There’s a lot of hype about being able to build your own DIY solar panels for less than a night out on the town and being able to ‘get off the grid’.  But for most people who are serious about alternative energy, there are a number of solar power for homes cost considerations.  These include material costs for construction of the panels, the cost of having a battery bank large enough to store excess power, and for the less handy among us, the cost of professional installation.  Many people look for cheap home solar power but aren’t sure how to achieve it.

More often than not, and environmental considerations aside, the real question playing on people’s minds is whether the savings associated with converting your home to solar power will outweigh the cost.  Let’s take a look at the answer.

DIY Solar Power Generator Or Professional Installation?
Obviously the first thing to decide is whether we want to pay for someone to install our solar panels or whether we think we have the ability to go it alone. Make no mistake, the cost associated with engaging solar power companies is far greater than the DIY option. There are of course, pro’s and con’s associated with each.

The con’s are that for many, the cost of hiring someone is prohibitive. Depending on the company it can cost anywhere between $7,000 and $12,000 to have professionally installed solar panels. Obviously smaller options, such as a dual panel array are cheaper – around $3,000. The smaller the array the lower the cost, but the trade off is obviously that the capacity to generate power is lower the smaller the system.

If you aren’t confident in your ability to install your own solar panels, or simply want to avoid the hassle of making sure everything works, its just a case of obtaining quotes and running with the best option.

With the DIY option there is the chance to make huge savings on materials, and we avoid labor costs entirely – other than our own, that is! Sure, it involves more hard work, but if you’re the type that enjoys having a weekend project then this is one which can yield pretty significant benefits (a bit like that ten case esky I made last year).

What Will It Cost?
In terms of a DIY system, the cost really depends upon:
- How many panels we need to match our energy consumption;
- The size of the battery bank.

To give an indication, to help offset the needs of an average family home, we would need between 8 and 10 80-100 Watt panels and 16 12V batteries assuming the following energy requirements:
- standard sized fridge and freezer;
- 36 inch tv in use 4 hours per day;
- 2 or 3 lights on three hours per day;
- a laptop computer with LCD screen in use three hours per day;
- general appliances in use throughout the day, such as the microwave;

This equates to approximately 3000 daily watt hours. With good energy conservation that requirement could be reduced, but assuming material costs per panel plus ancillary costs of our battery bank and connections, we can potentially integrate solar power into our home for one tenth the cost of commercial solutions.

When making a cost/benefit analysis the reality is that the focus should be on long term. Admittedly, its not always easy to do that when faced with the prospect of forking out five digits to get your solar array right now. However, even more expensive non DIY systems can be expected to pay for themselves in ten to fifteen years, and usually have a life expectancy of twenty five to thirty.

There are lots of really solid DIY solar power kits that are available which make DIY solar power more accessible than ever.  That means there’s plenty of opportunity to save, and in the case of us DIY hero’s, it means solar power for home cost considerations shouldn’t be an impediment at all.