A Household PV System for Apartment Residence – Feasibility Study

Abstract

As an effort to demonstrate the potential of utilizing solar energy for households especially in apartment complexes, a test bed PV(photovoltaic) system is proposed and its performance is evaluated. Even though the absolute amount of solar energy available for individual apartment house hold is limited, the system could run heavy-duty appliances such as a refrigerator, one of the steady energy consumers in most households. System considerations including energy consumption and supply rate, as well as the total energy balance are addressed in the present study. Total of 5 PV panels (one 100W panel and four 60W panels) combined with controllers and batteries (two 80 AH and three 60 AH batteries respectively) generate electricity and store it, which eventually is converted into AC power through a 2 kVA inverter.