TABLE OF CONTENTS This section is intended to acquaint the reader with the basic design concepts of solar power applications. The typical solar power applications that will be reviewed include stand-alone systems with battery backup, commonly used in remote telemetry; vehicle charging stations; communication repeater stations; and numerous installations where the installation cost of regular electrical service becomes prohibitive. An extended design application of stand-alone systems also includes the integration of an emergency power generator system.
Grid-connected solar power systems, which form a large majority of residential and industrial applications, are reviewed in detail. To familiarize the reader with the prevailing state and federal assistance rebate programs, a special section is devoted to reviewing the salient aspects of existing rebates.
Solar power design essentially consists of electronics and power systems engineering, which requires a thorough understanding of the electrical engineering disciplines and the prevailing standards outlined in Article 690 of the National Electrical Code (NEC).
The solar power design presented, in addition to reviewing the various electrical design methodologies, provides detailed insight into photovoltaic modules, inverters, charge controllers, lightning protection, power storage, battery sizing, and critical wiring requirements. To assist the reader with the economic issues of solar power cogeneration, a detailed analysis of a typical project, including system planning, photovoltaic power system cogeneration estimates, economic cost projection, and payback analysis, is covered later in Chapter 8.
As described later in this chapter (see the section entitled Ground-Mount Photovoltaic Module Installation and Support Hardware ), solar power...
