Solar Photovoltaic Basics, A Study Guide for the NABCEP Entry Level Exam by Sean White4324

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Solar energy
fundamentals
Chapter
14
SOLAR POWER
Measured in power per unit area and most often in watts per square
meter.
1000 watts per square meter is called “peak sun”, which is a typical sunny
day near noon.
SOLAR ENERGY
Since: power × time = energy
Then: solar power × time = solar energy
If we have peak sun conditions of 1000 watts per square meter for one hour,
then we have a “peak sun hour” or a “sun hour”.
Different locations have different amounts of solar energy. We often quantify
the amount of energy a location has in average peak sun hours per day.
Peak sun hours per day is also often called insolation. Insolation is incident
solar radiation.
Table 4.1 gives some insolation data for various locations when the solar collector
is tilted at a latitude tilt angle. (Latitude is the angular degrees from the
equator, which we will learn more about later in this chapter.)
PSH = Peak Sun Hour = 1kWh/m 2 /day at latitude tilt.