Design Your System
Follow these steps for designing your SPARQ energy solution system. Questions?
Step 1 – Understand your requirements
Determine your average annual energy consumption by summing the last 12 months of kWh energy usage from your utility bills. Use your annual energy information to help select your system size.
Step 2 – Size the system
Get an idea of the solar potential of your location by going to the free PV Watts site: PV Watts Calculator. Enter your address or zip code, select the solar resource data and click on ‘Go To System Info’.
Set DC System Size to 1. If mounting the system on your roof, enter the Tilt (slope) and Azimuth (angle rotated from north). Click on ‘Go to Results’. Divide the annual energy from step 1 by the PV Watts result to get the system size in kW needed to offset all of your electricity usage.
Example:
- Annual energy = 5,600kWh
- PV Watts results = 1,512kWh
- System size = 5600/1512 = 3.703kW
Step 3 – Create a bill of material and contact us
Each Q1200 (Quad) will produce up to 1.2kW of power. Divide the system size calculated in Step 2 by 1.2 to determine the number of Quad microinverters needed to offset the annual energy consumption.
Example:
- System size = 3.703kW • Number of Q1200 = 3.703/1.2=3.08 Round this to 3. Each Quad will be connected to 4 PV modules. Size the PV modules for peak output between 300 and 350W per 60 cell module.
Each Quad will need a trunk cable branch connector, and the trunk cable will need an end terminator cap. A SparqLinq gateway interface allows the system to be monitored. An AC disconnect tool and a DC disconnect tool are recommended for maintenance.
Total parts list:
- Quad
- Trunk cable branch connectors
- End terminator cap
- SparqLinq gateway
- AC and DC disconnect tool