A recycled solar and renewable energy powerhouse.

Solar Power House From Recyled Materials

The property here sits in a hole. There are low bluffs around three sides of it. The main building is three stories and is thirty five feet tall. There is a very tall building to the south. The only place that gets full winter sun is a narrow strip on the north side of the property. As the roof is very difficult to get to, we chose to put the solar power equipment at ground level. When the construction started, there was an intern working here by the name of Cary. She was an engineering sort and between school semesters. I gave her the task of designing the powerhouse. She did all the calculations for distance from the main building, latitude, angle of the roof and height needed to get the panels in full sun during the winter. She also did most of the brush clearing, soil leveling and construction of the powerhouse. She left to go back to school before the internal equipment was fully installed, but we did hook up the system temporarily so she could see it work. It rains most of the time here in the winter, so I was certainly happy on Dec. 21st. There was a three hour hole in the clouds that let me observe the shade on the powerhouse from all the objects around. Cary's calculations were flawless. The shadows fell just about six inches below where they needed to be, which gave a bit of leeway for the future panels. This picture is from the front of the powerhouse. The left hand door is where the garden tools are stored. The right hand door opens into the power room. More solar panels will be added as finances permit. In the future, plans are to have a wind generator also.

Here is a view into the power room, showing the equipment.

The technical details of the solar installation are fairly simple. This diagram shows all the equipment needed to get usable electricity from the sun. While the panel can be used directly to power some 12 VDC appliances, a large amount of the available energy would be wasted if it was not stored. So we store it in rechargeable batteries.

The sun shines on the solar panel, the electricity goes down wires to the charge controller and then down wires to the batteries. It is stored in the batteries until needed by the load.

Here is a list of each component and why it is necessary.

Sun: puts out light.

Solar panel: converts sunlight to electricity.

Charge controller: Controls the battery charging. Without this piece, the batteries would overcharge and be destroyed.

Batteries: stores the electricity for later use.

Inverter: changes 12 VDC battery voltage to 120 VAC for AC appliances.

Load: whatever appliance that you use electricity for.

As you can see from the above diagram, the overall circuit is fairly simple. There are a number of design considerations in this system.

Sun siting: Install the system where it gets maximum sun.
The solar panels must be pointed as well as possible toward the sun. Since the sun moves during the day, the power output will vary with a fixed panel system. Therefore, the actual generated power is always lower then the maximum rated power output of the system.
The controller and solar panels are rated in Watt output. The controller MUST be rated at a higher wattage level than all the solar panels combined.
Solar panels can be connected in parallel to get more current and in series to get more voltage.
Solar panels also have a voltage rating, as do controllers. The voltage ratings of both MUST match.
Power is voltage X current = Watts. Total electricity useage is measured in Watts X time = watt/hours (or Watt minutes). This is the total amount of electricity used.
Batteries can be connected in series for more voltage and in parallel for more current.
The battery storage capacity should be matched to the expected power generated and the useage. However, the controller will protect the batteries from overcharging.
The battery voltage and the controller voltage MUST match. Otherwise, either the batteries or the controller will be destroyed.
When you purchase a new charge controller, it will have diagrams and installation instructions. FOLLOW THEM CAREFULLY!

Our powerhouse has a fifty watt solar panel, a three hundred watt controller, two large six volt deep cycle batteries wired in series, giving 12 VDC, a 12VDC outlet and a four hundred watt 120 VAC inverter. As money becomes available, we can install solar panels in parallel up to the maximum wattage of the controller, which is three hundred watts. This will provide all of our needed electricity except for the refrigerator. There are refrigeration alternatives that we are exploring.