The amount of sunshine on a horizontal surface at the equator is 5kWh/m2/day. Suppose a house is to run entirely off grid on solar electricity alone using a high performance silicon photovoltaic module with specifications shown below:
Maximum power = 210 W
Module power conversion efficiency = 16.4%
Open circuit voltage = 50.9 V
Short circuit current = 5.57 A
Width = 812 mm , Length = 1580 mm
Note: The surface of this photovoltaic module is entirely covered by solar cells.
a. Work out how many such photovoltaic modules would be needed and show your reasoning.
b. What is the total area of the modules used?
c. What other energy device must be included in the solar photovoltaic system for this household?