Designing a small Solar Power Cost effective Power station designed to run a small domestic refrigeration Freezer at high latitudes is proving to be difficult. Compromises have to be struck due to the main problem of a total lack of sunlight during the winter months and an over abundance of sunshine (by comparison) during the summer months.
The idea was to run a 8 cubic feet Freezer in the garage using a 240 Watt PV array, a MPPT solar regulator and 200 Ahr Battery with a 350 Watt Pure sine wave inverter without getting into some seriously ridiculous expenditure.
The Freezer is going to be a Vestfrost SE255 A++ 9 ft³ Chest Freezer.
http://www.alexanders-direct.co.uk/acatalog/Elcold_Glass_Lid_Freezers.htmlI have decided against DC Refrigeration operation as AC would be more flexible (Grid power will still be needed during the winter months and it also reduces DC cabling costs i.e. more flexibility over where the PV station and the Freezer are to be sited and the additional summer PV generation means I can also run other devices such as a large panel LCD TV, lighting or a computer etc during the summer months due to the solar energy excess)
Solar inputs/power availability can be calculated over the year from this helpful tool;
http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps/pvest.php?lang=en&map=europe&app=gridconnectedand I put the data generated into a spreadsheet. The areas in Red background show the deficit between the load and the supplied energy available.
The conclusion is that the Freezer can only be run for 8 months of year off grid. Is a partial off grid solution just to much of a compromise?
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