INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT IN Volume-7,Issue-3 (Mar-17)

TECHNOLOGY ISSN (O) :- 2349-3585

DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER

SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A
CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL CENTRE FOR REMOTE
SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Ale Felix1, Agboola Olufemi2, Abdullahi Ayegba3, Inumoh L. Oyedeji4
1234
Department of Engineering and Space Systems
National Space Research and Development Agency, Abuja,
Department of Electrical/Electronic, University of Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract:Solar power system is a power system which is
made up of solar panels, storage batteries, charge controller
and inverter although not in all cases. A satellite ground
station receives, sends, receives/sends information to and
from a satellite in space, hence a need for it to have a
constant power supply. As a result of regular power outage
in almost every part of the country presently, there is need to
provide an alternative power supply which will be reliable,
the aim in which this research work is aimed to achieve.The
design includes the mathematical sizing of the components
(solar panels, storage batteries, charge controller and
inverter) of the solar power system as well as carrying out of
simulation using PVGIS simulation software. The
simulation indicates that the average power generated in the
months of July and August will be less than the average
monthly power, hence a need for disconnecting less
important loads to make the generated power available for
very important loads in those months to prevent sudden
power shut down.
Keywords: Solar modules, PVGIS, Inverter, Ground station.
1.INTRODUCTION
Energy is an essential and integral ingredient for socio-
economic and technological development of a nation (Oladeji,
2012).According to an online publication by Energy
Information Administration (2007), the Nigerian power sector
operates well below its estimated installed capacity, with
power outages being a frequent occurrence. “Nigeria can
surmount her energy problems, if she judiciously and
effectively harnesses her renewable energy potentials, which
are well-abound in the country” (Oladeji, 2014).To
compensate for the power outages, the commercial and
industrial sectors and majority of populace are increasingly
using privately operated diesel and petrol generators to supply
electricity. This is however dangerous to both human health
and ecology. Many people have been reported dead for
inhaling carbon monoxide, while using generators overnight,
especially during the dry season (Oladeji, 2011). Power
subsystem of a ground station is the ground station subsystem
that is responsible for the provision of electrical energy for the
operation of other subsystems such antenna subsystem,
transmitter subsystem, and receiver subsystem.Photovoltaic
power system is the power generated from a solar panel or the
arrangement of two or more solar panels when the light from
the sun falls on it. PV cells produce electricity by absorbing
photons and releasing electrons that can be captured in the
form of an electric current (Knier, 2011). Solar radiation
which is the total amount of energy reaching the earth’s
surface from the sun is affected by atmospheric attenuation
such as cloud cover and water. Also, on the ground, factors
like topography, slope and orientation affect the amount of
radiation reaching the surface (Kang, Kin and Lee 2002). Fig.
1 shows the block diagram of the solar photovoltaic systems
components.
Fig. 1: Block diagram of Solar PV system

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Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

2.Materials and method


E C ( Ah )
x Ds
--------------2
Materials: The materials are divided into software and PV B RC
DODmax x  temp.
system hardware components.The methodology shall
Where DODmax = Depth of discharge (the percentage of the
comprise the; I. mathematical estimation of the daily energy
battery energy used during a single discharge cycle), Ds =
demand of the entire loads and the components sizing and II.
Days of autonomy, such that there may be no sunlight
Simulation of the system using software called PVGIS
charging the batteries but will still work, EC(Ah) is the daily
2.2. Mathematical estimation of the daily energy demand
energy capacity in Ampere-hour and ηtemp is the temperature
of the entire loads and the component sizing.
correction factor, is taken here to be 90%.Also, the daily
2.2.1 The daily load profile: This deals with the calculation
energy demand in Ampere-hour, EC(Ah) is the sum of the
of all the equipment at the ground station, their power
daily energy demand and the margin or allowance of 25%.
consumption and the total number of hours they will operate
This is to take care of some losses, and inefficiencies and is
per day. In this, the power input of each appliance (in Watt) is
calculated using;
multiplied by the period of operation per day (in Hour) to get
E C ( Ah )
 Ed ( Ah ) x 1.25 ------------------------- 3
the energy demand of the device in Watt-hour. The total watt-
In addition, the daily energy in Ampere-hour is calculated
hours of all the appliances will be added to obtain the overall
using the formula given as;
energy demand of the loads.
E d (Wh / day)
n
E d ( Ah )  ------------- 4
Mathematically, energy demand, Ed(wh/day) = P x H
n 1
 power conversion x Vsystem
----1
Where P = power rating of each component, H = number of Where Vsystem is the system voltage, η power conversion

hours of operation per day and n = number of electrical loads efficiency is taken in this design to be 90%.

