Currently, India is going through a very bad phase in the energy sector, as the Indian population is growing at a rapid rate. And not everyone is getting reliable & proper power supply, which is the basic necessity for the life & everybody has the right to get it. This is a factor, we should think deeply if we cannot fulfill the basic necessity of the particular part of the country, how is it possible to be a digitalize India.
Now let’s look at the other side of the problem, If the government supplied the electricity in all parts of the country properly then it will give a boom to the electricitys’ demand & that will increase the electricity generation rate. & that will be affecting the climate badly.
So, now the question is this, how to fulfill the energy requirement without affecting the climate & making it affordable to everyone.
Keeping these factors in mind, we can say that solar energy is the only option that can meet all the points. So now the question is, What is solar energy, how does it work, & what components the user needs for it.
Solar means sun & energy means power, which means, the power that comes from the sun is called solar energy. So with the help of some components, when we converted it into electricity & store it. for this converting process user needs 4 to 5 major components.
- Solar Panels, also known as Photovoltaic Modules, are made from photovoltaic silicon cells, those cells convert sunlight into electricity. There are three types of panels available in the market called, Monocrystalline, Polycrystalline, and Thin-Film.
- Solar Inverter helps to convert DC (Direct Current) into AC (Alternating Current). Solar panels generate electricity in DC form, & electric appliances need an AC form of electricity to run. In the market two types of solar inverter available currently, Off-grid & On-grid inverter.
- Solar Charge Controller controls the charging & prevents the battery from overheating. Besides, the charge controller extracts maximum power from solar panels & helps to instant battery charging. Solar charge controller comes in two types, MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking), PWM (Pulse Width Modulation).
- Solar Battery is a power storage device which uses in off-grid & hybrid solar solutions. These are C20 batteries, which charges slowly & discharges slowly also in comparison to a normal battery. The price of these batteries is also costly. There are two types of solar batteries, Lead Acid, Lithium-Ion solar batteries.
Now we will understand the type of solar solution, that chooses users according to their needs & budget.
- On-Grid solar solutions: In this type of solar solution, consumers set up solar panels at their place according to their power requirements. Panels generate electricity & then solar inverters and smart meters send it to the local power grid. The consumer gets the power through the local power grid. No storage device uses in this solar solution, because of this the price of this solution is cheaper than the other two.
- Off-Grid solar solution: In this type of solar solution, consumers consume all the generated electricity self as there is no connection from the local grid. Through the inverter power store in solar battery, that uses the consumer as per their requirement.
- Hybrid solar solution: This solar solution is the mix-up design of off-grid & on-grid solar solution, in which consumer connects to the local grid & have storage device also. In the daytime, the load is run by the generated electricity & charges the storage device also. After that, the rest of the electricity goes into the local grid.