DIY Solar Panels

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You would need a room full of environmentally unfriendly batteries to provide power after sunset and so this is not exactly a green solution. It would probably be greener to rely on traditional electricity after dark.

Use PV panels for daytime power by all means and solar water heating for the house and, if you have one, swimming pool. If you need space heating in winter (I’ve been in Athens in sub-zero temperatures) you might consider ground source heating if you have enough room or can have a bore hole.

Do NOT get a domestic wind turbine unless the house is in an exposed location. Most never repay the carbon invested in their manufacture and shipping and do not generate enough electricity to break even before they wear out.

The economics will all depend on subsidies and local prices for electricity and equipment. PV panels are expensive and would take about 20 years to pay for themselves in the UK without the subsidies, solar water heating is a much quicker payback and has been in use in Greece for over 20 years. Ground source heating may not be worthwhile if it is not cold for long enough.

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I have not heard of a practical dye-based panel so far.

They may be lower cost than silicon, but that doesn’t mean lower cost per watt. They may have 1/10 the cost per area of silicon, but I think the power output is much, much less than 1/10. If the link you cite is what I think it is, then the panels you make there produce microamps of current. A typical silicon wafer will give on the order of 5 amps of current (thousands of times more).

It’s also poor economy when the dye-based panel wears out in a year, and needs to be replaced.

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“Solar panel”, is a pretty broad term. It could be used to describe photovoltaics (PV) but it could also be used to refer to solar heating or other methods. However, in common language “solar panel” usually refers to PV.

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Shop in china, HUDIWAILING
B and Q in England (all over) big brand
LEAIDER
in france

Brows the other posts and pages on this site http://diysolarpanels.org.uk

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It is expensive if you just look at the price and say Wow! That is a lot of money. But when you compare it to renting electricity for the next 30 years and total the cost.. Well you end up making money.

You should find the package system you want which comes with instructions on how to install photovoltaic panels. Install the parts of the system you can and hire an electrician to run the wires and make the connections. You could save a great deal of money doing it that way.

Mounting the solar modules on the roof is by far the hardest part of the whole install. The inverter and charge controllers all have a Pos and a Neg markings and so does the solar modules making the wireing hookups easy. However to hook up to the utility you have to have a building inspector sign the paper showing he has inspected it. Catch 22 is you have to have an electrician sign the permit or the building inspector will not approve the system. If you install it wrong your home could be flaged as unsafe and you could end up being put out of your home till the wireing is brought up to code.

It would depend greatly on your particular skills and how big a project you have in mind i.e. number of photovoltaic panels you intend to install.

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From Wikipedia:

“Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) [...] are tradable, non-tangible energy commodities in the United States that represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource (renewable electricity).”

So they’ve more or less bought enough wind power to run their operation. That’s really about as well as you can do if you’re on-grid, and it’s certainly a good step if you care about these things.

Since you can’t tell one electron from the other on the grid, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say “we bought XXX MWh of power from a wind producer and we used XXX MWh of power as well, so we used 100% renewable power.”

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IMDB.com

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Hmmm, please be careful, there are a lot of sharks in those waters.
Write your idea down send it off in a certified letter to yourself and then hang on to it in case you ever need to prove it in court.
Same applies if you do find a partner, send all info in a cert letter and then to a safety deposit box.

People will beat you unconscious for a burger.
Careful when they seem to eager to hear your ideas and give nothing in return

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It is good to know that you are looking into both of these energy sources as your career. I can tell you that it will not be an easy choice but, either way, you will be making a good choice. These careers are booming and there is a lot of opportunity and room to grow in these industries.

I, personally, manage a wind energy facility in Northern California. I lucked out and my site is not very remote. As others have alluded to, they usually build these sites in some very lonely places. I have had my share of being remote but I would not have changed a thing when I look back on it. Your home is where you make it and that is the important thing to remember. Keep in mind though that wind farms can be put up just about anywhere but solar needs to have plenty of sunshine to keep it going. This corralates to a dry environment or a green environment. Take your pick.

Specifically speaking about wind energy, there is no comparison in my book. In wind you have the best office in the area. 300′ is a long way up but the views are outstanding. Solar will keep you land locked and that can get pretty boring. The turbines, themselves, are some amazing machines. I have come to work everyday with a smile on my face because of the machines I get to work with.

The pay can be very good depending on what you want to do. Technicians that travel from site to site are easily seeing $100k a year. This path was not for me as I prefer to be home with my family every night. Technicians who are dedicated to a particular site make, on average, $19-$25 per hour to start and then go up from there. I am not sure about solar so I do not want to pass judgement on their pay scale.

Career progression can be very quick in both industries if you play your cards right. I began in this industry in 2007 and now manage an entire site as the Plant Manager. I have esentially reached the top of the totem pole in the field as it is the Plant Manager who is the lead guy at any project. My next options are to (a) stay in the field where I feel comfortable and enjoy it (b) go to a corporate office and sit in a cubicle every day. However, do not be lead to believe that it is that easy to progress. It takes determination and brains to do it but it can be done.

Overall, go with wind energy and you will not be disappointed. It really all comes down to what interests you the most.

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Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), also known as Green tags, Renewable Energy Credits, Renewable Electricity Certificates, or Tradable Renewable Certificates (TRCs), are tradable, non-tangible energy commodities in the United States that represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource (renewable electricity). Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) are RECs that are specifically generated by solar energy.

These certificates can be sold and traded or bartered, and the owner of the REC can claim to have purchased renewable energy. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Green Power Network, RECs represent the environmental attributes of the power produced from renewable energy projects and are sold separate from commodity electricity.

