Solar Power Home

The decision’s made…you really want to reduce your reliance on your local power company. And you want to decrease your carbon emission footprint. So who do you increase your reliance on? The “Big Power Company” of course…the sun.

It’s a great idea. (but then you probably already know that, right?) Assuming, of course, you can capture enough sunshine to offset the cost over time. There are areas of the country where it simply isn’t feasible to use solar energy, so before you start, you might want to check the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) website to determine how well-suited your locale is.

Once you’ve made that determination and you’re ready to start construction, you will quickly figure out that building a solar energy panel isn’t rocket science. After you’ve paid for your initial expense, you may find you have a significant savings on your energy bill.

While many consumers consider solar energy an “all or nothing” proposition, the truth is that you can start small, see how it works, and add on if you like it and find it to be energy-efficient.

Pre-build solar energy panels are getting cheaper. But that doesn’t mean they’re cheap yet. In fact, far from it. Building your own panels, however, can be both fun and interesting. If you can do it yourself, and have a little extra time, or are maybe a little short of funds, you can also save a bundle of money.

I’ve discovered that there’s a lot more than one recipe for building solar energy panels. There are books, e-books, and tons of articles on the Internet on how to build solar energy panels. A little research can help you find what will work best for how your solar energy will be used, and what materials are most readily available to you.

Using what research shows as currently available technology, and readily available construction material for a photovoltaic (PV) panel, this is what you can expect as the necessary ingredients for a basic recipe:

1. Solar cells

2. Shallow box built from plywood

3. Some type of substrate, often masonite pegboard

4. Plexiglass to protect cells

5. Screws and hardware

6. Wire

7. Silicone Caulk

8. Diode

9. Jones Plug

The next step is soldering, or connecting, the solar cells together, mounting a blocking diode inside the panel, and connected a polarized two-pin jones plug at the end of the wires. The connected solar cells as protected by a glass placed over the box, and silicone caulk is used as a sealant to prevent water from seeping in. Once you’ve got everything together, and your panel properly sealed, connect it to a battery bank and inverter, and you’ve got an “off-grid” power system.

To get a demonstration of how one solar panel was put together using this recipe, go to www.mdpub.com/solarpanel/index.html. You’ll find the box size, solar cell size, photographs, and where the author was able to get all of his materials.

One of the things this article points out is that although there are many types of solar cells, cells of the same type all produce the same voltage. So if you use larger solar cells, you’ll get more power, but the panel will weigh more.

Keeping the panels manageable for one person to handle is a major element if you’re doing this project on your own. Since most DIY’s (do-it-yourselfers) install as well as build, unless you’re making a permanent installation and have plenty of extra help to put up, it will be a plus if you keep the panel small and light. If you decide the process is worthwhile, both from a cost-savings point of view as well as an energy-saving perspective, you can always add multiple solar panels with a larger battery bank and more inverts to expand your system.

As previously mentioned, solar cells are currently relatively expensive. However, new technology in the construction of solar energy panels is rapidly advancing. Some fascinating innovations that are coming to the forefront can be found at www.treehugger.com. A few of them are: CIGS (copper indium gallium diselinide) thin film solar cells, being developed by the U. S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory that will be cheaper than the current silicon-based cells. Another new innovation is the Cool Earth Inflatable Balloon, which is designed to concentrate more direct sunlight onto smaller solar panels. And another very clever innovation is solar panel constructed from ‘hairy’ thin nanowires.

As you will see after a little research, there are choices for construction. Whatever you use, however, to construct your solar energy panel, it’s a project with a payoff. You’ll be decreasing your own reliance on a non-renewable energy source (fossil fuel), lessening your negative environmental impact, and, as a DIY’er, you’ll be doing it the most cost-efficient way.

Want to find out more about solar energy panels, then visit Timothy Peters’s site at: www.HomeSolarPowerExplained.com