International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)

ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-8, Issue-6, August 2019

Designing and Installation of 4KWp On-Grid

Solar PV Plant: A Case Study of an Academic
Institute
Shariq Ayjaz Mohammed, Mohd Abdul Khalid, Syed Mohammed Uddin, Mohd Mustafa Mohiuddin Khan

 As mentioned earlier, India has target set by the government

Abstract: This paper presents designing and installation of
4kW(peak) On-Grid Rooftop solar PV Plant for an academic
institute in Hyderabad, a city situated in south of India. This
system has been designed and installed for partial saving of
electricity using solar panels, charge controller and inverter. This
work involves theoretical analysis along with the installation of
the PV system based on annual electricity bill of the building.
Simple techniques of designing are presented, also a new
interconnection scheme of modules forming arrays is also
proposed. Finally financial analysis is carried out, payback period
and return on Investments (ROI) are calculated and found to be
profitable.
Keywords: Solar photovoltaic plant, Installation, Design
I. INTRODUCTION
Photovoltaic (PV) systems have emerged an vital option for
generating electrical energy. India is implementing one of the
words largest program in PV production[1]. The aggregate
capacity by the end of year 2019 is 38 GW. Overall, the
country is estimated to add nearly 16 GW of clean energy
capacity in 2019[3], driven by large-scale solar projects.
Central government has set a target of 100GW by the end of
year 2022 to meet county’s goal under Paris climate
agreement. India has an estimated renewable energy potential
of about 900 GW from commercially exploitable sources viz.
Wind–102 GW; Small Hydro–20 GW; Bio-energy–25 GW;
and 750 GW solar power[2].
of 100 GW by end of 2022, this can be difficult to achieve if
we only depend on large-scale installation because there are
several issues of the empty land required as day-by-day India
is developing. This problem can be solved if every citizen
installs a solar power plant on its roof (Rooftop installation)
and hence target of 100 GW can be achieved easily.
For this case study academic institution Steinbeis Skills 2e,
Hyderabad, India is considered. This site is situated at
17.38˚N Latitude and 78.48˚E Longitude having average
solar radiation 5.44 kWh/m2/day and about 300 sunny days
per year. This plant provides power for commercial as well as
to Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company
Limited (TSSPDCL) is the Electricity Distribution company
owned by the Government of Telangana for the Five
Southern Districts of Telangana. Complete layout,
construction designing and installation details are discussed
here. The schematic of the power flow is represented in fig 1
shown below. Theoretical analysis for designing and
installing of the solar PV Plant are incorporated to make
designing simple and easy.

Thus India has tremendous scope of generating solar energy.

Solar power generation alone can tackle more than 60 to 65%
of our entire need of power. But solar industry requires
supportive polices for its continuous growth. In our country,
Investors are keen enough toward this sector thereby
contributing to the development.

Fig 1 Diagram of 4KWp On Grid Power Plant

Revised Manuscript Received on August 1, 2019.
Students of Power Electronic Systems, Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, MJCET, Osmania University, India.
Shariq Ayjaz Mohammed, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India.
shariqayjaz20@gmail.com
Mohd Abdul Khalid, Department of Electrical Engineering, Muffakham
Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India.
mdkhalid480@gmail.com
Syed Mohammeduddin, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India.
syedmohammeduddin236@gmail.com
Mohd Mustafa Mohiuddin Khan, Department of Electrical
Engineering, Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology,
Hyderabad, India.
mohdmustafa619@gmail.com
II. METHODOLOGY
The design of PV System depends on solar irradiance,
orientation and inclination of solar panels, inverter quality,
etc. Theoretical load calculations can be done for the entire
building by considering no. of units and total no of operating
hours but instead of load calculations, the annual electricity
bill which shows no. of units consumed during each month
through that year is considered. Table 1 shows the data for
units consumed each month
during one year. The average
of the data is is around 800

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 Designing and Installation of 4KWp On-Grid Solar PV Plant: A Case Study of an Academic Institute

Units. The contracted load or the sanctioned load is 5KW for MPPT Range 175-800 V
the considered building floor. The solar policy of the state has Maximum Voltage 850 V
to be studied before selection of plant capacity i.e. for (Voc Inv)
Telangana state for commercial building the solar plant is Short Circuit Current 18 A
upto 80% of the sanctioned load whereas it is 100% for (Isc Inv)
domestic. Table 2 Technical Specifications of Selected On-Grid
Inverter
Month Units
B. Selection of Solar Panels
January 665 The ratio of how much DC capacity (the quantity and
wattage of solar panels) is installed to the inverter’s AC
February 652 power rating is called the DC-to-AC ratio, or DC load ratio,
over sizing ratio or overloading ratio, etc[4]. For example, a
March 791 120 kW DC array with a 100 kW AC inverter has a
DC-to-AC ratio of 1.2. It often makes sense to oversize a
April 1052 solar array, such that the DC-to-AC ratio is greater than 1.
Generally DC-to-AC ratio is taken 10 to 13% and also
May 1039 depends on different locations.

