How can I build my own solar panels to install on my roof to power all home appliances?How many panels I need?

Question

I live in MD and an old stupid governor signed a new electric bill in 2000 to increase BGE power fees for the next 12 years or so. Electricity rate hike is in effect at 50% increase plus 5%-7% yearly until 2012. And MD govenrment declined the installation of windmills and extra power plants to provide power demand, yet, they rather charge the citizens more money than to offer solutions. We know who's getting paid and not the FBI nor the House of Delegates want to launch a corruption investigation. Instead of moving out of MD, I would like to be power independent from these greedy corrupted politicians- Such wealthy clowns now- I wonder why.... ???

Answer 1

You can't really make these, they require special machinery and chemicals.

You need to buy them, plus batteries plus charge controller, plus an inverter. Get a set of arrays with 3-4 times, more capacity than you need to cover you at night and when the sun isn't shining.

Depending on your power requirements, this will cost $20k to 50k.

Your roof has to be large, facing south, and with nothing in the way to shade any of it from the sun.

You cannot be completely independent of the power company, as there are long periods when there is no sun, and to keep your house powered during those intervals would require a large number of large batteries. If the utility company allows, you can be setup so that you sell power to the utility when you have excess power, and when the sun is not out, you buy power from them.

First thing you want to do is calculate your power consumption. You can look at old utility bills to get the number of kW-hrs. Get numbers over a year, as winter use is different from summer use.

good luck, contact me if you want more info.

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Answer 2

I think you're power requirements here for all of your home are a bit excessive, the initial cost is high. However for some things (in my cabin I run just a TV, VCR, and ocassional microwave) you can build a panel for $200. So I guess if you were willing to do $200 x however many you need building is way cheaper than buying. Anyways I got my schematics from http://www.ebooksreviewed.info/earth4ene... and they came with sources for all the cheapest parts. It was a good buy in my book.