What are the costs to use solar power?

Answer 1

Of course, there is no charge for the actual sunlight as an energy source. You can take advantage of it for free by purposefully designing your living or work space to take advantage of it. Windows can be positioned so the they let in lots of light in the winter to help heat your space. You can also put thermal mass (water, concrete, etc) inside the building where the sunlight will be shining. This would absorb and hold heat through the day and even into the night. You can also take advantage of this free energy by setting jugs of water out in the sunlight. The water will absorb the heat which can be used for bathing or heating a building. The next level of using solar power would be to cook with it. You can build or buy a solar oven which uses the energy of the sun to cook your food. You could build one yourself for free with salvaged materials or buy one new in the range of $50-$200. To use solar power to run electrical appliances, you will need PV panels (photo voltaic). These convert light to DC electricity. They currently cost from 60¢ to $2 per watt of power rating. So, a 100 watt panel would cost between $60 and $200. They typically have a 20-30 year life span and warranty. If you have DC appliances, you can run them directly off of the solar panel. If you have AC appliances, you will need an Inverter. This changes electricity from DC to AC. Depending on your application (how much electricity you need to convert), these can cost as little as $20 and as much as $20,000. A simple Inverter to charge your cell phone and laptop could be as little as $20-$20. An Inverter to convert enough electricity to run 200 houses in a neighborhood off of 1000s of solar panels would be very expensive. If you need to use the solar panels for electric production when the sun is not shining, you will need to store some of the electricity they make. This could be in the form of a battery or some other kind of energy storage device. Typical batteries start at $100 and go up from there. You will need cables to get the electricity from the solar panels to the batteries and then to what ever devices you will be running. Figure $1-$2 per foot for these. Here's what a simple 400 Watt installation would look like:

Solar panels (4) 100 Watt units at $100 ea. $400

Batteries (2) 100 AmpHr units at $100 ea. $200

Cables from panels to batteries to Inverter $80

Inverter to change electricity from DC to AC $175

Wooden frame to hold solar panels in place $75

Total (without labor costs) $930