June 1087 𝐷𝐶
= 1 𝑡𝑜 1.3
𝐴𝐶
July 987
𝐷𝐶
August 983 = 1.10 (𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 10%)
4𝐾𝑊

September 619 Thus DC = 4.4 KWp

October 687
Thus 4.4 KWp is solar plant Capacity.
November 557 There are variety of solar panels available in the market. For
this site Waree solar i.e. of 250 Wp polycrystalline panel is
December 539 chosen. Table 3 shows the technical specifications of the
solar panel chosen.
Average 804.83
Nominal Maximum Power 250
Table 1 Consumption as per Annual Electricity Bill (Pm) in Watts
Power tolerance 0/+5W

Commercial Buildings= 80% of Sanctioned Load Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) 37

=80% of 5KW in Volts
Short Circuit Current (Isc) in 8.96
= 4KW
Amps
Thus 4KW SPV plant can be installed. Voltage at Maximum Power 31
(Vmp) in Volts
Current at Maximum Power 8.12
A. Selection of Inverter
(Imp) in Amps
Solar grid-connected inverter is chosen according to plant
Maximum System Voltage 1000
capacity that we have calculated above. In on-grid systems
in Volts
the inverter’s sizing should be same as above but not over
sized according to government policy (can be oversized if Module Efficiency (%) 15.40
system is off-grid type).Thus 4KW inverter has to be chosen Maximum Series Fuse 15
according to above statement, for this site we have chosen Rating (A)
Delta inverter which is Chinese brand. The technical
Table 3 Technical Specifications of Selected Solar Panel
specifications of this inverter is shown in table 2.

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 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-8, Issue-6, August 2019

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 ′ 𝑠 𝐷𝐶 𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 Thus for Ө=20°; Width(W)= 1.96 m

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠 =
𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙′ 𝑠𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑂𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒
=
4.4 KWp
= 18 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠 sin(Ө) =
250 𝑊𝑝 𝐻𝑦𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑒
𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(ℎ)
No of panels that can be connected in single string or in series  sin(20°) = 1.96 𝑚
is given by

Voc of Inverter h=0.67m

= Vmp of selected solar panel
580 V
∴ 31 𝑉
 19 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠
This must be less than or equal to total no. of panels else
another string must be added. But our calculated totals panels
are 18 i.e. less than 19 and hence we can connect all 18 panels
in single string.
As we can see from inverters specification that no of MPP
trackers are given as 2 inputs (but one is enough in this case
as we have single string).Thus other MPP tracker input is
kept dummy.
Another important aspect is to check that total Voc of that
panel should be less than maximum input of the inverter (here
850v)
Thus the panel is placed at 0.6m height.
D. Interconnection of Solar Panels
Conventionally solar panels are interconnected in series side
by side i.e. positive of one panels is connected to negative of
next panel. In this paper new technique is proposed to
connect panels i.e. economically saving the additional dc
cable required. This technique is used to connect panels in
single string with string output from panels to DCDB/AJB
where it is kept near to one side of the string. The
conventional technique and the proposed technique are
shown in fig 3 and fig 4 respectively. The dashed line in
conventional diagram shows the extra amount of cable is
used whereas in proposed technique, this is rectified.

Voc of single module x Tot no. of panels in string  Voc Inv

37 V x 18  850 V
= 666V
Thus 666 V is obtained (which less than 850 V) and is safe
for inverter as it is less than its Voc.

C. Installation of Solar Panels

Important aspect before installing a solar panel as per layout Fig 3 Interconnection of solar panels to form a string
is to place the panel in the right direction and tilting the panel -Conventional Technique
accordingly so as to obtain maximum power from it. As site
is located in India which is in Northern hemisphere, the
direction of the panel would be towards true south (towards
equator).Tilt angle of panels are decided by latitude angle of
the location i.e. for this site 17.38˚N  20˚ (after addition of
correction angles) is taken as reference angle from the base as
shown in fig 2.We want to calculate the height ‘h’, and ‘w’
represents the width of the panel (w can be taken from solar
panel’s datasheet or can be measured).

Fig 4 Interconnection of solar panels to form a string

-Proposed Technique

In the proposed technique, first the terminals which are

Fig 2 Illustration of Tilt angle of Solar Panel
closest to the AJB/DCDB are connected/selected (If
connected then fuse contacts should be opened first), then the
alternate panels are connected as shown example: 1st positive
is connected to negative of 3rd panel and so on and the last
and last second panel should be connected side-by-side. The
only drawback of this technique is that it cannot be applied to
even no. of panels; instead they can be placed in two rows to
achieve closer distance to
DCDB.

