Grid-Tied Solar Panel and Controller for Small Residential Applications

This paper presents a small photovoltaic system model to supply electricity to residential applications and reduce the electricity bill by reducing the dependence on the power utility company. The presented model includes a PV Silicon solar cells system with sun tracking capability, battery storage, a DC to AC inverter and a microcontroller. The system determines whether a certain residential load would be powered by the PV panel or the utility company. The PV system provides electrical energy to the residential load as the primary source of electricity. If the load demand exceeds the energy available by the photovoltaic system, the controller would switch on the utility power line to supply the load with the additional electricity required. If the load electricity demand dropped back below the energy available by the photovoltaic system, the controller would switch off the utility power line. The battery pack is used to store the excessive electrical energy for later use.