Because the initial investment in Solar Power Systems can be expensive, it is feasible to think about the ways in which the costs can be reduced. If a person is technically oriented or very good at home improvement, it is possible that they might consider building their own solar system. The amount of electricity or heat that can be generated is directly influenced by the wattage of the solar panels, as well as by the intensity of the sun light that touches their surface. First, of course, it would be important to learn how solar panels work, what materials are required, the cost of the raw materials and the availability of them, and finally the difficulty involved in assembling and installing them. In the long run, will your effort be rewarded with a solar system that will serve you for a reasonable period of time?

Solar Panels

There are a few things that you need to consider before starting to work on the DIY solar panels. The most important information needed is to determine whether you have enough room on your roof to place the DIY solar panels. In addition to measuring the amount of roof footage needed, you want to determine the amount of exposure to sunlight. In order for the solar panels to be efficient, ideally they should be exposed to the sun for at least six hours every day.

The kits may also include the elements necessary for the building of the homemade solar panels and such packages usually include a soldering iron, flux, tabbing and solar cells. Moreover, the kits include special instructions to follow in order to create the panels, and fortunately you do not need professional expertise in order to make them operational. The step-by-step instructions provide all the technical support necessary for the making of the panels. Several kits include making web forums available that also allow you an opportunity to clarify any possible issues that may come up during the construction of the homemade solar panels.

A fact you should know from the very beginning is that the DIY solar panels are not as reliable as the ones you’d purchase ready made from a producer with lots of experience in the field. The main reason is the quality of the materials and the simplification of techniques that may be included in the kit to make it easier for the person who assembles the unit.

There are plenty of solar panel retailers with whom you could work and purchasing a professionally installed system is the most popular choice in spite of the increased cost. If you decide to go for the alternative and try your hand at one of the homemade DIY kits, then it is highly important that you follow all the steps in the instructions.

The major advantage of using solar panels whether homemade or professional is that they are environment-friendly producing what is usually called “green energy” and have the potential of saving you money by reducing your electricity costs.

If the homemade panels you have already installed prove insufficient for the house needs, you can always add to your system. More states are providing incentives to motivate people to choose green energy systems and move to increased use of homemade solar panels. Talk to a tax consultant to learn the tax advantages of such governmental incentives.

There are 2 popular products available: 1. Earth 4 Energy; and, 2. Home Made Energy

Here are just a few of the topics covered in the Earth4Energy manual:

If you would like additional information, go to Earth 4 Energy
.

Here is some of the information that is included in Home Made Energy:

And this doesn’t mean you need to build one or another.

You can easily build both systems and generate even more energy.

And once you have my instructions, you will feel as if you have bought an Ikea package and you just have fun while building it.

For more information from Home Made Energy

Even with the homemade solar panels you can create two types of utilities: some that are used to generate heat only, and others that produce electricity. Solar panels absorb the sun’s energy and collect and store the sun’s heat and use it to heat water either for the house or pool to cover the household needs; the second model relies on photovoltaic cells for the generation of electricity. The system also includes a battery as the main storage device along with the homemade solar panels. Finally, the other items required for the installation of the homemade solar panels are the tracking solar mounts.

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The US is not the leading user of solar energy for a very obvious reason: they can still afford to buy fossil fuels from the international market. In other countries the oil prices are ten times higher than in the US despite the fact that going for alternative fuels would be a lot better in the long run. Today, more and more countries are looking at solar energy as a primary source of power. There are several countries which can be considered to be at the helm of solar energy technology.

The number one user of solar energy is Germany which utilizes almost 50% of the world market of photovoltaic cells. Nowhere else in the world can you find the most number of households with solar panels installed on their roof tops. Germany has the Renewable Energies Law (EEG) which passed in 2000. The law inspired the Germans to feel the need to use renewable fuels.

According to statistics, Germans invested nearly $5 billion USD in solar photovoltaic systems and have contributed to the considerable growth of the solar energy market. Although the use of solar panels receive the most attention, it doesn’t mean that Germany’s solar industry is limited to the production of photovoltaic cells for electricity. Germany also leads the industry in the use of solar panels for home water heating systems. It has been reported that the German solar hot water market earns $1.5 billion USD per year.

The “solar park” in Arnstein, Bavaria, Germany (pictured) is one of the biggest photovoltaic plants in the world. It became operational in 2006 and with more than 1,400 PV solar panels producing 12 megawatts of energy.

Spain is the next biggest country in terms of usage of solar energy. The solar energy usage in the country, more specifically the photovoltaic cells usage, has a world market share of 27%. Spain has no sign of slowing down its aggressive and pro-active approach to solar energy. Solar fields are being constructed;one of the latest ones is the 60 MW solar field in Olmedilla de Alarcón, near Cuenca.

There are other big solar plants in Spain. These include the solar park 12 miles outside of Salamanca, Spain which has 70,000 PV panels divided into three 36-hectare arrays. The arrays produce an output is 13.8 megawatts and has been powering roughly 5,000 homes since it opened in 2007.

