Question

Loop- Code Matlab -Solar Array Sizing

A customer would like to install a solar panel array for his small business. The daily peak power is estimated to be 50 kW and his budget is $10,000.

Task 1: If the price for a single solar panel is $50, given the volume discount table below, how many solar panels can he afford? (Hint: see bottom of problem)

Number of panels purchased	Discount per panel
1 – 5	0%
6-29	10%
30 – 99	15%
100+	20%

Task 2: Now, assuming each solar panel can supply 40 Watts, how much does it cost for his business to become 100% off-the-grid? Don’t forget to include the volume discount! (Hint: see bottom of problem)

Off-the-grid means to be completely powered from renewable energy. In this case is solar energy. Hint: Use a loop to solve this problem. Use the loop index to represent the number of solar panels, and change the discount percentage as necessary for each loop iteration.

Answer 1

MATLAB code:

peakPower = 50000; % 50 kW

budget = 10000;

%% Task 1

pricePerSolarPanel = 50;

totalPrice = 0;

totalDiscountedPrice = 0;

solarPanels = 0;

% Count number of solar panels

while totalDiscountedPrice <= budget

    solarPanels = solarPanels + 1;

    totalPrice = totalPrice + pricePerSolarPanel;

    % Calculate discount

    if solarPanels >= 100

        discountRate = 20;

    elseif solarPanels >= 30

        discountRate = 15;

    elseif solarPanels >= 6

        discountRate = 10;

    else

        discountRate = 0;

    end

    % Calculate discounted total price

    totalDiscountedPrice = totalPrice - totalPrice*discountRate/100;

end

solarPanels = solarPanels - 1;

fprintf('Number of solar panels he can afford is %d\n', solarPanels);

%% Task 2

pricePerSolarPanel = 50;

powerPerSolarPanel = 40;

totalPrice = 0;

totalPower = 0;

totalDiscountedPrice = 0;

solarPanels = 0;

% Count number of solar panels

while totalPower < peakPower

    solarPanels = solarPanels + 1;

    totalPrice = totalPrice + pricePerSolarPanel;

    totalPower = totalPower + powerPerSolarPanel;

    % Calculate discount

    if solarPanels >= 100

        discountRate = 20;

    elseif solarPanels >= 30

        discountRate = 15;

    elseif solarPanels >= 6

        discountRate = 10;

    else

        discountRate = 0;

    end

    % Calculate discounted total price

    totalDiscountedPrice = totalPrice - totalPrice*discountRate/100;

end

fprintf('Cost for going 100%% off-the-grid is $%.2f\n', totalDiscountedPrice);

Output:

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