Your Questions About How To Generate Solar Power System

Carol asks…

if i use 50kw solar power system for 24 hour then how many carbon credit will be generate and how to sell it?

Henry Dover answers:

If you have a solar panel system that operates at night, you should patent it.

Carbon credits apply only to governments and large companies, not to individuals. And they are not sold, they are traded on an open market. And you would need to own the power plant, not just use it.

Paul asks…

Has anyone tried building the Earth4Energy solar generating system? How does electric get to appliances?

My young son and I could probably build something with good plans. We’re not electricians though and I’m wondering how the power gets from the batteries (I guess) to the appliances. I really want to reduce our electric bill and am wondering if this is a viable sollution. We live in South Florida with plenty of sun but our main power uses are from Central Air, Water Heater, Pool Pump, Washer & Dryer. Sure would like some insight. tx

Henry Dover answers:

That place looks like a scam. Solar panels that generate enough energy to power a home cost much more then $200 and can not just be made by DIY’s.

You can make a solar water heater. I saw plans in a magazine (maybe Popular Mechanics) many years ago.

Joseph asks…

how fast are 3 coleman cl 600 solar panels supposed to charge a car battery?

I have 3 Coleman CL-600 9 Watt 17 – 24 Volt Solar Panels wired into a coleman cc 4000 charge controller in parallel which is then wired on to my car battery. They aren’t charging my battery as fast as I would like (takes a full day of direct sunlight to charge the batter just a little bit). Is this normal? Are my panels generating enough power to charge the battery? How fast should it take to charge a car battery off of a solar powered system? HELP!!!!!!!

Henry Dover answers:

With no load on the battery – no clocks, no lights, it will take about 30 days to recharge a #27 size car or deep cycle battery.

Maria asks…

Correct calculations for 20kW solar system?

Just want somebody to lookover my math for me for a theoretical 20kW solar system. Base facts:

Assumption is that the facility consumes 50,000 kW hours per year which means about 4200kW hours per month or 140 kW hours per day.

So I take the kW hours per month and divide that by the average output of my solar array (Is it possible to find a system that would average 20kw’s through calculations? I do not want it to be a 20kW at max load, but that is what it usually produces) to get how many hours per month of power generation I need to fulfill my requirements.

So I take 4200/20=210

Next I take my hours per month and divide that by 30 to get my hours of production time needed per day.

So 210/30=7

So theoretically with an average system output of 20kW’s I would need to generate power 7 hours every day. Sounds about right, is it too generous or too lean or what?

And just and FYI the theoretical system would be an off grid set up with a deep cycle battery bank that is charged by the panels to provide power, not a direct link into the lines from the panel. This allows power during the night and during low production days by storing power. So this is not a supplemental set up, but a standalone (not just on grid and lessening power use and selling whatever extra is left back to the grid, but making and storing it all).
Sapp that is a link to a child’s toy….

Henry Dover answers:

I think your calcs are a bit over-optimistic.

Depends on your local climate and how close to the equator you are, of course, but the industry standard “rule of thumb” for average sunshine hours per day is 5, not 7.

Then you have to factor in that solar panels are always rated at MAX output, for bright sun directly overhead which only occurs once per day, and then only in mid-summer, unless you also have a mechanical sun-tracking system which for a large array like yours would probably be impractical and very expensive.
So your panels are just mounted at a fixed angle equal to your lattitude as a best compromise.

To get an AVERAGE output of 20kW you could need up to 40kW of max-rated panels, again depending on your location. (Actually more than that if your lattitude is greater than 70 degrees, but I’m guessing it isn’t!)

Hope this helps.

Michael asks…

Do most solar photovoltaic systems, which are connected to the grid have no batteries?

Batteries are expensive and most systems today, are sized based on your electric bill for a year, how much irradiance your area gets per year, averaged to per day. They systems people buy are designed that the power company (who often pays part of the cost of your installation) buys your excess power when you are out shopping, working and school in sunny times. They credit your account and supply your power at night and bad weather. Few people get batter back-up. Only people in the back woods away from power lines have the old style, battery based solar PV today. Most are tied seamlessly to the electric grid and sized so that the power you generate, the size of your PV system and the power you get from the power company at night and bad weather is offset by the power they buy from you when you are not using all the power your system generates. Works great. People with horses and buggies resisted cars at first too