How do you size a PV plant?

If you have sufficient roof and/or ground space available, your PV plant should be sized to meet your maximum energy demand during the day, taking into consideration your “Load Profile”.  The Load Profile is electricity consumption over a 24-hour period and will give you an idea of how much of your electricity consumption can potentially be met by an appropriately sized PV plant. 

The power actually produced by your PV panels will be a function of orientation (North facing is best), angel of the solar panel (broadly the angle of inclination is based on the site’s latitude) and potential shading of the panels.   Further, to improve the “efficiency” for your PV plant, you should “over panel” the system by as much as 30% (ratio of aggregate solar panel power to inverter power) in order to maximise PV energy production during the day.  This is because maximum solar panel energy production only happens for a relatively short period of the day and it is often impacted by clouds, soiling, etc. 

Thus, if your maximum demand during the day is 100kVa, you could size the inverter to 100kW and the solar panels to as much as 130kWp.

Sizing the PV system is determined by maximum demand, load profile, location, roof orientation and potential for shading.  We can assist you to determine the optimal size of your PV plant in order to maximise return on investment in the PV plant.