How To Get Started Building Your Own Solar Panels

Renewable energy is becoming more and more important. Any responsible homeowner should be aware of this and should seriously consider the renewable energy options that they can use to supply electricity and heating to their house.

One of the most popular forms of renewable domestic energy supply comes from solar power. The big problem with solar power however, is that a kit to supply all the electricity to a typical family home costs approximately $4000 and perhaps a lot more. However, there is another alternative that you might not have considered yet. You can actually build your own solar panels.

While building your own solar panels is not particularly easy, it is certainly far from impossible. You can build your own solar panel for as little as $200 and you can find a number of kits available including complex and in depth guides to help you get started. With just $200 and perhaps less you can have a fully functional home energy supply system.

If you buy an actual do it yourself kit, you won't save as much money as you would if you are making it almost entirely from scratch, but it is something that almost anyone can do with some time, dedication and patience. Even if you cannot create enough power to rely on for the entire house you will still find that it will help for your electricity bills quite notably plus you will be doing something for the environment.

You should start by looking on the Internet for DIY kits from reputable companies such as General Electric. If you want to start building something more or less from scratch, then try one of the popular home energy guides.

The most important component that you need to start building your own solar panels are the solar cells. You will then need a number of other components such as wiring and then you will need to put it altogether. Once you have everything that you need to build the panel, you can then look through the guide and learn how to assemble it. You can even go to YouTube and find various home videos of people walking you through the construction process.

Other good resources to help find the components that you need include eBay and a number of other online auction sites and retailers. If you buy damaged second-hand solar cells for example, you may be able to repair them and save even more money.

 

Some general information about solar cell types

Polycrystalline Solar Panels

Solar Panels made from polycrystalline cells are the most common and cheapest. Well known brands include BP SX (formerly Solarex), Sharp and Kyocera. These solar panels typically retail at between $8.50 and $9.50 per watt. Under standard conditions their conversion efficiency of sunlight to electricity is 12% to 12.5%, which means that 1 sq. metre of panels exposed to the full sun will generate 120W to 125W of electricity.

 

Monocrystalline Solar Panels

Solar Panels made from monocrystalline cells have been widely used for over 20 years. They are typically used in high reliability applications such as telecommunications. Well known brands include BP and Siemens. These solar panels typically retail at between $10.00 and $11.00 per watt. Under standard conditions their conversion efficiency of sunlight to electricity is much the same as for polycrystalline cells.

 

Amorphous modules

Solar Panels made from amorphous cells have been used in portable items such as pocket calculators for many years, but it has only been since about 1998 that they have become available for rooftop applications in Australia. The best-known brand is UniSolar, which retails for about $10.00 per watt.

 

 

 

How To Build Your Own Solar Panels - The Complete Easy To Follow Step By Step DIY Guide

Apart from being able to build solar panels easily, you can run a self audit of your home to find out how much energy is consumed daily.

After learning about solar energy through the intro, you will then be ready to begin the primary steps of building your own solar panel system...

 

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Build your own solar panels today and save

 

Do You Need Solar Battery Storage?

When considering the environmentally conscientious investment of generating electricity with solar power, you also must consider solar power batteries. If you are going to be generating your own power, you will need batteries for when the sun is not shining and you need a back up source to power your home.

A battery can be used for back-up power or for off-grid applications. When no grid is available it is possible to use a solar and wind inverter which will charge a battery directly. To prevent overcharging which would damage the batteries, the solar generator needs to be disconnected when the battery is full.

If you are using a smaller scale solar power system – they don’t come with batteries.  This means that you get electricity only during the daylight hours, which means no power after dark. For practically purposes though, you need to have a back up battery if you want electricity at night since our modern lifestyles do not allow us to stop using power once the sun goes down.  Another option is to connect to the grid after sundown and use the power from the electric company.

You will need a lot of power stored in those batteries unless you are still operating attached to the grid. Luckily, homeowners who use the grid as back up can take advantage of the Feed-in Tariff or a FiT, also called a Feed-in Law or a FiL. This is a solar premium which is also called Renewable Tariff or renewable energy payments. It was created as an incentive plan, which would encourage the implementation of renewable energy by way of government legislation.

These laws mean that the electricity companies are required to purchase renewable electricity generated from solar PVs, biomass, wind, hydro and geothermal power at higher than the market price set by each government body. This price is meant to offset the costs of implementing renewable energy sources. The rates also differ depending on the type of source used to generate power

So the homeowners or industries that have installed solar panels and are still attached to the grid; can sell the excess electricity produced back to the electric company which will then feed back into the grid system – the homeowner is paid with cash or credits from the utility companies.

This option is not available everywhere so, if you are considering solar power for your home, you will want to make sure you have a good battery storage system. Even if you are connected to the grid, there are plenty of reasons for having back up resources for uninterrupted solar energy no matter where you live or work so having battery storage just makes good sense.

 

What Are The Advantages Of Solar Power?

In this day and age, pretty much everyone knows that we need to start focusing on renewable sources of energy and solar power is one of the most talked about. Of course, it’s no surprise since using the power of the sun has been around in some form since the dawn of time and there are many advantages to using solar power both for homes and businesses.

One of the biggest advantages is that solar power is renewable.  While it might be stronger in some areas and there could be rainy days when no sun is available, no matter how much solar power we use, we will never deplete the resource.  This is in sharp contrast to the fossil fuels we use now which are dwindling in supply.

Also, unlike fossil fuels, solar power does not harm the environment.  There are no byproducts of solar power that leach into the air and create pollution or contribute to greenhouse gasses.  In addition, acquiring the power is not intrusive to the environment like some other forms of energy.  About the most intrusive part would be the solar panels which are well suited in most areas to fit snugly on the roof.

When using solar power for your home, you can be a self contained unit.  While it might not be practical in some areas to rely solely on the sun for power, other, less developed,  areas might benefit immensely by being able to power homes and schools with the sun without having to install power plants and run electrical cables.   In areas where there is not enough sunlight for household needs, systems can be setup so that you can hook into the electrical grid during those times when more energy is needed.

While installing a solar power system for your home or business can be expensive at first, you will eventually see a savings because as time goes on you will not be paying that monthly power bill.  After the initial costs, gathering power from the sun is free so once you have your collection and storage systems set up, you will be reaping the benefits not only in the monthly savings but also in the benefits to our planet.

 

 

 

 

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