your location
The amount of sunlight your home receives will have a significant impact on the efficiency of your solar system. It is important to evaluate your location to determine the amount of sunlight your panels will receive on a daily basis. This can be done using a solar calculator or by consulting with your construction project manager.
For example, if your home is located in a sunny area with minimal shading, you can expect to generate more energy than if your home is located in a shaded area with limited sunlight.
Step 3: Determine your budget
Designing a solar system for your home can be a significant investment. It is important to determine your budget upfront to ensure that you are able to afford the system that you need. The cost of a solar system will depend on the size of your home and your energy usage.
For example, if your budget is $20,000 and your energy usage is 30 kWh per day, you can expect to design a system that generates 6 kW of power.
Step 4: Determine daily hours of operation for each item
To determine the daily hours of operation for each item, you will need to estimate the average number of hours the item is used per day, both during the daytime and nighttime. Nighttime hours are any hours in which the sun is not shining. This is necessary to determine the amount of battery storage required by your system. If an item is running 24 hours a day, you should use 10 hours for daytime and 14 hours for nighttime. For items that are only used weekly, such as washing clothes, you should divide them by 7 to get a daily average. Create a third column with the total of nighttime and daytime hours.
For example, if you have a refrigerator that runs for 8 hours during the day and 4 hours at night, you would need to list this as 8 hours in the daytime column and 4 hours in the nighttime column.
Step 5: Calculate your daily production requirement
Once you have determined your daily hours of operation, you can calculate your daily production requirement. This can be done by multiplying the wattage of each item by the nighttime hours of operation. This will give you nighttime usage. Add these together and put this under the column of total usage. Total up all the items and you will have your daily average production requirement. This will be in watts so you need to divide it by 1,000 to make it in kilowatts.
For example, if you have a refrigerator that uses 200 watts during the day and 100 watts at night, your total usage would be (200 x 8) + (100 x 4) = 1800 watts. You would then divide this by 1000 to get 1.8 kW.
Step 6: Determine your solar panel needs
To determine your solar panel needs, you will need to choose a solar panel size. The size of the solar panel you need will depend on your daily production requirement, the amount of sunlight your home receives, and your budget. For this calculation, we will use a 250-watt panel. A 250-watt panel will produce between 1.1 and 1.3 kilowatt-hours per day under sunny conditions but only 0.4 kWh per day in cloudy or dark-sky conditions.
Because of this, you need to determine if you want to base your production on the lower number and therefore not require any backup, or base it on the higher number, recognizing that on dark days you will need to limit your usage accordingly or have a means of backup, such as a generator. Luckily Belize gets lots of sun. Especially in the Secret Beach area. Divide your total kilowatt usage by the number you choose and this will give you the number of panels required to power your home.
There are certain combination requirements for panels to be connected together, generally in even numbers. This can be determined later.
For example, if your daily production requirement is 6 kW and you choose to use a 1.2 kW solar panel, you would need 5 solar panels to generate the amount of power you need.
Step 7: Determine your inverter needs
To determine your inverter requirements, you will need to consider the heaviest draw requirement in your home. This could be a motor such as a washing machine, refrigerator, or pump. Motors can often draw 5 times their rating to start spinning. A good inverter will have a surge of at least double its rated output.
If your washing machine, for example, draws 500 watts, you should have not less than a 2,500-watt inverter. In addition to determining your highest starting load, it is necessary to determine your peak draw as well since several appliances could be starting at the same time.
This will require you to look at your list and add together things that will likely be running at the same time. If it is higher than the surge number we calculated earlier, then use the higher number.
For example, if your washing machine draws 500 watts and your refrigerator draws 200 watts, you would need an inverter with a surge capacity of at least 1,400 watts.
Step 8: Determine your storage requirements
To determine your storage requirements, you will need to calculate how much electricity is consumed during the day and how much is consumed after dark. Earlier, you had calculated the nighttime usage by multiplying your appliances’ wattage by the hours of nighttime usage. Add all these together for a total of nighttime usage. This number will be in watt-hours.
We will need to divide this number by the battery voltage to get battery amp-hours. In this case, we will use 12 volts. For example, if you have a nighttime usage of 800 watt-hours, you will need a battery capacity of 67 amp-hours (800/12). Since batteries should not be drained beyond 50% for longer battery life, we will need to double this number (134) to determine the number of storage batteries. A common AGM battery that we sell is 139 amp-hours at 12 volts. Two of these batteries would give 278 amp-hours of storage which would be adequate in this example.
It is common for people to request more batteries than their panels can fill. This is detrimental to your batteries, since if they do not get filled on a regular basis they will sulfate, which will drastically shorten their life. Therefore, the amount of batteries is important so that the batteries get filled on a regular basis, but at the same time, you’re not wasting power from the panels that could otherwise be stored. As a rule of thumb, if your batteries are not filling on a sunny day, you need more panels. If on the other hand, your batteries are full by noon most days, then you could add more batteries and increase your usage.
Step 9: Compare your results with available packages
Once you have completed all the steps above, you should have a good idea of the solar system that you need for your home. You can compare your results with the available packages on the market to see which one most closely matches your requirements. This will give you an approximate cost for your size system. Keep in mind that these calculations do not consider inefficiencies in the inversion process and the storage process. So it’s best to go for a larger system rather than one that’s too small.
Step 10: Consider the quality of the equipment
When choosing your solar system, it’s important to consider the quality of the equipment that you want to purchase. Good quality solar panels are a 30-year life item, which will become obsolete long before they cease to produce power. Therefore, unless your panel is damaged or abused, you should never have to be concerned about replacing your panels.
In conclusion, designing a solar system for your home can be a daunting task, but by following these steps, you should be able to determine the size of the system you need and the equipment that will work best for your needs. Remember, it’s important to consider the quality of the equipment that you choose to ensure that you get the most out of your investment. With a little planning and research, you can have a solar system that will provide you with clean, renewable energy for many years to come.
To learn more about building off-grid in Belize reach out to us and we can help you determine the best way for you to build your off-grid home.