12.82 kWp off-grid solar with storage
A rooftop array with battery storage for a commercial site in Madhya Pradesh: 12.82 kWp of PV, 15.36 kWh of LiFePO₄, and 18 kW of hybrid inverters. I did the sizing, the single-line diagram and the procurement, and I was on the roof for the installation. It has run the site since 2023.
- Sheet
- 03 of 06
- Title
- 12.82 kWp off-grid solar with storage
- Client
- Maadhyam Organics
Working family farm and guesthouse, Rahatgarh, Madhya Pradesh - Drawn
- Jan 2023 – Mar 2023
- Work done
- Solar PV and storage · EPC delivery · On-site installation
- Project type
- Solo project
- My role
- Project Intern, sizing, single-line design, installation
- Status
- IN SERVICEinstalled 2023, still running
An unreliable grid, and loads that cannot wait
Rural Madhya Pradesh does not offer the kind of grid you design a guesthouse around. The site needed power through the evening and overnight, not only while the sun was up, and the loads are the sort that fail visibly when power drops: irrigation, refrigeration for produce, and guest rooms with air conditioning and hot water.
That makes it a storage and autonomy problem more than a generation one. Sizing an array is straightforward. Sizing the battery and inverters so the site rides through the evening peak and a cloudy monsoon week without a diesel generator is the actual engineering.
It also had to be maintainable by people who are not electricians, several hours from competent service. That argued for LiFePO₄ over lead-acid, for cycle life and tolerance of partial state of charge, and for a conservative, legible layout over a clever one.
Size for the worst week, draw it for the next person
- PV capacity came out at 12.82 kWp against the site's daily energy demand and local irradiance, with 15.36 kWh of LiFePO₄ sized to carry the evening and overnight load rather than simply to buffer generation.
- 18 kW of hybrid inverters, so array, battery and grid connection are managed together, with headroom above the array rating for surge loads. Motor starting on irrigation pumps and air-conditioning compressors is where an undersized inverter shows up first.
- I drew the single-line diagram myself: generation, storage, conversion, protection and distribution on one sheet. On a site where the next person to open the panel may be years away and unfamiliar, the drawing is part of the deliverable.
- Then I installed it: DC and AC junction boxes, cable sizing and procurement under EPC delivery. Doing the installation after doing the design is what taught me which decisions look fine on paper and cost you an afternoon on a roof.
| PV array | 12.82 kWp | rooftop, commercial site |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | 15.36 kWh | LiFePO₄ |
| Inverters | 18 kW | hybrid, with surge headroom |
| Delivery | EPC | design through on-site installation |
| In service | since 2023 | continuous |
Three years on, it is still the farm's power system
| 12.82 kWp | installed and commissioned |
|---|---|
| 15.36 kWh | carrying evening and overnight load |
| 18 kW | inverter capacity, with headroom for motor starting |
| Since 2023 | in continuous service |
The farm now runs a guesthouse on the same property, and its public site advertises power from its own solar around the clock, plus overnight EV charging. That is the clearest outcome statement I could ask for: a paying business making commitments to guests on the back of the system.
The EV charging is worth noting because it was not in the original brief. A system sized with genuine margin absorbed a load class nobody specified in 2023.
The farm's own site, which is independent evidence the system carries the load it was sized for. I designed and installed the solar. The website is not my work.
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Happy to talk about a graduation internship, a vacancy, or a project you want a second opinion on. Twenty minutes is usually enough to work out whether it is worth a longer conversation.
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Looking for a graduation internship from February 2027.
Power electronics, embedded hardware, renewable energy or power systems. I am equally happy writing the firmware and tooling around them. Based in Arnhem, open to relocating in the Netherlands.
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- linkedin.com/in/tanishq-bhaiji
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