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 Designing and Installation of 4KWp On-Grid Solar PV Plant: A Case Study of an Academic Institute
E. Financial Analysis
The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission
(TSERC) has approved net metering for solar rooftop
customers in the state with systems ranging from 1 kW to 1
MW.Here the state government is set to buy power at Rs 3.50
per unit.Net metering scheme is shown in fig 5 where export
means solar panel to grid and import means consumption
from grid i.e. DISCOM.
Fig 5 Illustration of Net Metering Scheme
Energy from Solar Power Plant
Average Units Consumed Per Month
= 804.83 KW hr/Month
Average Units Consumed Per Day
=26.82 KW hr/Day
No of Units generated by SPV Plant
= 4 KW x 0.8 x Sun Hours of Location
=17KW hr/Day (Sun hours for Hyderabad is taken as 5.31)
Thus for 1 KW, panel will generate about 4 to 5 Units per
Day
Therefore for 1 Month =17 x 4 = 510 Units
Calculation of Import
Units consumed = 804.83 KW hr/Month
Units Generated =510 KW hr/Month
Import = 294.83 KW hr
From section LT(II) B of TSPDCL which is state’s
DISCOM, the Tariff rate for commercial consumers is
From 0-100 Units = Rs 7.5 and 100-300 =Rs 8.90
From above, the charges which has to be paid to the
Government is Rs 2485.5
Monthly Savings Calculation:
804.83 units at governments tariff rate is Rs 7460
Therefore savings = 7460- 2485.5 = Rs 4974.5
Total Plant Cost = Rs 2.4 Lacks
Assuming savings 5k per month will be Rs 60,000 per year
Payback period calculates the time period to get back our
invested money on installing solar plant. It defines as
Total Plant Cost or Capital cost
Payback period =
Yearly savings
2.4 lac
=4
60,000
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Thus it would take 4 years to get back our invested money.
To know the profit of the plant we use Return on my
Investment (ROI) which shows the profitability index of our
plant, it is given as
Capital savings – Capital Cost
ROI =
Capital Cost
15 lac −2.4 lac
= 5.25
2.4 lac
Thus this SPV is 5.25 times the initial investment.
III. CONCLUSION
The simple designing and installation techniques for
4 kWp On-Grid plant is studied. Below fig 6 shows the photo
of SPV plant after installation. The plant is supplying about
500 KWh per month. A new technique for interconnection of
panels is proposed and found that it is advantageous in saving
the length of DC cable to some extent. Finally, financial
analysis is carried out and found that payback period of the
plant is 4 years and also Return on Investment is about 5.25
times the initial investment.
Fig 6 Photo of 4 KWp On-Grid SPV Plant after Installation
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We like to thank our trainer Mr. Hari Krishna who helped
us through the installation and also 2e Skills (Steinbeis
Academy for Advanced Technical Training, Hyderabad) for
providing technical data and equipments for installation.
REFERENCES
1. D.P Kothari, Renewable Energy Sources and Emerging Technologies.
New Delhi,India:PHI Learning Pvt Ltd., 2011.
2. https://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/annual-report/2015-2016/EN/Chapter
%201/chapter_1.htm#44
3. https://qz.com/india/1519929/india-will-add-a-record-level-of-solar-po
wer-capacity-in-2019/
4. https://new.abb.com/docs/librariesprovider117/default-document-librar
y/solar-inverters/solar_power_world-article.pdf?sfvrsn=80a7614_4
AUTHORS PROFILE
Shariq Ayjaz Mohammed received the B.E degree in
electrical and electronics engineering with honors from
the Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, in 2017.He is
currently perusing Masters in Power electronic systems
from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.
His research interests include design, modeling, and
control of power electronics converters,
renewable energy systems and
Published By:
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
 International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-8, Issue-6, August 2019

grid-connected transformerless photovoltaic systems.

Mohd Abdul Khalid is currently pursuing M.E (Power

Electronic System) from Muffakham Jah College of
Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad. He Received his
B.E Degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from
Osmania University, Hyderabad.
His area of interest include Power Electronics Converters for
Solar PV Systems, Digital Technology and Hosting websites

Syed Mohammed Uddin is currently pursuing M.E.

(Power Electronics systems) from Muffakham Jah College
of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad. He Received
his B.E Degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from
Osmania University, Hyderabad.
His area of interest is FACTS Devices, Renewable Energy, Power
jElectronics and Power Systems.

Mohd Mustafa Mohiuddin Khan is currently pursuing

M.E (Power Electronics systems) from Muffakham Jah
College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad. He
Received his B.Tech. Degree in Electrical & Electronic
Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University, Hyderabad.
His area of interest is FACTS Devices, Renewable Energy, Power
Electronics and Embedded Systems.

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Published By:
DOI: 10.35940/ijeat.xxxxx.xxxxxx Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
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