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Written by kay@foodnpolitics on 2025-01-20 at 03:33

Every time I look up #solar to try to better understand it, I’m left confused. I’m no stranger to scientific jargon, but this is just not my field. This seems like bad news for widespread public adoption.

We need to break down the process of getting #SolarPanels into easy to understand plain language.

Let’s share some knowledge.

Do you have solar panels?

How did you learn about the process from regulations + rebates + buying the right materials to setup/hookup + selling excess energy?

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Written by tk on 2025-01-20 at 03:46

@foodnpolitics in my case I have a background in electrical engineering and electronics as a hobby. So the technical side was not an issue for me, but from my perspective stuff like voltage, current, power, capacity and resistance should be already known through physics classes.

Regarding the regulations: a friend of mine is electrician, so I could ask some questions regarding code and got myself a book on the local regulations regarding solar.

Other than that multiple electrians made videos on youtube regarding solar installations and code.

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Written by tk on 2025-01-20 at 04:29

@foodnpolitics regarding design: start with your yearly power bill. For example 3000 kWh would match as a rule of thumb 3kW peak power from a solar system.

Usually you want to go bigger than that on the solar part for shading, cloudy days, higher rates of grid independence in fall, winter and spring.

Obviously bigger means more initial system cost and longer time till return of investment.

So lets stay with 3kWp in this example. You need panels, usual sizes atm are 400-480W per panel. So with 450W panels you would need 7 (6.6) panels. Each panel has multiple values that are important, Voc is the highest voltage it can deliver at 20°C, so add 20% to that as rule of thumb for cold temps.

Lets say 38Voc per panel means 7381.2=319.2V maximum Voltage for your Inverter input. Vmppt is where the most power can be pulled from the panel, lets say 36V*7=252V should be in the mppt range of the inverter

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