Why Does Solar Cost Vary Greatly?
Going green becomes more popular nowadays and one way to implement it is by installing electric solar panels on your rooftops to make electricity. The panels will give you DC voltage and in order to make it applicable for your home appliance you have to invert it to AC voltage.
To process the DC voltage into AC voltage there are some additional parts needed. Basically what parts to buy are determined by what set up you prefer to. The first option you may consider is on-grid or grid-tie system. On-grid is widely preferred by people because it is cheaper than other systems. Having on-grid means you send the solar electricity to the utility grid.
What makes on-grid system cheaper? It is because we don't have to store the solar electricity in solar batteries so the only main parts we need to buy is solar inverter only. By eliminating the batteries we cut down the solar cost because these batteries are expensive, however this system also has a downside: During power outages you will be left alone without electricity supply.
The second option is to have a battery backup solar inverter. With this system your solar electricity is still connected to the grid but also backed up with the battery bank. By doing so you will still have electricity during utility outages. If you vote for this system you need to purchase a solar charge controller, solar batteries and also different type of solar inverter. Now you can see why the solar cost varies greatly.
The last option is you have it off-grid. This system is normally picked up by people living in remote areas where utility lines are not available. Here you will need to purchase the solar charge controller, solar batteries and also solar inverter. Same as other options mentioned above you also need to buy other items such as wiring, terminal connections, etc. The inverter for this system is different from the other types mentioned above. You may need to backup this system with gas generator or wind turbine in case of sun outages.
Having these figures above we can safely estimate about $20,000 - $60,000 is needed to start your home solar project. This cost is greatly varied and depends on how big you want to have your solar system to be. Voting for a full solar electricity system is not a good idea because the cost will jump high.
The other factors that also contribute to the price are the quality of solar parts and installation cost. Solar inverters for example has a wide quality range and solar installation cost differs from one company to another.
If you want to reduce the cost there is a good solution offered by the US government. Installing green energy in your house will allow you to get 30% federal tax benefit plus other tax benefit given by the states. By sending the electricity to the grid you also get some credits from the utility company.
There is no need to fully go with 100% solar electricity, even starting with 15% substitution will make a difference. You can always expand your system later on.
Many people think that we spend a one time investment only for home solar system which is paid up front, however this is not completely true. Solar panels are known to have very long lifespan, can be more than 20 years but other parts such as batteries and inverters have shorter lifespan so you will need to put them in your cost calculation as well.
Should you still have no idea about the cost planning there are solar companies available. Search them online and drop your query. They would be happy to help you.
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