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While theres much to be said for do-it-yourself energy projects, homemade solar cells are extremely time-consuming and take a lot of work.

A much simpler option is to buy used solar cells. It takes as little as five minutes and its not as expensive as you might believe.

There are some places where you could try to purchase low-cost solar cells. You may approach the hardware shop in your area, or may be you could verify from a highway patrol to find out if they have managed to retrieve any solar panels destroyed in any recent car accidents.

The above two ways are possibilities of buying cheap solar cells. Other than that is a way where you can get them easily - its through eBay. It works like this:

First, search using terms like broken solar cells or chipped solar cells to find open auctions where you are most likely to get a good price.

Dont forget to read the descriptions before bidding to make sure the cells are not damaged beyond repair. Also check to see that they all are about the same size so that they can be assembled together on a single panel.

For slightly more money you can also search for transparent cells or newer cells by major companies, such as Evergreen Solar. This alternative will cost a bit more, but it will make it easier to determine how many cells youll need to use on a panel.

How much should you expect to pay?

This entirely depends on the condition of low-cost solar cells when you bought them from eBay, but if you follow what we suggested above, you would not be spending more than a few cents for each cell.

Evergreen Solar Offers 100% functional and professionally produced cells which are very expensive. Still you should not increase your cents more than 10 for each individual cell.

In addition to the above, the shipping charge will cost you quite a bit. Sometimes you may also pay upwards of $20 depending upon the location of the seller and the shipping method.

You are likely to pay $ 30- $ 50 for 500 chipped solar cells, which is perhaps not sufficient to entirely cut down your electricity bill. But it is sufficient enough to reduce it and save you thousand of dollars per year.