or appliances. Note: The system voltage is the voltage required by the largest

2.3 Component sizing: load.

It deals with determining the accurate size of the components 2. Determining the total number of batteries: The total

of the solar PV systems such battery, solar panels, inverter, number of battery is the combination of batteries in series and

charge controller, and the connecting cables, based on the load in parallel. The total number of batteries is calculated as the

profiles. ratio of the required battery capacity to the capacity of the

2.3.1 Battery sizing: This deals with determining the required battery selected. It is given mathematically as;

capacity of the power that can power the load as well as the BRC
BNumber  --------------------5
total number of batteries to be used for the installation. BC (Selected )
Batteries help to store the energy generated from the sun by Where BRC is the calculated battery capacity from equation
the solar panel. This stored energy is used when there is little (5) and BC(selected) is the capacity (Ah-rating) of the selected
or no solar light such as cloudy days. Batteries are used on battery.
most individual systems, such as solar homes and mobile 3.Determining the number of batteries in series:The
applications. There are many types of batteries that can be combination or connection of batteries in series is to increase
used to supply the power including lead-acid, nickel cadmium, the voltage of the system. It is determined using;
and nickel zinc.
VSystem
The steps in battery sizing are: NBSeries  -------------------6
Vbattery
1. Determining the required battery capacity: The capacity
of the battery is calculated using the formula; 4. Determining the number of batteries in parallel: This
allows the increase is current of the system. The number of
batteries in parallel is determined using;

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Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA
BNumber
NB parallel  ----------------------------7
NBSeries
2.3.2 PV panel array sizing: This deals with determining the
total number of panels or modules needed as well as the
numbers required for the series and parallel connection in
order to get the required power output. Solar modules are used
to convert solar energy from the sun lights to DC electrical
energy this energy is used for charging the batteries which can
be used when there is no sunlight or when there insufficient
sunlight falling on the modules. During the day time, the
energy from the solar modules can be directly used by the load
when converted from dc to ac using an inverter. Orientation of
the panel, the panel faces the north if location is in southern
hemisphere, and face south if it is in northern hemisphere.
Inclination of the panel is gotten from; tilt angle = lat angle x
0.87 for location of latitude less than 250, tilt angle = Lat x
0.76 + 3.1 for latitude between 250 – 500.
The steps for solar array sizing are;
1. Calculation of daily energy required from the modules:
The daily energy required from the modules is calculated
using;
Ed ( wh / day)
E Re quired  --------------8
 Battery Inverter Controller
Where η Battery, η Iverter and ηController are the efficiencies
of battery, inverter and charge controller respectively. In this
design, η Battery, η Iverter and ηController are taken as 85%,
90% and 90% in that order.
2. Calculation of average peak power (highest power) of
the module: Average peak power of the module is the ratio of
the required energy from the solar modules to the duration of
daily sunshine. It is calculated using the formula given as;
E Re quired
PAv .( peak)  ---------------------------------
TSun
9 work
Tsun is the duration in which the sunlight will be available for
the solar cells to charge the batteries, and to power the
necessary equipment during the daytime.
3. Calculation of system DC current as: System direct
current is current that can be supplied by the solar arrays. It is
calculated using the formula given as;
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PAv .( peak)
I dc  --------------------------------10
Vdc( system)
4. Calculation of number of Modules
a.Number of series modules: The number of series modules
is calculated using the formula given as;
Vdc( system)
M series  ---------------- 11
Vrated mod ule
Where Vdc(system) is the voltage of the system and Vrated
module is the rated voltage of the selected solar module.
b. Number of parallel modules: The Number of parallel
modules is calculated using the formula given as;
I dc
M Parallel  ------------------ 12
I rated mod ule
c.Total number of modules or panels: Total number of
modules or panels is obtained from the product of the number
of series modules and the number of parallel modules.
Mathematically, it is given as;Total number of modules,
M Number  M Series x M Parallel ------------------13
d. Calculation of power rating of each panel;The power
rating of each panel can be gotten by taking the ratio of the
total solar panel power required at the peak (i.e. peak power
(Wp)) to the number of panel in series. The result is then
divided by the number of panels in parallel. That is;
Total panel power (Wp) ----14
Panel parallel power 
Number of pannel in series
Now, to get the power for each panel, this result is divided by
the number of panels in parallel. That is;
Panel each power 
Panel series power ------15
Number of pannel in parallel
Alternatively, the total power rating of each solar panel can be
gotten by directly taking the ratio of the total solar panel
power to the total number of cells. The above steps were used
for simplicity and clarification to any future reader of this
Thus, total series power is now;
Powerseries  Panel each power x number of panels in series
---------- 16
2.3.3 Inverter sizing: An inverter is an electrical device or
equipment used for converting dc power to ac power. This
ISSN:-2349-3585 |www.ijrdt.org
Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

