I want to provide solar power and heated water to a 1500sqft home for a family of 4, what do I need?

Question

If building from scratch what components do I need and how much would it cost?

Answer 1

Solar powered electricity is still a lot more expensive than wind power - so if you have the space for a wind turbine then that would be a better option. As to heating water you can easily and cheaply install solar water heaters that can provide anything from 50% to 100% of your hot water depending upon where you live and the system design.

Answer 2

Solar power is very expensive. I once built a remote communications site in Ecuador . Powered it at average power of 500 watts. The solar panels cost $10,000 and a storm came about 4 months and blew them all over the jungle.

Answer 3

You'll need to determine how much electricity you will ever need.  Will you expect to do some heating?  If you're using electric then you'll need to factor that into the size as well.  Also, if you're not planning on connecting to the electric grid, then you'll need to determine how much energy you'll need for several cloudy days in a row  - and size your system so that you can make that much energy in one sunny day.

Once you have the size of the system you'll need, you can figure on paying between $7 and $10 per watt for the solar system - not including batteries.    The components you'll need will be solar electric panels and connectors.  You'll need an inverter if you're planning on wiring your house for AC power.  If you're going off grid, you'll likely want to look at DC appliances and save on inverter costs.  

I've done a quick calc below, just for kicks.

National average household electric use was about 10,500 kWh  in 2001.  Let's assume that you'll be really energy efficient in your choice of appliances and knock that back to 8000 kWh per year.

Let's also assume, just for kicks, that this electric use will be evenly consumed over the whole year.  That means you'll use about 22 kWh per day.  This is certainly not true, but it at least gives us a starting point for our costing.

You'll be able to harvest solar power for a maximum of about 5 hours per day, on average (a bit more or less, depending on where you live).    So you'll need at least 4400 watts of solar power.   At a cost of $7 per watt, that means you'll be paying roughly $30,000, not including batteries, to set up your system.  

For comparison, to purchase 10,500 kWh of electricity from the utility, at a price of perhaps 12 cents per kWh, you'd pay $1300 per year in electric costs.

I know that all these costs are wrong, but sometimes it is helpful to get an idea of the relative cost and savings of different options, just so you understand what you're dealing with.  Your system will NOT cost less than $30,000, probably quite a bit more.  You will almost certainly not pay MORE than $1300 per year in electric costs if you choose not to install the solar system.

If, with all this said, you are still interested in a solar system, then I would find a local vendor and start getting some sizing and costing information from them.  Two good resources for finding local vendors of solar systems are below

Hope this helped.

Answer 4

Unfortunatly you have the "cart before the horse" unless your house has been built with efficiency in mind the cost could be huge. To retrofit a house to be efficient could be quite an undertaking, first the design of your house , i.e. ,orientation of windows to take advantage of passive solar energy then their is insulation, appliances, heating system, it goes on and on. I suggest you spend some time in a bookstore reading books on energy efficient home etc and then look at your home and see how it measures up, it takes a commitment by the ENTIRE FAMILY to make it work as it is acctually a change in thinking and lifestyle, GOOD LUCK--YOU CAN DO IT !!!

Answer 5

About $50,000.