System overview

Telecommunication systems have become integral part of human daily lives.  With more and more area being covered, service providers are venturing into places where electricity is not available or is available erratically.  Solar power provides reliable and sustainable power to highly critical applications like telecommunications.  Solar panels produces electricity and stores into a battery bank, which is used to power the telecommunication repeaters.

 

Functions of different components



Solar panel: Converts sun light into electric current.   Rated in terms of peak watts produced.  Apex stocks panels from 10Wp to 185Wp (70WHr to 1,295WHr @ 7 Hr Irradiance).  For higher requirement, multiple panels are used which are connected in combination of parallel and series connections.



Solar charge controller: Regulates charging and discharging of the batteries to optimize the ‘retained charge’ of the batteries and maximize the life of the batteries.  Apex stocks controllers from 3Amps to 140 Amps (PV current or Load current).  Parallel connections of controllers for higher capacities is possible by using current sensors in the loop of master-slave combinations.  For SHS system with 1 panel, a controller of 12 Amps is sufficient.



Batteries: Reservoirs of charge current that is being produced by solar panels, batteries are connected in combination of series or parallel to match the system voltage.  Apex stocks batteries from 7Amps to 415Amps in different voltages.



Reliability: All the components are extremely reliable.  Solar panel usually has a life of over 30 years (crystalline types).  Inverter and charge controllers are also very reliable.  Batteries being deep cycle type would typically last 4-6 years after which they need replacement.



Viability: For areas where there isn’t access to electricity, solar is the only way to go.  For battery based system, per peak watt of installation has a cost of USD 8 – USD 10.  This produces usable power of about 5 watts (in good sunny weather).