If you want to get solar panels as cheaply as possible, realistically you have three options:

• Buy Solar Panels Wholesale.
• Find Retail Bargains.  Hunt for bargains such as those we found on Amazon where they are selling the various solar panels at very competitive prices
• Go DIY.  But only if you are really keen to do this and want to make just a couple of solar panels as a project.  Use one of the recommended “how to make solar panels” guides / kits.  See our DIY Solar Panel Guides review.   A 60 watt panel should cost around $150 – $175, equivalent to $2.5 – $2.92 per watt

The 2^nd and 3^rd options are discussed elsewhere on this site.  Let us take a closer look at the issues surrounding buying solar panels wholesale.

Buying Solar Panels Wholesale.

There are an increasing number of renewable energy wholesalers who are buying solar panels in bulk and selling these at very competitive prices to the customer direct.

There are a number of points you need to be aware of:

• Not often the Latest Products. When you buy solar panels wholesale you are not likely to get the latest solar panel designs or products.  The latest products command a premium.  Suppliers want to sell the latest products and are therefore keen to shift older products to make room for the new.  The older products may not be as technically advanced and may not be as efficient, but as you are buying a panel than produces a specific number of watts, the only downside may be that the latest product produces the same wattage from a slightly smaller panel.  Not really a big issue.
• Mounting Kits.  Make sure there are readily available mounting kits for the panels before you buy them.  Panels aimed at the commercial market can be adapted to residential use without any problems, just make sure you can get the mounts.
• Delivery Costs.  Check out the cost of delivery, as this can be significant.  Also, many wholesalers will charge a re-packing fee if you buy a single or odd number of panels.
• Warranty and Ts&Cs. Check the warranty and terms and conditions regarding returns, etc.  Make sure these are acceptable.  If not, find another wholesaler.
• Minimum Order Quantities. We thought this was going to be the biggest issue as most wholesalers will only sell solar panels by the pallet, often the equivalent to 20, 24, 30 or 60 panels.  However, we have found minimum quantities that ranged from 1 to 368!!  So, as long as you are not too picky, this should not be a problem.
• Access and Fork Lifts.  Before you order a pallet load, make sure you are aware of any possible issues regarding access to your property (it might be a very big truck!) and find out if they expect you to have your own fork lift to take the pallet off the truck.
• End of Line Products. For some solar panels only limited quantities may be available, so if you want additional panels in the future, the exact same solar panel may not be available.  Again, this is not really an issue.  Just be aware that you could end up with two different solar panel models on your roof or in your yard.

Make Sure You Get a Bargain

Finally, just because you are buying solar panels wholesale does not mean you are always getting a bargain.  Always check the cost per watt (price of panel delivered / panel wattage).  Again, on the wholesale solar panels that we checked these varied considerably from $1.85 to $4.76 a watt.

Keep in mind that the Amazon supplied Sunwatts 120 works out at $2.98 per watt.  So only pay more than $3.00 per watt if there is a particular panel that you really have to have.

Solar Panels Wholesale – Conclusion

Increased production facilities in China and the recent fall off in demand from Europe (one of the ramifications of the credit crunch) should result in the continual lowering of prices.

In our article on the cost of solar panel, we calculated costs based upon buying sufficient panels to give 3000 watts.  For each option this would work out as follows:

• Retail – Amazon’s Sunwatts 120 watt Solar Panel at $358 for 120 watts, is $8950 for 3000 watts.  But more retail panels will cost you nearer $15,000.
• Wholesale – we managed to find a 225 watt solar panel for $549, $2.44 per watt, minimum order quantity 2 panels, and this works out at $7686 for 3150 watts.
• DIY – at around $150 – $175 for a 60 watt panel, works out at $7500  – $8750 for 3000 watts.  But we strongly recommend against this route. See below.

(add delivery charges to these prices)

Final Word on DIY

Given the time and effort required to make your own solar panels, this is a route we can only recommend if you want a couple of solar panels to provide lighting and some power for a shed, garage or workshop.  This could be an enjoyable and satisfying project to undertake over a few weekends or during the winter months.  In which case there are some really excellent guides/kits available.  See our independent Review for details.

If you want to buy sufficient solar panels to substantially reduce your electricity bills or provide green energy for your off grid cabin or house, do not even think about making dozens of solar panels yourself. Not only is it a great deal of work, but you will not qualify for any government grants or rebates, your panels will not last as long as commercial panels, and quite honestly, you can buy commercial solar panels from Amazon for virtually the same price and these come with full manufacturer’s guarantees of performance for 25 years.

