On cable sizing for solar panels on ships

Abstract

With the marine sector starting to look for ways to stop using fossil fuels solar panels have started to become popular and a properly sized cable is needed for an efficient operation. The aim of this study is to see how different cable sizes affect the environmental and economic aspect on board ships. The focus will be on cables from a solar panel installation over a 20-year lifespan. Calculations to estimate energy losses, the cost and environmental impact for the different cable sizes for both aluminum and copper are presented, using data from solar panels installed in Gothenburg to get a good representation of the power produced over a year. The calculations look at 10 different cross section areas for both aluminum and copper. For aluminum the range is from 50-500 mm2, and for copper range is from 35-400 mm2. The study shows that using the minimum allowed cross section area on the cable is far from the best option, the result shows that there is significant gain from using a larger cross section area for both the environmental and economic aspect.