Photovoltaic Power Generation - Renewable Energy: Technology, Economics and Environment - page 277

Table 6.2 Selection of typical areas for photovoltaic applications (various sources)
Application area Application example Common nominal power in W

Small appliances
Consumer goods
Traffic engineering

Watches, calculators
Radios, vehicle ventilation, tools, lighting
Buoys, catoptric light, SOS-telephones, solar
mobiles, traffic lights, construction site sign-
posting, information panels
Cooling technology, irrigation
Satellite energy supply
Relays stations, repeater, emitter, mobile radio
Pumps for surface to subterranean waters,
water treatment and ventilation
Remote measuring stations, sewage-treatment
plant
Pasture fences, outdoor milking stations,
livestock waterers, fish pond ventilation
Cottages and houses, medical care stations,
small companies, remote energy supply
One or multiple families home, industrial and
municipal buildings
Individual power plants, hybrid systems,
hydrogen production

0.001 to 1
0.5 to 100
20 to 500

50 to 5,000
500 to 5,000
10 to 7,000
400 to 6,000
10 to 200,000
5 to 20,000
40 to 50,000
1,000 to 20,000
1,000 to more than 1,000,000

Foods/Health care
Astronautics
Communications
engineering
Water engineering

Environmental
engineering
Agriculture

Further stand-alone
systems
Grid-connected decen-
tralized applications
Photovoltaic power
plants

System concepts. Autonomous power supply systems are distinguished into
− photovoltaic systems with battery storage and
− photovoltaic systems with battery storage and additional power generator (so-
called hybrid systems).
Pure photovoltaic systems can only supply as much energy as supplied by the
photovoltaic plant due to the solar radiation. Useful energy quantities are thus
subject to fluctuations due to changing seasons and varying weather situations.
Hybrid systems, by contrast, ensure a more even energy supply.

PV

DC load

Charge
controller

Battery

Direct current
bus-bar

Fig. 6.25 Schematic of a photovoltaic system for supply of a direct current load or direct
current consumer application (PV photovoltaic generator, DC direct current)

Photovoltaic systems, applied, for instance, for household or small consumer
supply, generally consist of a solar generator, a charge controller and an energy
storage which are interconnected by a direct current bus-bar (Fig. 6.25). In most