Discharge rate is also known as C rate.It is a measure of the rate at which a battery is discharged relative to its maximum capacity. A 1C rate means that the discharge current will discharge the entire battery in 1 hour. A 2C discharge rate means it will discharge twice…

Direct insolation is the solar irradiance measured at a given location on Earth with a surface element perpendicular to the Sun’s rays, excluding diffuse insolation.

Direct radiation is also sometimes called beam radiation or direct beam radiation. It is used to describe solar radiation traveling in a straight line from the sun down to the surface of the earth.When the sky is clear and the…

Sunlight received indirectly as a result of scattering due to clouds, fog, haze, dust or other obstructions in the atmosphere or on the ground. Unlike direct insolation, diffuse light cannot be focused by the optics of a concentrated photovoltaic system,…

Diffuse radiation is solar radiation reaching earth’s surface after having been scattered from the direct solar beam by molecules or suspensoids in the atmosphere.

Depth of discharge is an alternate method to indicate a battery’s state of charge (The proportion of energy that has been removed from a storage battery or cell, usually expressed as a percentage). For example, 80% DOD means that 80% of the ampere-hours of a fully charged…

A deep-cycle battery is a lead-acid battery designed to be regularly deeply discharged using most of its capacity. Deep cycle batteries are used for off-grid energy storage systems for solar power or wind power, especially in small installations for a…

A DC-to-DC converter is an electronic circuit which converts a source of direct current (DC) from one voltage level to another. A DC to DC converter is placed in between the solar panels and inverter.

The number of consecutive days the stand-alone system will meet a defined load without solar energy input. This term is related to system availability.

A Copper Indium Gallium Selenide solar cell (or CIGS cell, sometimes CI(G)S or CIS cell) is a thin film solar cell used to convert sunlight into electric power. They are manufactured by depositing a thin layer of copper, indium, gallium…