Solar Power Cost - A Topic To Carefully Consider
If you are not careful your solar power costs could go through the roof with a bunch of money being wasted. Here’s why, a system that is not sized properly will not return your money in power savings and there is a broad spectrum of prices for components ranging from cheap and inexpensive to premium quality and very expensive.
A quick Google search for solar power equipment will display thousands and thousands of options of different systems and 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.
When your trying to decide on the right power system for you and the potential solar power cost remember to have a look at the types of batteries, the solar panels, the charge controllers, and the power inverters.
You can obtain batteries in a new or used condition and determine the number you need from your sizing criteria. For an off grid remote cabin that requires only the bare essentials you can put together a system with only 2-4 batteries. There are a number of places you can look to find free batteries that you can refurbish yourself (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 a modern energy efficient home with a full blown new solar power system you see battery banks that cover an entire wall. Batteries with charge controllers, power inverters, panels and other ancillaries in a full scale system can easily cost 50,000 dollars or more.
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. I designed my system to make it through tough winters reliably, provide decades of service, and provide a good return on investment to boot.
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.
February 22 2010 01:28 pm | Business: Renewable Energy