Solar Systems For Home Applications

Solar systems are becoming a practical and increasingly attractive source of renewable energy for homes and offices. This could be attributed to three basic causes; namely, the increasing costs of conventional energy, the decreasing prices of improved home solar panel systems and incentive programs offered by governments that make solar energy an attractive choice.

In the U.S., more than 10,000 homes and businesses are powered entirely by solar energy systems. Another several hundred thousand homes use solar panels for their energy requirements. That translates to substantial savings on electricity bills. Respectively, the use of non-renewable resources (fossil fuels, etc.) is reduced, which results in less environmental impact.

The installation cost for a typical home can be $18-20 K if carried out by a professional installation company. This high cost prevents people from using solar panel systems. However one can save on installation through tax credits and state rebates. Also, if you do it yourself, the cost would be only about one-third before tax credits and rebates.

You can have a couple of choices: a stand-alone system which needs a battery or a grid-intertied unit.

A worthwhile upgrade to your home is to convert to grid-intertied solar panel system. As always, planning ahead is the key to successful conversion.

First, calculate the energy you will need based on historical consumption data. You should select the right size of your solar energy system. An oversized unit will generate more energy which you could sell to the grid, but you can only get credit for it and not cash.

After that, understand whether your home is suitable for a solar panel system. The factors to be considered include: available space, building orientation and climate. A rule of thumb for estimating needed roof space is 80 to 100 sq. ft. per kilowatt. Your house should be oriented towards south for the system to be efficient, and there should be no objects that may obstruct sunlight.

Although it is possible to install the solar units on poles, panel systems are as a rule mounted on roofs. Using stainless steel bolts, the mounts are attached to roof rafters. The panels are then attached to the supports.

Solar panel kits are available in the market. There are vendors who sell their panels on the Internet, but I would not recommend that you buy from them unless you have previous experience with installing them.

Standard set of hardware you will need for a stand-alone system without a battery that is connected to the grid includes: solar panels, power inverter, kW/hour meter, roof mounts, a couple of heavy duty safety switches, wirings and conduits. A DIY kit for a 1-kW system would cost a little over $3,000.

If you don't have prior experience in this area, you should pick a respectable vendor who is known for quality service. It is prudent to consider DIY kits with accompanying installation manual with at least enough illustrations. The vendor should preferably have telephone contact, and better yet, could provide an engineer in case you need consultation. Alternatively if you are a lucky guy and have a friend who is experienced in installing home solar energy units, then ask him to help you in the buying of the hardware and in the installation.