The best Solar Energy books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

This book is one of the bibles of PV tech, written by the people from the course and their colleagues from the green tech department, it may be a bit broad for your specific question.

https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Energy-Engineering-Photovoltaic-Technologies/dp/1906860327

My info is coming mainly from this book and I can't recommend it more. The author also does YouTube videos on the subject. However, I'm not an expert by any means (still building mine) so correct me, PLEASE, if I have it wrong.

On paper, the panels you have can provide 11,520Wh of power on an average sunny day, and your batteries can store 7200Wh. It seems like you could reduce your panels, or buy more batteries to account for the loss - it seems like this setup is wasting potential power, but if you live somewhere with lots of clouds or trees, I could understand the excess solar set up.

If you’re smart and handy, you can do it. And like u/Wetbiscut said: You need to know your rig.

Buy this:

Mobile Solar Power Made Easy!:... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546567119?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Order Will's book, it's only $5 right now in paperback format (it's a large paperback). I paid $15 for it last year, and it's $15 well spent. A total steal at $5.xx

It's got diagrams, and all kinds of great info. I watch his YT channel also, but it's great to have a hard copy of info that I need to reference.

Mobile Solar Power Made Easy!: Mobile 12 volt off grid solar system design and installation. RV's, Vans, Cars and boats! Do-it-yourself step by step instructions. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546567119/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_2B4W60C72QP0WYW08WCC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Buy this:

Mobile Solar Power Made Easy!: Mobile 12 volt off grid solar system design and installation. RV's, Vans, Cars and boats! Do-it-yourself step by step instructions. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546567119/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_CFS5E543V3562JB7A0GT

Will wrote a small book on solar systems too. It's very informative and he lays things out very well in the book. It's inexpensive on Amazon as well. I highly suggest picking up a copy.

Mobile Solar Power Made Easy!: Mobile 12 volt off grid solar system design and installation. RV's, Vans, Cars and boats! Do-it-yourself step by step instructions. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546567119/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_0WEDEY4EZ1NDZXBFD822

Buy this. Everything you need to know in an easy to understand book. 10/10

Mobile Solar Power Made Easy!: Mobile 12 volt off grid solar system design and installation. RV's, Vans, Cars and boats! Do-it-yourself step by step instructions. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546567119/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_VABC3HNJ334EE2NW9WBE

I learned a lot from reading Solar for Dummies. I also read a bunch from Energysage.com

This book I ordered a week ago. Young guy explains the solar basic concepts in detail and can be used as a step by step guide. He also has a YouTube channel.

I took the Nabcep 40hr course from Heatspring and it did a great job of teaching info that would be tailored towards the test. It's about a thousand bucks and my work paid for it, so it's tough to make a value assessment there. The teacher, Sean White is pretty great and he has a book that goes along with the course that I definitely recommend. I passed the first time but it was very difficult for sure. Background: Technical side of solar for 4 years and degree in civil engineering.

As was said before, being a master electrician or the like would be very minimal help unless you're highly experienced with solar. Being able to navigate the NEC code is how that would help. For the test itself, it's "open book" so to speak as they give you the NEC code to use. You should have 690 and 705 memorized by heart, and know how to use section 310 and 250 for stuff like conductor sizing and ground sizing. You don't actually need to memorize because it's open book, but its helpful to know where to look for stuff.

At the end of the day you should be able to optimally design a code compliant solar system from scratch.

From the physical side: being able to do shading calculations (aka you need to know trigonometry), how many panels can fit in a certain location or how much space is needed based on a desired amount of power.

From the electrical side:String sizing with voltage and temperature corrections, power needs, wire sizing, conduit sizing, all the correction factors that go into that, disconnect ratings, fuse ratings, interconnection methods, acceptable wiring uses and marking, which types of conduits you can use, etc...

You also need to be competent with OSHA stuff and general job safety stuff.

I redid your math and got a very similar answer. And then I redid it with my preferred constants, and we're missing something. Because with my preferred constants (0.15 emissivity and 0.9 absorptivity, because the real world is way uglier than spec, and ~30 suns concentration or 10 KW/linear meter), we should be able to heat HTF on the order of 5 deg/second at the top end. And that's a pretty conservative set of numbers.

And at 727 deg. C (1000 K ) we'd only emit 5x more radiation and people would be running molten salt and laughing, and the world would be very different.

EDIT: I pulled out Duffie and Beckman, 3rd ed, and the SEGS systems got up to 390 C, with average 92% reflective mirrors, and a 0.94 absorptivity/0.19 emissivity (at 350 C) selective surface. With a concentration ratio of 80.

Check the just released Power Shift by Bob Stayton http://www.amazon.com/Power-Shift-Robert-Arthur-Stayton/dp/099047920X

Also, consider volunteering for a solar non profit. Meet great people, learn lots, do good things.