Solar Electricity Handbook: A Simple, Practical Guide to Solar Energy: How to Design and Install Photovoltaic Solar Electric Systems

The Solar Electricity Handbook - 2015 Edition, is a simple, practical guide to using electric solar panels and designing and installing photovoltaic PV systems. Now in its ninth edition, the book assumes no previous knowledge of solar electric systems. The book explains how solar panels work and how they can be used. It explains the advantages of solar energy and the drawbacks that you need to take into account when designing a solar power system. As well as explaining the underlying principles, it provides a step-by-step guide so that you can successfully design and install a photovoltaic solar system from scratch. Unlike many guides, The Solar Electricity Handbook explains the principles behind the technology, allowing the reader to design solar energy systems with confidence. The book has been used all around the world, designing systems as diverse as providing entire African villages with electricity, powering vending machines, building grid-tied systems for housing, building a one-off solar electric car and creating lighting for an allotment shed. Accompanying the book is a website that provides solar calculators and online tools to help simplify the solar design process, including a unique database of sunlight values for every major town and city in every country in the world that has been created specifically for this book in conjunction with NASA. Readers can also get in touch with the author directly to ask questions and get further support with their solar projects.

Michael Boxwell has been designing solar energy systems since the late 1990s. Initially integrating solar energy into products such as vending machines and portable computers, Michael went on to designing larger systems, including on-building solar and a solar energy systems capable of providing power to entire rural communities in Africa and South America. Michael's most recent solar projects include designing a full-length solar roof for a forthcoming electric car to be launched in 2016, and an electric car solar charging station. He is currently working on a part EU funded project to create a new low-cost solar power station that is capable of providing electricity for entire African villages.