Solar panels for yacht in the Med

Hello
Can you help me with some advice on solar panels. I have a yacht based in the Eastern Mediterrian, it has 3x 155amp/hr domestic batteries and a seperate engine batterry. I'm looking to try and keep the domestic batterries charged whilst sailing and at anchor. The main power user is the fridge which uses about 50amp hrs per 24hrs.
Currently I have a Sterling Power Management system which displays the battery position and amps being used and total amps consumed. This system counts down amps when on charge either by engine or mains charge.
To start with I plan hang them on the guard rail.
What would you recommend? Regards, Martin

Hi Martin,

Fridges do consume a lot of power unfortunately, so you would need a reasonable array of solar panels to replace what the fridge is using. As a guide, in the UK summer you would need about 120 watts of solar panels to generate about 50Ah per day (assuming you have a 12V system). As on a yacht it is difficult to keep the panels always pointing towards the sun, you may get a little less than that.

I would recommend perhaps a pair of Kyocera KC65 or KC85 panels http://midsummerenergy.co.uk/buy_solar_panels/kyocera_framed_solar_panels.html. They should certainly deliver most of the power you need for your system - perhaps not all, but then again you will be getting some power from the engine anyway from time to time. Dimensions are on the datasheets linked from the product pages on the website. We can supply the most appropriate regulator and suitable cables too.

Alternatively, we can get in some Sunware solar panels which can be attached directly to the deck, and can be walked on. They are rather more expensive than the framed panels, but if they would be of interest do let us know.

best wishes, Andy, Midsummer Energy

Solar propulsion for yacht

I'm considering design and building a yacht using only solar and wind generated electricity including propulsion. Comments/advice.Thanks,Dudley

It's certainly possible. Your difficulty will be storing enough energy to make it worthwhile. A yacht can motor on a diesel tank for weeks non-stop; even on a big bank of batteries it's going to be hard to get more than a few hours at a good speed. If you are content with a small engine that is only used for manouvering into and out of a marina at the ends of a longer passage under sail, I think it could well work. But don't expect to be able to do much in the way of passage making!