What is the solar panel installation cost in India?

Solar panel-related problems, such as poor performance, shadowing issues, or panel failure, are often in the spotlight. According to many professional installers, if a solar panel is not installed correctly, you may encounter numerous problems in a few days, months, or years.

We will provide important information about solar power systems, their components, the average cost of solar panel installation, and much more in this article.

Solar Energy System And Its Components

A solar energy system, also known as a solar panel system, is a combination of various parts placed in a certain order to help with the generation of solar power and its secured delivery to power house appliances.

A solar energy system is composed of four main parts that determine how well it functions.

Solar Panel

Solar Inverter

Solar Battery

Mounting structures

DC and AC combiner boxes

Installation Accessories

There are three main categories of solar systems:

On-grid Solar System: Systems with on-grid solar panels are connected to the grid. They are battery-free.

Off-grid Solar System: Batteries are used in off-grid solar panel installations. They don’t have a grid connection.

Hybrid Solar System: In addition to having batteries, hybrid solar panel systems are linked to the grid.

Out of these three, the on-grid solar system is widely used for residential installations in India.

Let’s discuss all the main components of a solar power system.

Solar Panels

Solar panels also referred to as solar modules, collect sunlight and convert it into electric power. The current generation will be in the form of DC power.

There are three types of solar panels:

Polycrystalline panels: These have an efficiency range of 16% to 17% and are made of many silicon crystals. About Rs. 25.5/watt is what poly panels are now selling for on the market.
Monocrystalline panels: These have an efficiency between 19% and 20% and are composed of a single silicon crystal. Mono panels are currently available on the market for about Rs. 30 per watt.
Bifacial panels: Both the front and the back of them are made of mono cells. They are the most expensive and most effective types. Their effectiveness level can reach 22%. Bifacial panels are currently available on the market for between Rs. 33 and Rs. 36 per watt.

There’s another kind, known as a thin-film panel. Its effectiveness is not very high. As a result, it’s not widely used in the Indian solar panel market.

Note: The prices mentioned about can vary from place to place.

Solar Inverter

Your solar system won’t function properly and won’t be a useful model if you don’t have a solar inverter. Why? That’s because the solar inverter converts direct current (DC) energy into alternating current (AC). Home appliances can only be powered by AC current.

String inverters and micro-inverters are the two most common types of solar inverters. The second is more expensive and uses the most recent technologies. Therefore, the type of inverter you select will affect the cost of installing a solar system.

There is also a device called Solar Charge Controller which are the converters that convert normal inverters into the solar inverter.

Solar Battery

A solar battery the component that stores electricity and runs loads when the grid is turned off is.

Mounting structures

The mounting structures are the first item in the line. They have solar panels mounted on top of them. They can be divided into two categories:

– Mounting structures made of hot-dip galvanised steel for an RCC roofing

– Mounting systems for aluminium rails on rooftops with metallic sheets

For an RCC rooftop, a mounting structure of 6 to 8 feet is typically used. The probability of shadows covering the panels reduces the increasing mounting structure heights.

Storm-proofing the panels requires mounting infrastructure that can endure strong winds. The pre-fabricated mounting structures are the best in their class.

DC and AC combiner boxes

In a DC combiner box, DC cables carrying the DC current must be isolated.

Please keep in mind that the DC wires may be carrying up to 1000 volts of electricity. So, isolation is necessary. For this use, only MC4 connectors are used.

An AC combiner box must be used to isolate AC cables carrying AC current. This is critical in order to provide essential surge protection.

The height of the building may have a significant impact on the cable length. More than twice as much cable is needed for a three-story house than for a one-story house. As a result, there will be variations in the price of installing solar panels.

Furthermore, for the safe transmission of electric current, the AC and DC wires are carefully installed inside conduit pipes. This factor also affects the cost of installing solar panels.

Other than that:

-A lightning arrester is included, and it should be placed at least one metre above the solar panels.

-The distance between earthing rods must be 2 to 3 metres.

It is done for 6ft. to 10ft.
1kW to 3kW: 2 earthing. One is for Inverter, and one is for Lighting Arrester (LA).
Above 3kW: 3 earthing. One for Inverter, one for Lighting Arrester, and one for PV Modules.

There are plenty of tools which is used for normal electrical works at home that are required for solar panels installation too such as hammers, spanners, testers, grinders, drill machines etc.,