allows the output voltage of 220V to be obtained from the 12v
or 24v dc. The sizing of inverter is done by determining the
power of the inverter. The inverter power is the sum of the
power of the inductive loads and the power of the non-
inductive loads, and the tolerance of 25% added. The
inductive load power is multiplied by a factor 3 to take care of
the takeoff or startup power of the inductive (coil) loads.
Theformulais;
PowerInverter  1.25( PNoninductive  3PInductive ) --------------
17
2.3.4 Charge controller sizing: Charge controller is a device
that regulates the “coming” into the battery from the solar
panels arrays. This allows no more energy or power to the
batteries from the solar modules when it is fully charged, or
allows the batteries to start charging whenever part of the
stored energy is used. The sizing of the charge controller is to
determine the correct amperage or current rating of the
controller and is done using the formula;
CC Amperage  I sc( panel) x M parallel x Safety factor -----------18
Vdrop  4% x VSystem ------------------21b
Voltage drop of 4% is always recommended for such design
Between the charge controller and the battery, the maximum
current is the current rating of the charge controller which is
the CC Amperage  I sc( panel) x M parallel x Safety factor ------- 22a
Vdrop  4% x VSystem -------------------------------- 22b
Between inverter and load,
I phase 
InverterKVA ( KW ) --------------- 23a
VOutput x 3
Vdrop  4% x VOutput( Inverter ) -----------------------23b
For each of these, the size of the cable will be gotten in terms
of area (mm2).
2.4. PVGIS software:The PVGIS (photovoltaic Geographical
Information Systems) software is a computer package for the
study, sizing and data analysis PV systems such as standalone,
grid connected and hybrid systems. It works with
meteorological database as well as solar energy tools. When

The safety factor is usually between 20 to 30% but 25% is the information such as latitude and longitude of the location,

used throughout in this work. battery capacity, depth of discharge, daily electrical

2.3.5 CABLE SIZING: Cables are used to connect one consumption of all the appliances, orientation, inclination,

component to the other. The size of cables used is based on the total load power, etc, it will display the graph of the amount of

length between the two components. This involves calculating power that can be expected each month of the year. It will also

the maximum current that the cable will convey, the maximum show the average production per day over the whole year.

voltage drop across the cable, and the hence the cross- With this, the worst case which the month with the lowest

sectional area of the cable.The size (cross-sectional area) of power production will be used to re-adjust my components

the cable is calculated using; estimation in order not to encounter any insufficient power
supply from the system any point in time.
e.L.I
A x2 ------------------------19
Vd
For the current and voltage drop,
Between the solar arrays and the charge controller, the
maximum current is based on the number of panels in parallel.

