Solar Power Cost - Improperly Sized Systems May Never Pay Back

Posted on January 22, 2010
Filed Under Being Energy Efficient Is Not An Option Anymore! |

Your solar power cost needs to be evaluated because of the potential to waste a bunch of money.  Here’s why, a system that is too big will waste your money and a system that is too cheap will be expensive to maintain and unreliable.

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.  If you cut through the clutter and hype and get down to the basic details you can break the system into a handful of essential 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.  And if life and reliability are a low priority you can refurbish batteries obtained for free from a local golf course.  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.  Batteries with power inverters, charge controllers and other ancillaries in a full scale system will cost many tens of thousands of dollars.

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.  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.  From there you can decide on highly engineered fully reliable off grid type set up or the hobbyists “don’t actually have to depend on it” 200 dollar special.

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