Rising electricity prices and the investment opportunities that solar energy generates make many customers choose to expand their photovoltaic installation. When executing this expansion, it is necessary to take into account certain aspects to ensure that the new installation continues to work properly. In this article we tell you about them.
When to expand a solar installation.
The main reason to expand a solar installation is because it is necessary to cover a higher consumption. In a house, this can happen if the number of people living in the house increases or because a new household appliance or an electric vehicle charger is introduced. In a company, it can also be due to an increase in the number of employees or the introduction of new machinery.
In many cases the expansion has been planned from the time of the initial installation, either for budgetary or technical reasons. In this case, the design should have taken this future expansion into account so that when the time came, only the indispensable components would have to be replaced.
Either way, it is usual to increase the number of solar panels to cover this new consumption. Depending on this increase and the original design of the installation, it will also be necessary to check whether other parts of the installation need to be replaced.
How to expand a photovoltaic solar energy installation.
The first step is, as always, to carry out a study to analyze which part of the installation needs to be expanded and if the rest of the elements are compatible with the new changes or not, in which case it will be necessary to proceed to their replacement. Remember that using specialized software for the design of solar installations can make this task much easier, saving time and avoiding the inclusion of components that are not compatible.
Step 1: Increase the number of solar panels.
As we have said, it is usually necessary to increase the number of solar panels, thus increasing the power of the installation to cover the new consumption. Normally the new panels can be combined with the old ones without any problems, but care must be taken to ensure that the voltage they generate is homogeneous.
A calculation should be made to estimate the number of new panels that are needed and to check if there is enough space to place them.
Step 2: calculation of the new current and voltage.
The new voltage and current levels must be calculated to verify that they are still compatible with the rest of the installation components.
In this regard, special attention should be paid to the charge regulator (if the installation has batteries) and check if it is sized for the new power or if it should be replaced by another one with more capacity.
Step 3: Inverter.
A similar procedure should be followed with the inverter, ensuring that it has the capacity for the new power of the installation or considering replacing it with one of higher power. If the model allows it, another option is to place another inverter in parallel to complement the one already installed.
This should be reviewed especially in cases where the increase in consumption is due to the addition of new appliances, machines or household appliances, as the inverter limits the number of elements that can be connected simultaneously.
Step 4: Batteries.
There are two options here: to add batteries to an installation that previously did not have them, or to expand the battery system that the installation already had. These are two very different cases so we will discuss them separately.
To add a battery system to a facility that previously did not have one, you will first need to perform the necessary calculations to estimate the capacity you want to back up the facility. This will determine how many batteries will be needed. In this case the inverter must be compatible with the batteries and the grid connection (hybrid inverter).
To expand an existing battery system, the recommendation is not to mix new and used batteries, since the wear and tear of the latter can affect the performance of the former. The expansion consists then in the replacement of the batteries by a new batch adjusted to the new needs of the installation.
The only exception to this recommendation is if lithium batteries are used, as this technology does allow modules to be added in parallel to increase storage capacity.
Design and expand photovoltaic installations in a simple way.
As we have mentioned during the article, the design of the installation and the choice of the components that make it up is fundamental for any work, whether it is a new construction or an expansion. There are tools such as Wattwin that allow you to perform these tasks in a simple and intuitive way, which also allow you to generate budgets quickly and facilitate the choice and substitution between compatible components.
