A homeowner in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is interested in having a solar PV system installed at
Question:
A homeowner in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is interested in having a solar PV system installed at his house. He would like the system to be able to cover all of his annual energy needs. The following is a table from his utility provider showing the monthly energy use in the household. His roof with solar access is facing due east at a \(20^{\circ}\) pitch with no shading. In addition, the local electric company is offering a rebate on residential solar installations of \(\$ 2.00\) per installed Watt, as well as a renewable energy credit rebate based on predicted system performance. The REC rebate is \(\$ 2.50 / \mathrm{W}\), which is then multiplied by the system performance. Since the installation is east facing, the predicted performance efficiency is \(83 \%\) (with a system facing due south having a performance efficiency of \(100 \%)\).
a. Design a system that will offset \(100 \%\) of the home's consumption.
b. Assuming \(\$ 0.10 / \mathrm{W}\) electricity expense with a \(5 \%\) annual inflationary rate increase, and a \(\$ 7.50 / \mathrm{W}\) installed cost, what will the payback be for this system after the rebate from the utility provider?
c. How do you wire the solar panel? Specifically, how many cells would you need and how would you wire them (series versus parallel) if the solar panel is to have a working voltage of \(24.46 \mathrm{~V}\) and an amperage of 7.6A? Assume the individual cells produce \(98 \mathrm{~V}\) and \(3.8 \mathrm{~A}\).
Resources The SMA string sizing program is found on the website—http://www.smaamerica. com/home PV Watts is found on the NREL website.
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