Solar PV and Battery: Full Engineering Workbench

Who it is for

Engineers and technical generalists who need a traceable first-pass design and a defensible comparison of PV and storage options before detailed design, procurement or a vendor quotation.

Stages

13

Estimated time

150 min

Level

Practitioner

• Write a design basis that later stages cannot quietly contradict.
• Build a load profile with a coincident peak and a critical-load subset for backup.
• Turn monthly irradiation into PV yield with explicit temperature, soiling, wiring, availability and clipping losses.
• Check string voltage, current, cable drop and breaker selection before specifying equipment.
• Size a battery for autonomy and daily cycling, then test it against a rule-based dispatch.
• Compare NPV, IRR, payback and LCOE across PV and BESS sizes without hiding infeasible options.
• Export a report that states assumptions, failed checks and unmodelled effects.

1. 01 Define the site and the design basis Fix the site, configuration, backup requirement, design life and study boundary before any number is computed. Introduction / 10 min
2. 02 Build the load profile Convert a listed load schedule into daily and annual energy, a diversified peak and a critical-load subset for backup. Calculation / 12 min
3. 03 Build the solar resource and PV yield Transpose monthly horizontal irradiation onto the array plane and compute hourly-shaped PV yield with explicit loss terms. Calculation / 14 min
4. 04 Configure the array Turn a target DC size into a whole-module layout and check the DC/AC ratio against the inverter. Calculation / 10 min
5. 05 Check the electrical design Check the string voltage window, current, DC and AC voltage drop, breaker selection and bill of materials. Calculation / 16 min
6. 06 Size the battery storage Size nominal and usable battery energy for autonomy and daily cycling, and estimate service life and replacement. Calculation / 14 min
7. 07 Dispatch the system hour by hour Run a rule-based hourly dispatch and read self-consumption, self-sufficiency, curtailment and unserved energy. Calculation / 14 min
8. 08 Decide the system architecture Choose DC- or AC-coupled storage and a grid-tied, hybrid or off-grid boundary, and record why. Decision / 10 min
9. 09 Build the financial case Compute CAPEX, OPEX, NPV, IRR, payback and LCOE, and test the result against deterministic sensitivities. Calculation / 14 min
10. 10 Compare PV and storage options Re-run yield, dispatch and economics for several PV/BESS sizes and reject options that fail the stated boundary. Comparison / 12 min
11. 11 Plan implementation Turn the design into a pre-construction checklist that names the responsible evidence for each item. Implementation / 10 min
12. 12 Commission and verify Define the tests that prove the installed system matches the design, and the measurements that would falsify it. Commissioning / 10 min
13. 13 Assemble the reviewed report Write the engineering narrative, apply the rubric, download the report and state the professional review still required. Capstone / 14 min

• Comfort with units: W, kW, kWh, A, V, %, and the difference between energy and power.
• A site and a load set you are willing to describe. No measured data is required, but every result inherits the quality of your inputs.
• Willingness to read the failed checks. A green summary does not mean the design is buildable.

Deliverable

A downloaded Markdown report plus JSON snapshot, a written narrative and a signed review statement.

Evidence model

Rubric against produced artifacts, not completion ticks

The workbench is deliberately deterministic. Measured weather files, shading, protection coordination, detailed structural design and probabilistic uncertainty belong to a later, reviewed phase.