I want to power my new home I am building on solar power alone what will the cost be roughly?

Question

I also want to stay off the electric grid . It would cost an additional ten thousand dollars to be hooked into it and I want to be independant from utilities. Would solar panels and batteries power lights and T.V , computer , washer dryer ect.

Answer 1

There are lots systems available out there, and the price range is huuuuuge.

I built one solar panel for my house just to see how well it would work and now I am powering a couple of lamps and a TV from it.

Seems to me like you could build enough of these to power your whole house.

It cost me about 200 bucks to build and took most of a Saturday.

Here are the plans I used:

http://energyfromhome.com/link.html

Answer 2

I had a similar issue and found a great guide to help.  You can actually make your own solar power system and do it for a very affordable price.  I made my solar system for just under $300.00 but it all depends on how much you really want to power.  For this price you can conceivably power all of your household appliances.  I highly recommend this guide to check out.  http://www.EasyHomeSolarPower.com

Answer 3

TV, lights and small appliances, yes. Washer, maybe. Dryer, not likely unless it's gas - consider a clothesline. Electric range or oven, no. Hot tub, no unless it's converted to a gas heater.

The raw panels are about $3-8 per watt. So for 6Kw figure about $18k for the panels. The charger/inverter and batteries, figure $2-3k more. Figure about $30k including the installation.

You might also consider a generator. The off-grid houses I've seen tend to have them, even if they have batteries too. Add $3k for that.

Do you have a creek? Consider small-scale hydro too.