PV Gap

Gabriel Said:

hi any did propal about solar power for home electricitiy?i need help,thanks in advance.?

We Answered:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=solar+p…

Gary Said:

How much I have to spend to install a solar power for home for 5 kwp?

We Answered:

The installed cost of such a system should be anywhere between $15,000 and $50,000 - depending on the state incentives, if any, where you live.

My neighbor got 4 kW installed last summer for $12,000 net.

Emma Said:

where can I buy affordable home Solar power?

We Answered:

Something sounds wrong. It's a remote area, yet you will have mobile phones, internet connection, and TV? If it's a place that has this kind of thing, it probably has grid power. If not, you should look into buying a gas-powered generator when you get there.

Portable solar power, the kind that's really useful, is not cheap, and I noticed that your question has the word, "affordable." A system that puts out 200 watts is not hard to find, but the kind of run time you will get powering a small TV is maybe 20 minutes, powering a laptop, maybe half an hour. And then, it would take 7-10 sunny days to charge itself up again. Such a system has no chance of powering most microwave ovens. That's what you get for $500. You would scale up if you want more runtime.

If you buy a rigid solar panel of 200W when you get there, you could use it to charge two car batteries, and run an inverter off those. That would give you several hours of runtime, but would not be portable at all. I would expect to spend $2000 on such a setup, and donate it to my host when I left.

The best advice I can give you may be to live as the natives do. That will make your experience richer, anyway. If they use kerosene lamps, or open fire, then do your work by that light. If they cook in an underground pit, or with a solar oven, or eat most of their food raw, you do that, too. All of the appliances you list sound unnecessary, except possibly the laptop, and only if it's used to control or automatically gather data from some equipment. To take notes, there's always pen and paper.