The rest of the world is following the lead set by Germany and Spain. Japan and the US share in the photovoltaic world market. The two countries each have an 8% market share, a far cry from that of Germany and Spain. It is very important that countries continue to improve the use of solar power in the world solar market.

Other notable countries that use solar power include Algeria, Australia, Italy, and Portugal. Aside from the richer European countries, people in Israel and India are realizing the importance of using alternative sources of energy.

These countries are the leaders in the development and use of solar energy technology; however, other countries are slowly catching up. The government of Israel, for example, required all residential buildings to install solar water heating systems in the early 90s. Today, business establishments, for example hotels and office buildings, are trying to use solar power as an alternative to fossil fuels as those prices continue to soar in the world market.

India is facing a similar energy crisis and they are also looking at solar energy to get them through it.

More information can be obtained about the growth and development of the European Solar Market from the European Solar Thermal Technology Platform (ESTTP).

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Solar photovoltaic systems, or PV systems, are the components in a solar cell that actually grab the energy from the sun and turn it into energy. PV cells grab sunlight directly and convert it into electricity. Because of the demand for clean sources of energy, PV systems are the fastest growing area of technology in the world and production of solar cells that use PV systems has been consistently doubling about every two years. Mainly this is due to rising interest in solar energy and the desire of more people to buy solar panels to create their own electricity and heat for their homes. The demand for improved solar power technology encourages governments and businesses to invest time and money into improving the technology and making it more cost efficient.

Austria Solar

The good news is that more and more homes are being built with PV systems already installed which makes it easier and less costly for consumers to buy environmentally friendly homes that run on solar power. Businesses that want to operate factories more cost effectively and in a more environmentally friendly way while collecting some nice government incentives are also installing solar PV energy systems.

Net metering and financial incentives by governments have encouraged the growth of solar supported PV installations in many countries including Germany, Australia, Israel, Japan, and the United States. Germany is currently the biggest market for solar PV systems with the United States, Australia and Spain not far behind.

Solar PV systems are being used successfully around the world to power devices like roadside signs, traffic lights, emergency phones, and other stand alone devices that might be difficult to power using traditional electricity or batteries. Solar PV energy has proved enormously successful at powering these devices. Using solar PV systems in these types of devices and in other everyday machines like parking meters has saved many cities and towns a lot of money because they don’t need to send out regular maintenance crews to make sure that these things are still running properly.

At the end of 2008, global installations reached 15,200 megawatts which consists of approximately 90% of the generating capacity of grid-tied electrical systems. Many of the installations are ground-mounted or built into the roof or walls of a building.

Critics of solar PV systems say that while the solar energy produced by the PV cells doesn’t have any harmful effects to the environment the production of these cells does result in some pollution. Advocates of the solar PV cells say that they are working on developing a type of PV energy cell the production of which won’t produce any pollution. While the production of the cells does create some pollution it doesn’t create as much pollution as other types of materials do when manufactured or used to create energy.

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2009 © European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF)
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Solar panels are flat collections of solar cells that are used to catch the Sun’s energy and to create electricity and heat.  Because the sun’s energy is very diffuse as it shines down it takes a collection of solar cells to generate enough energy to make electricity or heat.  Solar panels come in different sizes and shapes so that they can be used on a variety of different types of buildings but no matter what shape or size they are the basic design of a solar panel is the same. 

How do solar cells work?

Solar cells are wafers made of a semi-conductive material, usually silicon, combined with rarer elements such as phosphorus and boron. The silicon is what grabs the energy from the sun and traps it to be used for electricity while the phosphorus and the boron help excite the molecules and intensify the energy that is coming into the cell. When the sun’s rays hit the silicon and are channeled through the cell the molecules excite and travel through an attached electrical circuit, creating electricity.

Solar panels convert anywhere from about 14% to about 22% of the sun’s energy that hits the panel into electricity. That doesn’t seem like a lot of electricity produced but the amount of electricity that a solar panel can generate also depends on where the panel is positioned and how much direct sun it gets.  When there is no sun or the panel isn’t in the directly sunlight it gets little or no sun and will produce little or no electricity. The low efficiency of solar cells is a problem to their large-scale use. It takes many large solar panels of solar cells to provide enough electricity to power a house or a building.

Solar panels produce electricity that can be used for lighting but solar panel energy can also be used to heat a home or building. A solar thermal heating system consists of solar panels that are arranged in a specific spot where the solar panel energy is used to heat a tank of water. The hot water runs under the floors of the house, heating them, and then the water is piped back to the tank to be heated again.

Thermal solar heating systems work very well and are a cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative to expensive gas or electric heating systems. Solar thermal energy is often used quite a bit by people that have pools and outdoor hot tubs to heat the water they use.  It’s a lot less expensive to heat a large pool or a hot tub with thermal solar energy than it is to use fossil fuel heaters that can cost a fortune.

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