Gay E.

Canough
ETM Solar Works

2.0--The Solar Resource

Most powerful nuclear

reactor in the solar system.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 1

 Slide Credit: Richard Perez Gay E. Canough
ETM Solar Works

THE OBVIOUS ANSWER!

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 2

 Gay E. Canough
ETM Solar Works

30 yr average hours of “full sun” per year in:

San Diego, Ca……….. 2044 kWh/sq. m./year
Phoenix, Az ………….2336
Syracuse, NY ………..1533
Binghamton, NY …….1496
New York City ………1642
Seattle, Wa …………..1387

Seattle gets 60% of the amount of sun that Phoenix gets.

Binghamton gets 73% of the amount of sun that San Diego
gets.

This means we need a LARGER AREA of photovoltaics in

Binghamton than they do in San Diego to make the same
amount of KILOWATT-HOURS.
June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 3
 Gay E. Canough
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Units
A Kilowatt Is a Unit of Power
A Kilowatt-hour is a Unit of Energy

Power is momentary effort required to do something. It’s

like the strength needed to lift that battery.

Energy is Power x Time. It’s like the amount of pizza

required to keep a solar installer lifting batteries for an hour.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 4

 Gay E. Canough
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How Much Sun?
The Definition of Full Sun is 1000 Watts/square meter

Under these conditions:

In 1 hour 1 square meter of the Earth’s

surface
intercepts

1 Kilowatt-hour of solar energy.

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 Gay E. Canough
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Standard Test Conditions

Irradiance= 1000 W/m2,
Air mass = 1.5
Cell temp = 25 C

Standard Operating Conditions

Irradiance= 1000 W/m2,
Air mass = 1.5
Cell temp = Nominal operating cell temp, NOCT (different for
each module)

Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) is the cell

temperature when:
Irradiance= 800 W/m2,
Ambient temperature = 20 C
Wind Speed = 1 m/s
June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 6
 Gay E. Canough
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Nominal Operating Conditions

Irradiance= 800 W/m2,
Air mass = 1.5
Cell temp = Nominal operating cell temp, NOCT (different for
each module)

PVUSA Test Conditions, PTC

Irradiance= 800 W/m2,
Ambient temp = 20 C
Wind speed = 1 m/s
Cell temp = Nominal operating cell temp, NOCT (different for
each module, usually around 45 C)

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 7

 Gay E. Canough
ETM Solar Works Path of the Sun

June 21

West North

Dec 21
PV modules

South East
Path of the Sun

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 8

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ETM Solar Works

From Photovoltaic Systems by NJATC

The equatorial plane is The summer solstice

occurs when the Northern
tipped 23.5° from the Hemisphere is tipped
ecliptic plane. Over a towards the sun. The
year, this orientation winter solstice occurs
when the Northern
produces a varying solar Hemisphere is tipped
declination. away from the sun.
June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 9
 Gay E. Canough
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Describing the Position of the Sun

From Photovoltaic Systems by NJATC

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 10

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From Photovoltaic Systems by NJATC

Origin of Lat - 15 and Lat + 15

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 11

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Definition of Air Mass 1.5

From Photovoltaic Systems by NJATC

Solar Spectrum

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 12

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June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 13

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From Photovoltaic Systems by NJATC

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 14

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June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 15

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The amount of energy you can collect depends on:

• Sun-angle
• Atmospheric absorption
• Collector tilt angle
• Collector asimuthal orientation (East-West)
• Collector efficiency
• Power conversion efficiency (DC to AC)
• Wiring losses.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 16

 Gay E. Canough
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By far, the biggest limit on how much useful energy you get is collector efficiency.

For photovoltaics, the energy not converted to electricity is about 85%!

The next largest loss is in the inverter, at around 10 to 15%.

While much worry has gone into other items, they reduce the overall system efficiency by only a
few percent. Such as:

Collectors not pointing solar south: off by +/- 30 degrees leads to about 2% loss.

Wiring loss is usually 2 to 5%.

Even putting the collectors flat instead of tilted reduces the overall energy collection efficiency
by about 10% in the Northeast

Facing the collectors due West or due East reduces the overall energy collected by about 14%.

So while you should always look for ways to optimize the system’s efficiency, be aware that it
may be less expensive, more aesthetic or more convenient to sacrifice some efficiency.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 17

 Gay E. Canough
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Orientation Table for NY State

Tilt Flat 15° 30° 45° 60° Vertical
Direction
South 0.87 0.96 1 0.98 0.92 0.66
SE, SW 0.87 0.93 0.94 0.91 0.85 0.62
E, W 0.87 0.85 0.81 0.74 0.97 0.49

Multiply the system efficiency by one of these factors

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 18

 Gay E. Canough
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If roof faces North, build a tilt-up facing South

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 19

 Gay E. Canough
ETM Solar Works

Calculating System Performance

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory provides data on solar irradiance that allows
you to calculate system performance in the city in which you are installing.
Look online at www.nrel.gov for:
Documents and Data
Renewable Resource Data Center
Solar Radiation Resource Information
30 Yr. (1961-1990) Avg. of Monthly Solar
Radiation
Alphabetical Order by State & City
Instructions:
Pick a city, open the database, and save as a text file (.txt)
Open the saved file in EXCEL or similar spreadsheet
Save as a tab delimited file:
Select delimited file type / Select Tab and Comma delimiters
Save delimited file in EXCEL or similar spreadsheet

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 20

 Gay E. Canough
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NREL data is given in

kWh/square meter/day.

