A solar charge controller, also known as a solar regulator, is majorly used in off-grid solar systems and forms an important part of these systems. The working principle of the solar charge controller is to transform, regulate and control the flow of the current generated from solar panels and pass it to the connected batteries in order to prevent overcharging or excessive discharging.
Solar charge controllers can be classified into: Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) charge controller and Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) charge controller. While the operating efficiency of a PWM charge controller is approximately 70%, the operating efficiency of an MPPT charge controller is approximately 90%. Additionally, a PWM solar charge controller snips excess solar voltage, which in turn results in a loss of total power. The PWM solar charge controller is basically a switch used to connect a solar array to a battery. As a result, the excess voltage generated by the solar array is reduced to the voltage value of the battery. The PWM solar charge controller is a good low-cost solution for small-medium solar systems only, that too when the solar cell temperature is in the range of 45°C and 75°C. It will modify its info voltage to gather the most extreme power from the sunlight based exhibit and afterward change this energy to supply the differing voltage need of the battery in addition to the stack. To completely misuse the capability of the MPPT solar charge controller, the exhibit voltage ought to be generously higher than the battery voltage. MPPT is the arrangement of decision for higher power frameworks and it will likewise collect significantly more power when the sunlight based cell temperature is low (beneath 45°C), or high (over 75°C), or when irradiance is low.
The solar charge controller usually operates by regulating the flow of energy from the panels to the energy storage system, which is directly connected as a DC – coupled system. One of the most important result of this is that it gives batteries in the storage system, a longer life. The solar charge controller normally does this by preventing overcharging of the systems and even at times against overvoltage, which may lead to a safety risk. Usually, the solar charge controllers are either designed as circuit integrated within a battery pack or as complete standalone systems.
Increasing adoption of solar charge controllers in remote operations is prominently pushing their sales. In line with increasing demand for easy access to devices to gather information, the requirement for electrical storage battery is increasing, which is driving the solar charge controller market. This according to FMI is expected to remain the key factor driving the demand for Solar Charge Controllers at a global level. Low availability of electricity in certain
regions and frequent power breakups are driving the adoption of solar charge controllers. This trend has been gaining ground in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Recently, the growth in installation of off-grid solar panel systems marks an important trend in the solar charge controller landscape. Increasing awareness along with subsidiaries for the installation of offgrid based solar panel systems will be a major booster for the global solar charge controller market.
some of the participants in the solar charge controller market identified across the value chain are SUNGROW, Morningstar Corp., Beijing Epsolar Technology Co., Ltd.,Wenzhou Xihe Electric Co., Ltd., ShenZhen Alenson Electronic CO., Ltd., Arise India Ltd., Centralion Industrial Inc., Luminous India, Genasun, Schneider Electric, Microtek, Su-Kam Power Systems, Steca Elektronik, Shuori New Energy and Victron Energy B.V. These companies are focussing strategically on developing economies, which is favouring their revenue growth.
