Development of a solar photovoltaic power system to generate electricity for office appliances

Abstract

In this paper a solar photovoltaic power supply system was developed to power office appliances. The system forms an alternative power source to the government own utility power supply in Nigeria, which is unreliable and epileptic in nature. It consists of photovoltaic array, mounting frame, storage device, inverter, charge controller and wiring system. The solar power system was tested in Akure, Nigeria (Latitude 7.15oN) and the results obtained showed a good performance of the system. The output of solar power system is a function of solar radiation. The power output was high between 10.00 and 16.00 hours, which corresponds to the period of high solar radiation and coincides with the office hours. An average solar power output of 334 watt was obtained during test, while the total load of office appliances carried by the system was 290 watt.