Since the full solar irradiance at sea level is

1 KW per square meter, the number of
KWh/m²/day is the same as the number of
full-sun-hours per day.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 21

 Gay E. Canough
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To get a handle on these full-sun-hours, imagine working on a
simple data set like this:

Hour of the day Watts/m2 Wh/m2 (which is W/m2 x hours)

8 to 9 AM 100 100 x 1 = 100 Wh/m2
9 to 10 AM 300 300 x 1 hr = 300 Wh/m2
10 to 11 AM 400 400 x 1 hr = 400 Wh/m2
11 to 12 800 800 Wh/m2
12 to 1 PM 900 900 Wh/m2
1 to 2 PM 600 600 Watts/m2
2 to 3 PM 500 500 Watts/m2
3 to 4 PM 400 400 Wh/m2
4 to 5 PM 400 400 Wh/m2
5 to 6 PM 200 200 Wh/m2

So the total Watts/m2 is 100 +300+400+800+900+600+500+400+400

+200 = 4600 Wh/m2 or 4.6 kWh/m2 . OR, we could call those 4.6 x
1000 Wh/m2 where 1000 Wh/m2 is one “full-sun-hour”.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 22

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kWh(ac) produced = PV size in kW x full-sun-hours/yr x 0.75

0.75 is a typical system efficiency for a South-facing, fixed-tilt PV

system in New York State.

Alternatively, for units purists:

kWh(ac) produced = m2 of PV x kWh/m2/year x 0.75 x PV efficiency

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 23

 Gay E. Canough
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EXAMPLE

Albany average irradiance (collectors at latitude tilt)

= 4.3 KWh/m2/day (same as 4.3 hours of full sun )

x 365 days per year

= 1569.5 hours of full sun

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 24

 Gay E. Canough
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What’s the efficiency?

Inverter output power =

STC Array power (watts) [STC = 1000 W/^2 and 25 C]
x mismatch and dust factor (0.9)
x Array temperature factor (0.885 at 46 C)
x wiring efficiency (0.97)
x inverter efficiency (0.94)

That’s STC Array power x These numbers

0.9 x 0.885 x 0.97 x 0.94 come from the
That is: Florida Solar
STC Array power x 0.72 Energy Center
Experience base
June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 25
 Gay E. Canough
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With this information, you can either calculate

the output of a given system or
figure out what size system is needed

For a 2.4 kW PV system, Calculate System Performance like

this:
4.3 hours (of full sun) x 365 days x 2.4 KW x 0.75
= 2825 KWh per year

If your load is 5000 kWh per year, then this system will serve
2825/5000 = 0.565 = 56.5% of it.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 26

 Gay E. Canough
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Figure out a system to Power

the whole load like this

Load in KILOWATT-HOURS per year

Full-Sun-hours/year x system efficiency

If your yearly load is 7000 kWh, the sun in New York City is
1642 kWh/m2 per year and the system efficiency is 75% (0.75)
then the PV system you will need to run it is:

7000/ (1642 x 0.75) = 5.68 kW PV System

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 27

 Gay E. Canough
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Solar Access

Photovoltaic system performance

will be greatly reduced if
even a small part of the array
is shaded

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 28

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The Solar Pathfinder shows you what

structures or trees shade the
Area you are considering

Use the Solar Pathfinder at the

2 lowest corners
of proposed roof-top array site

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 29

 Gay E. Canough
ETM Solar Works Solar Pathfinder Chart

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 30

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ETM Solar Works Pathfinder reading

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 31

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Shading at customer’s roof

Nov: 4+5+6+7+7+8=37
Dec: 4+5+6+7+7+8 =37
Feb: 5+6+7+7+7
Jan: 4+5+6+7+7+8
= 32
= 37
Oct: 6+6+7+7
= 26

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 32

 Gay E. Canough
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Finding Sun-hours lost:

NREL sun-hours per day

x number of days per month
x percent lost from solar pathfinder

convert 40% to decimal by dividing by 100. 40% = 0.4

0.4 x 30 days x 2.4 sun-hours per day = 28.8 sun-hours lost

Reminder: a “sun-hour” =
1 kWh/m2 i.e. an equivalent hour of 1 kW/m2

Solar Access = available sun-hours - sun-hours lost

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 33

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Figuring out lost Sun-hours
due to shading

1. Compute hours lost for each month

2. Add them up
3. Subtract from yearly total

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 34

 Gay E. Canough
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So now we would have to use the reduced

number of Hours of Full Sun in our
performance formula
Hours of Full Sun x system efficiency x PV size in kW
= kWh generated

Example
1425 Hours of Full Sun x 0.75 efficiency x 2.4 kW = 2565 kWh
Instead of 2825 kWh with no shade.

June 2009 ETM Training Solar Resource 35