Vdrop  4% x VOutput( Pannels) --------------------20a

I max  n.I system( paralleloutput) -----------------20b
Between the battery bank and inverter,
InverterKVA ( KW )
I max 
 Inverter x VSystem
-----21a

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Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

3.Results and discussions

Table 1: Estimated daily (8.00am to 5.00pm) energy demand of the ground station
S/N Load Rated Quantity Period of Power per Energy per
power (W) use per day day for each day for each
(Hr) load (W) load (Whr)
1 Fans 65 3 9 195 1755
2 Lighting bulbs 14 6 9 84 756
3 Desktop 125 5 9 625 5625
computers
4 Laptops comp. 65 5 9 325 2925
5 Flat screen TV 80 1 9 80 720
6 Handsets 2.5 20 6 50 90
7 Sat. receiver 25 1 9 25 225
8 Transceiver 150 1 9 150 1350
9 Modem 100 1 9 100 900
10 Filter 50 1 8 50 400
11 Power amp 100 1 8 100 800
12 Pre-amp 10 1 8 10 80
13 Terminal node 5 1 8 5 40
controller
14 Azimuth rotator 10 1 8 10 80
15 Motor controller 20 1 8 20 160

Total 1829 16116

Table 2: Battery parameters

The power per day for each load is obtained by multiplying Battery conversion efficiency = 90%, System voltage = 24v,
the power rating of each load by the number or quantity of the Battery depth of discharge = 45%. Thus the minimum state of
load. Also, the energy per day for each load is obtained by charge (SOC) of the batteries will be 55%.
multiplying the power per day for each load by the period or
duration in which the load will operate in a day.Therefore, S/N Parameters Value
adding all the energy per day for each load gives the total 1 Selected battery 200Ah
energy demand per day. Hence the total power demand per capacity
2 Required battery 4,800Ah
day is 1829W and the total energy demand per day is
capacity
16116Whr. 3 No of days of autonomy 2 days
4 No of batteries required 24
5 No of batteries in series 2
6 No of batteries in 12
parallel
7 Battery nominal voltage 12v

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Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Table 3: Solar array parameter contact with the satellite, the system was designed to operate
Sunshine duration for the site = 5.5hrs. for two days of autonomy. This means that, should there be
S/N Parameter Value little or no sunlight for one day, the system should be able to
1 Short circuit current 1.63A supply power to the load for that day because of the buffer.
2 Panel dc voltage 12v In addition, considering the weather of Jos, Plateau state, such
3 Module rated current 10A
a buffer of one day will be very necessary as sunlight may not
4 Peak power 4255.89W
5 Parallel panels power 2127.95W be available sometimes due to high relative humidity
6 Panels power rating 120W experienced sometimes in the area.Also, a total of thirty-six
7 Series panels power 240W 12v 10A solar panels will be required for the design. In order
8. Average daily energy 23407.407Wh to meet up with the system voltage of 24v, two solar panels
demand
are connected in series, thus, the number of solar panels in
9 Total no of modules 36
10 No of modules in 2 parallel is 18. This is as shown in table 3. As for the inverter
series and charge controller for the system, an inverter of 3KW
11 No of modules in 18 repower will be required while the charge controller of 38Amp
parallel or more will be needed. The parameters of the inverter and
Table 4 : Inverter and charge controller parameters
charge controller are shown in table 4
PNon-inductive = 1599W, and PInductive = 230W
S/N Parameter Value
1 Inverter power rating 3KW
2 Charge controller 38Amp
amperage
Table 5: Cable sizes
S/N Parameter Value
1 Cable size between solar array 3mm2
through charger to battery bank
2 Cable length between solar array 2m
through charger to battery bank
3 Cable size between battery bank and 9.5mm2
inverter
4 Cable length between battery bank 3m
and inverter
5 Cable size between battery inverter 1mm2
and load
6 Cable length between battery 10m
inverter and load

The system will make use of a total of 24 batteries and each

battery will have the capacity of 200Ah. Two twelve volts
(12v) batteries will be connected in series to provide a system
voltage of 24v, thus making the number of batteries in series
to be 12 as shown in table 2. Also, as a result of the critical
nature of satellite ground station, considering its function
especially as it is not supposed to experience any interruption
or power failure as that may be the time in which it is in

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Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