In states that have a REC program, a green energy provider (such as a wind farm) is credited with one REC for every 1,000 kWh or 1 MWh of electricity it produces (for reference, an average residential customer consumes about 800 kWh in a month). A certifying agency gives each REC a unique identification number to make sure it doesn’t get double-counted. The green energy is then fed into the electrical grid (by mandate), and the accompanying REC can then be sold on the open market.

Rices depend on many factors, such as the vintage year the RECs were generated, location of the facility, whether there is a tight supply/demand situation, whether the REC is used for RPS compliance, even the type of power created. Solar renewable energy certificates or SRECs, for example, tend to be more valuable in the 16 states that have set aside a portion of the RPS specifically for solar energy. This differentiation is intended to promote diversity in the renewable energy mix which in an undifferentiated, competitive REC market, favors the economics and scale achieved by wind farms. Current spot prices for SRECs in most states with solar portfolio standards can be viewed at SRECTrade. For example, prices in July, 2010 ranged from $255/SREC in Delaware to as high as $665/SREC in New Jersey.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_Energy_Certificates

admin answers:

Good question David

From my understanding (and I fully support the amendments to the RET by the way), domestic REC values will be $40 each for the next six months, and the solar multiplier for domestic PV will remain as it was been until then as well. After that time both the value of the RECs AND the amount of PV multiplier will be reviewed and changed as needed which will ultimately mean less capital subsidies for domestic systems. Bare in mind that PV prices have been plummetting lately, which in effect means the subsidy CAN be reduced and system out of pocket costs remain about the same.

If more RECs are generated than needed in that timeframe, the target will be temporarily lifted and then adjusted/corrected as we get closer to 2020.

Hope that helps, and we’ll see how things develop. I’m involved in a sustainability group who will be doing a PV bulk purchase soon – we’ve been waiting for this amendment before going ahead with it as without it, the phantom RECs from the solar mutiplier have been eliminating any net climate benefits.

Edit : I clarified the situation with a policy advisor and if a system is generated now (or in the next six months) the RECs created will count to the 2010 allocation which will mean less slice of the pie for large scale renewables, and therefore the REC is essentially wasted. Advice is to purchase a (domestic) system ONLY if you can defer the RECs generation until after Jan 1st to make sure it will fall into the new system.

Also, here’s the official media release… Http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/minister/wong/2010/media-releases/June/mr20100625.aspx

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Thee plants have already taken care of that. Do not pay some one a tax to breath.

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With engineering, manufacturing, agriculture, and customer support all outsourced to other countries what is left are the jobs that have to be done locally. This includes jobs to come to a customers home to survey, install and service their energy use.

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They are programs designed to give you the training needed to pass entry level certification in renewable energy fields.
NAPCEP is one of the better known independent testing bodies, and many companies are available to provide training.

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Master Certificate in Renewable Energy
The Master Certificate is for professionals who’re serious about mastering the business of renewable energy. Boots on the Roof offers a program for it. They explain the details well about renewable energy certificates.

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It cost .7 per kWh here. I added up the cost of my system and I installed it will take me almost 20 years to get my money back. I should be dead by then. Maybe I will sell the house and make it back because it does increase the value of a home.

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I have made some enquiries on going totally solar and for a hot water service was around £3,000.00..
I am going to totally cover my roof (only 3 sides) with solar panels which will cost around £15 – £20,000.00…
There is talk of  Government paying rebates as incentives to become green on a variety of things.

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In the short, a solar panel is composed of many solar cells…all tied together and in some sort of a frame for mounting. When energy from the sun hits it, it creates a reaction which can feed electricity through leads to a converter system which takes the Direct Current power and converts it into Alternating Current. If you rewire your house for DC products I suppoes you wo’nt need the converter. But most of these systems are retro-fits.
Batteries provide back up source to the system when the sun goes down.
So solar is converted to electricity through the panel, which goes to your solar system which both provides power to the house and to recharge batteries. The batteries take over when the sun is down.
So you will need to know how much battery capacity you need by calculating the Amp hour rating of your appliances that you normally use at night like Microwave, TV, radio, refrigerator, etc. For some depending on the appliance….water heater (if electric) or stove)
then you need to figure out how many panels you need to provide your normal daily energy use, figure out how many batteries you need, set up a distribution system that gives you what you need where you want it and wa la.
Once done, you will be off the grid and paying nothing from the electrical utility. Some places due to deregulation allow you to sell excess power to local utilities too, but those systems need to meet tight standards.

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I don’t know about Texas, but in California, doing a self-install does not invalidate the rebate. And it certainly does not invalidate the Federal Tax Credit on form 5695 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f5695–dft.pdf . Take a look at the form and instructions. I got both rebates installing myself. Florida requires professional installation for their rebate, I think.

You must still be compliant with your local building codes. What you could do is hire a roofer to put up the standoffs and panels, then later, an electrician to hook it up to your service panel. The electrician can run conduit as needed. Or you could do the physical job of putting up the panels, yourself, then call the electrician to hook it up. Just be sure to get all the necessary permits and inspections.

$20k is way too much for just installation. That should buy a 3 kW system, parts included, installed.

If you want to see roughly what’s involved so that you can direct a roofer, you can see a video here: http://www.archive.org/details/DIY_self_installed_solar_photovoltaic_panels

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When you hook a system up to the “grid” you need to get a permit from the city. You will need to submit plans and get them approved. The cost will depend be determined by your city or county.

It is also up to the utility to allow items to be hooked up to the power companies equipment.

I had a solar system installed and the permits were only a few hundred dollars, the solar contractor had to submit plans for approval and we had to have an inspection before we could start the system.

Solar Panels For Your Home