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CA_Traveler's avatar
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Jan 23, 2016

Understanding Solar Irradiance for Solar Panels

In another thread it was suggested that you could use the University of Arizona at Tucson solar data to determine the maximum expected solar panel output at that location. Using that data from 1/20/16...
road-runner's avatar
road-runner
Explorer III
Jan 24, 2016

They assume 1.1 DC/AC losses or 90% inverter efficiency, not 96%.
They also assume 100% controller efficiency.
PVWatts got a facelift last month, and some of the defaults changed. It's targeted strictly for grid-tie systems now, with no place provided for charge controller losses. An alternative to bundling the CC with inverter efficiency is to add it to the "system losses" line.

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