If you are not careful your solar power costs could go through the roof with a bunch of money being wasted. Here's why, an improperly sized system will not get your money back in electrical savings especially if you over pay for components or on the other side of the coin you underpay and have a system that is unreliable and costly to maintain.
A quick Google of solar power will show a vast number of results for hundreds of different options and configurations and advice on how to assemble a system. 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.
When evaluating the cost of solar power be sure to consider the batteries, the power inverter, charge controller, and the solar panels themselves.
You can obtain batteries in a new or used condition and determine the number you need from your sizing criteria. For an off grid house or remote cabin with only essential electrical devices you can assemble a minalmist system of only 2-4 batteries. You can save a bundle of money on your system by using used batteries obtained from a local golf course, you can refurbish these yourself. A Google search will reveal a plentiful supply of websites that are ultimately there to promote an ebook on how to build your own solar panel system for under 200 dollars using cheap used parts in some places.
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 my expenses were in the 12,000 dollar range. With consideration to hard long winters, return on investment, and high reliability over 20 to 30 years I used my engineering background to put together a good system.
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.
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