expatflame

Thanks so much for all the help and info. I'll reply later as my daughter was just born a couple of days ago. Cheers!

Hi Everyone, Couldn't find the answer anywhere in the forum so I'll put it here and hope you guys can answer. I'm interested in buying some solar panels as a school project (I'm a tech teacher). I have some students that are interested in using solar panels to set up a small kiosk powering station for laptops/phones/tablets as a service project. I know a few basics about electricity, circuits, etc and have been experimenting with small solar panels. My questions: how many/size solar panels would we need to produce enough voltage to power say 2-3 devices at once? I realize we would need an inverter, battery, etc. Would you recommend 1 or 2 300W solar panels? Would this produce 2-3kwh of power per day? I read something about losing efficiency going from DC to AC current. How does this work? I want this to be a bit of a DIY project rather than a "kit" as I want students to learn how to wire this together, etc. My other questions center around cost and calculating CO2 savings. Assuming that we pay 1.24R/kwh, would I be right that solar energy would only save 2-3R/day? If so, it would seem that it would take years to pay itself off. Students will be calculating CO2 reduction through the use of solar energy. I found online that 1 kwh=0.5 kg of CO2 but this obviously matters on how the majority of SA's energy is produced. I've read that most of it is coal so perhaps the savings would be higher. Also, if anyone has any tips on where to purchase these materials in Joburg, that would be appreciated. Sorry for all the questions but any help would be greatly appreciated!