3.6 PVGIS software

PVGIS software Simulation result

Fig. 1 Screenshot of PVGIS simulation

Input parameters its maximum depth of discharge (DOD) level, which is 45%.
Location: 9°53'38" North, 8°55'32" East, This means that in the remaining 85% of the days, the battery
Elevation: 1324 m energy will not be used to its depth of discharge limit.
Nominal power of the PV system: 4300 W Month Ed Ff Fe
Inclination of modules: 9.5 deg. Jan 16571 99 0
Battery size : 12 V, 3500 Ah Feb 16315 96 0
Discharge cutoff limit (%): 45 % Mar 16723 96 0
Apr 16568 71 0
Consumption per day: 16116 Wh
May 16149 59 12
Jun 16183 49 17
Table 6: Output parameters
Jul 16167 12 18
Percentage of days with fully 76% Aug 16119 2 25
charged battery Sep 16250 34 16
Average energy not captured due to 6952Wh/day Oct 16350 71 9
full battery: Nov 16635 97 0
Percentage of days the battery 15%
Dec 16521 98 0
became fully discharged:
Where Ed: Average energy production per day (Wh/day), Ff:
Average energy missing: 3627 Wh/day
The percentage of days the battery became fully discharged Percentage of days when battery became full (%) and Fe:

(15%) means percentage of days in which the battery drains to Percentage of days when battery became empty (%) ie based
on 55% (when it drops to 55% limit)

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Paper Title:- DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF SOLAR POWER SYSTEM FOR SATELLITE GROUND STATION - A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA
Fig. 2: Average power for a year
Fig .2 shows the average power production by the system for a
year based on the imputed parameters. From the figure, it can
be observed that the level monthly average power production
was reached in ten months (January to June and September to
December) such that the average power in September and
November are even greater than the general average monthly
level. However, in the month of July and August, the average
power generated by the system was less than the general
average monthly power. The implication here is that backup
power source should be available or less important loads like
some fans, laptops computers be shed or disconnected from
the system to allow longer time of the use of the generated
energy.
4. CONCLUSION
Load profiles for the design has been done, the battery sizing,
inverter sizing, charge controller as well as cable sizing have
been done accordingly in a step-by-step form. A total of thirty-
six solar panels is needed for the design in which two will be
connected in series in order to obtain the required voltage,
while eighteen panels will be connected in parallel, each
having a rating of 12v, 120w. From the calculations also, a
total number of twenty-four batteries each having the capacity
of 200A-hr is required. In this, it is made up of two batteries in
series and twelve in parallel. The software simulation was
used to test the workability of the design especially based on
the nature of weather of the area in which the installation is to
be used. The software, PVGIS estimated the monthly power
production of solar array for a year, in which the month with
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worst case was determined, which is July. This helps for
proper planning to allow the supplied power to be able to
power some important equipment leaving out some that are
not too important such fan, as Jos has cold weather.
5. RECOMMENDATION
This design makes use of mathematical computation and
software simulation, in this case, the geographical information
system software. The software which involves the variation of
temperature based on the cold weather of Jos should be use for
further research on this work.
6. REFERENCES
[1].Buresch, M. (1983), “Photovoltaic Energy Systems:
Design and Installation” McGraw-Hill, New York, USA.
[2].Ezugwu Chika P. (2012 ), “Design And Installation Of 200
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[3].Gazinga Abdullah et al (2014), “Standalone solar air-
conditioning systems for residential a.buildings” Proceedings
of the 52nd Annual Conference, Australian Solar Energy
Society (Australian Solar Council) Melbourne.
[4].Ishaq M., Ibrahim U.H., Abubakar, H, (2013), “Design Of
An Off Grid Photovoltaic System: A Case Study Of
Government Technical College” Wudil, Kano State.
[5].Kang, S, S. Kim, and D. Lee, 2002. Spatial and temporal
patterns of solar radiation based on topography and air
temperature. Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
[6].Knier, G. 2011. How do photovoltaics work?
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[7].Medugu, D. W. & Michael, E. (2014). “Integrated Solar –
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CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

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Application” Global Journal of Researches in Engineering.
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