Solar Power Cost - Too Much Or Too Little Can Be Expensive
If you are not careful your solar power costs could go through the roof with a bunch of money being wasted. Here’s why, you can quickly waste money on too much and too big and you can create expensive headaches by being too cheap and building an expensive to maintain unreliable system.
A simple search on the internet for solar power equipment reveals thousands of options on how to put a system together with multitudes of different components and options. When you get past all the hype and misinformation a solar power system is actually a simple system consisting of only a handful of components.
While looking at the cost of solar power for the system you want be sure and price up the batteries, the charge controllers, the solar panels, and power inverters.
Batteries can be obtained new or used and the number you will need will depend on your sizing criteria. For a remote cabin with only the very essential electrical devices you can sometimes work with 2-4 batteries. And if you are not concerned about the reliability of the system or the life expectancy then you can refurbish your own batteries obtained for free from places like golf courses. If you surf the web you will find a bunch of sites promoting a solar power system for under 200 dollars built on the premise of using used batteries and surplus/broken solar panels.
For an energy efficient home with efficient appliances battery banks in a solar power system can cover entire walls of the home. Battery banks, charge controllers, power inverters, solar panels and other components can quickly add up to tens of thousands in costs.
For my off grid cabin in Washington state I considered my lap top, a couple of light bulbs, my deep freeze, a power drill and welding machine in the sizing of my system (yes I am self sufficient in the wilderness!) and it was just over 12,000 dollars out of pocket. Using my background in engineering I designed this system to expect decades of service with very high reliability, I need to be sure to survive a tough winter.
Your best solar power cost will depend on matching your particular needs with the correct system and the first step is to define your electical loads and establish the general size of your system. After that you need to choose if you want an engineered and reliable off grid system of the hobbyists unreliable 200 dollar special.
This article was written by admin on February 21, 2010