I wish you all the best – please let me know how you get on with your search for cheap panels.

Technorati Tags: cost of solar panels, DIY solar panel kits, solar panel guides review, solar panel home, solar panels wholesale

With the current state of the economy and the increasing impact of fossil fuels on the Earth’s climate, more and more people want to have a solar panel home.  If you are concerned about the environment or just looking to save money, there are a number of solar and wind power products that both help save you money and help save the planet.

The good news is that with the growing interest in renewable energy and the ongoing breakthroughs in technology, going green at home makes sound economic sense, if you take the long view.  Also, you don’t need to spend weeks and months researching how create your own solar panel home.  There are many different products on the market, ranging from DIY guides and plans, to used solar panels, through to custom made windmills.

There are three broad categories of renewable green energy that you should consider as part of creating your own solar panel home:

hot water solar panels

Hot Water Solar Panels for Heating your Water.

Hot water solar panels  or solar thermal panels are usually installed in the roof of your house and use the sunlight to directly heat your water.  Even if you live in a cooler country such as the UK, hot water solar panels can dramatically reduce your hot water bills.  The actual payback period will depend on your location, but in the UK payback should be between 5 – 10 years.  With the likely increase in the cost of gas and electricity, this payback period can be expected to get shorter.  For maximum return on your funds, your first investment in solar energy should be to install hot water solar panels.  Do this before you start looking at installing electric solar or PV panels.

electric solar or PV panel

Electric Solar Panels.

Electric solar panels or photovoltaic panels are often referred to as PV panels.  PV panels generate electricity and can be bought from a number of sources.  If you explore this website you will find a number of articles on where to get them cheaply, either retail or wholesale.  Photovoltaic panels can reduce your electricity bills and  if they are grid tied (connected to the electric grid) you will also get paid by the electricity companies for the surplus electricity you generate but don’t use.  However, to make a substantial difference to your solar panel home electric bill, it will be necessary to install a large number of PV panels.  The amount of solar panel watts required for your solar panel home to make a 70% cut in your electricity bill depends on your circumstances.  See our article on Solar Panel Cost and Payback for some real life examples of the cost and benefits of solar panel installations.

Wind Powered Turbines.

Windmills have been around for centuries, but with the advances in blade design coupled with the technological improvement to electricity generators have

♠

wind turbine

made these very attractive as viable sources of renewable energy.  Again, these can be purchased as complete products from the manufacturer or there are a number of very good guides and kits available that enable you to have your own wind powered generator at a significantly reduced cost.

Make It Yourself?

There are a number of websites promoting their “how to make your own solar panels” guides and videos.  Many of these make all sorts of outlandish claims and completely fail to spell out the problems of trying to use DIY solar panels.  If you are tempted by the DIY route, please keep the following in mind:

• A typical house needs at least 3000 watts of solar energy.  That is a minimum of 50 x 60watt solar panels.
• Government grants are usually available for installing solar panels, but these grants are NOT applicable to DIY solar panels.
• It is most unlikely that your electricity company will allow you to connect your DIY panels to the grid, so you won’t be allowed to connect your DIY panels to your ring main at home.
• Nor will you be able to sell the electricity you generate to your electric company.
• Commercially manufactured solar panels should last 25 – 30 years, your DIY solar panel will have a much reduced life.

All things considered, it simply doesn’t make sense to go the DIY route.  If you install DIY panels on you roof and these catch fire (yes, it does happen), don’t be surprised if your insurance company turns down you claim once they ascertain you had installed PV panels that were not commercially manufactured.

Even if you just want to make a couple of panels to provide external lighting for your garden or a workshop, if you search around you may well be able to buy commercially manufactured UL certified panels for not a lot more than the cost of making them yourself.  We came across some very competitive retail bargains on Amazon where they are selling the equivalent of 2 x 60watt panels for $360, so making them yourself will not provide any real cost savings.  

If you are still determined to make your own solar panel, then make sure you get the best guide available so you do it properly and safely.  Our review of the leading guides identified 3 suppliers who have done an excellent job of showing you step by step how to make a solar panel.  The “how to do it” guide that stood out as being the most complete product was HomeMadeEnergy.  Other guides also highly recommended are GreenDIYenergy and Earth4Energy.  But when visting their websites, please do not be taken in by their outlandish claims and talk of selling your electricity back to your utility company!.

