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Storage Battery and Back-up Engine Generators for Off-Grid PV Solar and Wind Systems
 

Off-grid PV solar and wind systems & Storage Battery Bank

Off-grid electric wind systems demand a battery bank: a set of batteries wired together to store energy in non-windy days. Similarly, PV solar systems also require a battery bank, to face wide periods of meager sun resources.

Battery
Size

These battery systems are usually sized to keep home electricity running for two or three non-windy days (in the case of wind systems), or, say, a week of non-sunny days (in the case of solar PV systems). But this depends deeply on the local wind and solar trends.


Types of batteries

BatteryLead-acid batteries are the most used batteries. The cheapest lead-acid batteries are the flooded type, though they have a disadvantage: they demand the addition of distilled water whenever there is a loss of water during their charging.

Sealed gel-cell batteries (freeze-resistant batteries) are a good choice in cold climates and in freezing spaces. Non-deep-cycle batteries aren’t suitable in wind and solar electric systems.


Battery storage lifetime

The typical lifetime of a battery storage system is around 6-10 years (depending on their type), which is much shorter than the lifetime of wind and PV solar systems. This implies that the storage battery bank has to be replaced during the life of wind and PV systems.


Backup engine-generators & Off-grid wind and pv solar systems

Backup engine generator for wind and solar systemsOff-grid wind and off-grid PV solar systems rarely run without an engine-generator fueled with gasoline, diesel, biodiesel or propane. This backup system is crucial for long non-windy and non-sunny periods, though they will typically run only for short periods: 100-200 hours per year, in most cases.


Sizing the battery and the backup fuel systems

Obviously, it is possible to size a solar or wind system and a battery bank to cover long adverse periods, largely dispensing the use of the backup fuel systems, but that doesn’t make economic sense. Eventually, if you want to privilege as much as possible renewable energy sources, hybrid energy systems are a good option: wind and PV solar hybrid systems may minimize the use of the backup fuel system.

 
 





See also:
Basics on Wind electric generators
Wind Maps and data
Stand alone systems
Wind power generators technology


 
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