List every electrical load
Create one load register covering communications, CCTV, lighting, sensors, control gear, cooling and auxiliary devices.
- Include PoE conversion
- Separate day and night operation
- Confirm customer loads
Convert power into daily energy
Battery and solar design is driven by watt-hours over the operating day.
- Calculate operating hours
- Add conversion losses
- Build normal and peak scenarios
Design for the difficult season
Annual-average sunlight can hide the month that matters most.
- Use location-specific solar data
- Account for dust and shade
- Check seasonal deployment
Set a clear autonomy target
Autonomy depends on operational criticality, site access, weather and backup strategy.
- Define essential loads
- Plan load shedding
- Align reserve with service response
Apply real-world derating
Temperature, depth of discharge, efficiency, ageing and dirt affect usable capacity.
- Use operating limits
- Protect battery life
- Include ageing effects
Monitor and refine
Report solar yield, battery state, load, temperature and low-energy events.
- Set alert thresholds
- Review commissioning data
- Use data for fleet expansion