Solar microgrids are small power stations that are independent of the national grids. These get their power from solar panels to transmit electricity to a home or more homes. With solar microgrids, it is now possible for villages to have their own power source and stop relying on the national grids.
Solar microgrids are the future of electricity supply to people who are out of the national grid or the communities, which do not want to rely on the national electricity supply. These can actually be referred to as solar microgrid energy islands because they can be independent of the national grids.
Well, the solar microgrids can actually be connected to the national grids so that they can supply any excess energy that they produce. There are a number of things that you need to know about solar microgrids. Here are 3 things you need to know about these independent power suppliers:
Understanding the types of microgrids
There are many reasons behind setting up a microgrid. Mostly, these supply power to companies that are off-grid and they require a constant power supply for their operations. Base stations owned by telecom companies require running all the time. These could run through solar microgrids as this is the most effective way to get electricity supply in remote areas.
There are single, buildings such as hospitals, fire stations, and schools that could also be away from the national electricity grid. These could easily run with the use of a solar a microgrid.
Communities could also get power supply from solar microgrids. One solar microgrid can comfortably supply electricity to at least 100 households. This is one of the ways many communities get the power supply in the developing countries.
Microgrids rely on efficient battery storage development
For a solar microgrid to be functional there must be efficient batteries to store the solar charge. This is the key component of renewable energy. The kind of batteries in the market today requires more time and a ray of solar panels for them to recharge effectively. As such, more needs to be done for the development of efficient batteries that can store charge in the shortest time possible. For this reason, many solar microgrids have many batteries installed so that they can charge and store energy when the sun shines. This energy converts into electricity for use when the solar panels are not charging, especially at night or when the sun’s not shining.
Challenges with solar microgrids
There are a number of challenges that come with setting up microgrids. They are quite expensive. In the case of solar microgrids, one would require a lot of money to buy the solar panels and the batteries. Transmission of the power from the microgrids to the end consumer is also not an easy task. As such, one needs to know the costs of setting up the solar microgrids vis a vis the benefits that they will get. Interconnecting the microgrids with the national electricity grids is also an expensive thing. One needs to be aware of these challenges before they can set up these electricity power stations.
Article Submitted by Community Writer.