HOMER Knowledge Base
Solar resource data and battery charge controller in HOMER
The faq´s of HOMER say that it is not possible to simulate a bidirectional battery charge controller, and to calculate With the PV costs. my problem is that I already calculated an inverter to the PV costs, and choose an AC output for PV. is it legitime to calculate the battery charger costs as Converter costs?
The answer to your question about the battery charger depends on the setup of the system you are modeling. One possibility is that you have a DC PV array and a battery bank connected to the DC bus, and a converter linking the AC and DC buses, like so:
If that is the case, then you should not combine the converter cost and efficiency with that of the PV array. You should combine the charge controller cost and efficiency with that of the battery.
Another possibility is that you have an AC PV array connected to the AC bus, with just the battery on the DC bus, like so:
If that is the case, then you should model the PV array and its dedicated inverter as a single PV component. So the cost and the kW capacity of the PV array should account for the cost and the losses associated with the dedicated inverter, and the kW capacity should refer to AC kW. You should account for the cost and efficiency of the battery charge controller either in the converter inputs or the battery inputs.