Question: Do you try and find out how much power the solar panels can store?

Christine Coonick answered on 7 Mar 2016:

Thanks for the question. When I first started designing solar power systems 5 years ago they were for hospitals in countries like Ethiopia and Nigeria where they do not always have mains electricity like us in the UK. So the hospitals needed to have some form of energy storage (like batteries) to provide electricity during the night as well as during the day. It’s very interesting to look at how people use electricity in their homes or at school and then work out how big a solar panel array and how much battery capacity they will need to be 100% solar powered. In fact I use that scenario as one of the STEM activities for local schools.