solar home systems

The sun – an unlimited supply of energy

With over 300 days and more than 3,000 hours of sunshine per year, the sun offers one of Afghanistan's most productive energy sources - clean, affordable and easy to use. Solar energy holds huge potential for electricity as well as heat generation in Afghanistan. This energy potential can be harnessed in many ways - from small, inexpensive and decentralized solutions like solar home systems to utility scale solar farms integrated into a national or a mini-grid.

Harvesting solar energy is an environment and climate-friendly way to produce energy with minimum maintenance requirements. Without exploiting natural resources or polluting the environment photovoltaics (PV) simply uses the vast power of the sun and converts it to electricity.

Solar Home Systems

Interactive Application

In this application, you will install a solar home system on a typical Afghan house. For this, you will need to decide where to place the solar modules, how to orient them and which angle works best. In a next step, you will learn more about all solar home system components. Can you meet the demand of a household through your solar home system?

start application

Using the sun’s energy at home

According to the Afghan Renewable Energy Roadmap 2032, 1,500MW of planned power capacities will be from solar energy which accounts for around 30% of all planned capacities. PV converts solar irradiation directly into electricity and can either be installed on the ground or on the roof. In both cases, PV systems should ideally be oriented towards the south and have no elements nearby that could throw a shadow on the PV module. A PV system can run off the grid, with or without batteries, or feed into a grid using a net-metering system where the produced electricity is sold to the distribution company. However, net-metering is not yet available in Afghanistan.

PV systems are easy to install, to operate and to maintain. The supply of electricity is reliable as long as there is sunshine. This means that in particular households and businesses that consume electricity during the day can benefit the most from PV systems. In addition, using a battery allows the owner to store the power and to use it from the battery even when it is dark. Especially households and businesses in remote areas can benefit from PV and the so-called Solar Home Systems.

Enough PV to turn on the radio or to charge the phone

Well installed and maintained PV system in Shebar district, Bamiyan province

Perfect set-up of a PV system in Yakawlang II, Bamiyan province

Perfect orientation towards the south, solid ground-mounted structure and good cabling

The cables should be protected better to ensure a long-lasting PV system.

This solar home system could be cleaned from the dust to provide electricity more efficiently.

Charge Controller to limit the rate at which electric current is added to or drawn from electric batteries.

Maintenance of the inverter (red box) and the batteries (six boxes on the table)

What are the main opportunities?

Easy to install and maintain
Cost-effective, reliable and clean solution
Can be used in remote areas
Offers great potential for businesses
Productive use of energy, for example solar cooling or solar water pumping
Can be integrated into a mini-grid

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