Conclusion

A growing number of folk are wanting to set up their own solar panel home and use the renewable energy options described above to provide clean, green, environmentally safe, reliable energy.  We know that fossil fuels will eventually run out and the longer we go on using them, the greater the harm to our planet.  These sources of renewal energy do not produce greenhouse gasses or pollute our air, sea or rivers.

Whether you are driven by a desire to save the planet, just want to save money or love the idea of making something that will provide you with free energy, there are great products on the market.  If you want a great science or DIY project, making your own solar panel should be enjoyable and very satisfying, see our review for details of the “how to” guides that are available.  But if you are seriously wanting to install a number of solar panels to cut your electricity bills and help the planet, don’t bother with the DIY route, buy retail or search out some wholesale bargains.

Technorati Tags: electric solar panels, hot water solar panels, solar panel home

I need some help in fixing solar panel at home, how much it would cost in terms of kwh and also what could be the best idea in terms of cost effectiveness,
1. the solar panel with battery to keep the electricity back up.
2. the solar panel without battery which means direct utilisation of power by means of solar panel.

One better thing about installing solar panels for home is that many local and federal programs provide grants and low interest loans to homeowners to offset the cost of these solar panel systems. You should make sure that you look into any of these programs available and find out if you qualify.

How many batteries will I need and what size inverter will I need just to run it? Anyone know what size solar panel I should use also? It costs me $40 a month to run this sucker lol. Tryin to save money. Thanks for any help.

If your power costs 20 cents per kWh, then that means the TV consumes 40/0.2 = 800 kWh per month. That would mean that the TV is on for 2400 hours a month, which can’t be right, as there are only about 720 hours in a month. Maybe your electricity costs more, but even with the TV on 24/7, this doesn’t make sense.

That suggests to me that you’re blaming the wrong thing – look for some other thing in your house hogging a lot of power. You can buy a thing called a Kill-a-Watt meter to monitor how much an individual appliance is using. Or, the cowboy way is to just go to your service panel, flip breakers on and off one at a time, and see which one makes your electric meter slow down and speed up. Then find out what is on that circuit.

I’m a big fan of solar, but don’t want to see you waste your money when the problem can be solved by other means. Solar is great in the right location, but only after the house itself is made as efficient as possible first.

How many batteries will I need and what size inverter will I need just to run it? Anyone know what size solar panel I should use also? It costs me $40 a month to run this sucker lol. Tryin to save money. Thanks for any help.

$40 a month suggests that this TV is on a lot. It is your lifestyle to have it on regardless of whether anyone is watching? If so, changing that habit would be the biggest moneysaver.

Powering the TV from batteries would not be cost-effective given that you have grid electricity already. The kind of solar that might save money (and even then, depends on your location) would be grid-tied solar, that powers your house in general, and the TV as part of that. Grid-tied usually involves a big up-front investment, which you get back after 5, 10, 15 or more years in saved electricity. You would need to check with some local solar installers if that’s the route you want to take.

If your goal is to save money immediately, your only option is to conserve.

Hi, I want to generate electricity using solar panel at home and I want to follow a simple tutorial.
Could you recommend me a good tutorial?

Photovoltaics are best known as a method for generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into a flow of electrons. The photovoltaic effect refers to photons of light exciting electrons into a higher state of energy, allowing them to act as charge carriers for an electric current. The term photovoltaic denotes the unbiased operating mode of a photodiode in which current through the device is entirely due to the transduced light energy. Virtually all photovoltaic devices are some type of photodiode.
If you want to know more visit http://www.tudorsolar.com

thanks you sir
please give me your contact detail

When you say "make" a solar panel at home, I assume you don’t mean installing one–correct?

So, that means you’re going to collect a bunch of photovoltaic cells and connect them into a solar array–right?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unless you have electronics experience in the area of power conversion and optoelectronics, I suggest you abandon the idea. Here’s why.

First, if you’re using photovoltaic cells, each one is probably on a glass substrate. The cell needs to be shock mounted so any impact will not fracture the glass substrate.

Second, you need to connect the cells together in series and in parallel to produce a unit that delivers the required voltage with equal series strings of cells. Additionally, each cell will need to be connected together with fine, corrosion-resistant wire by soldering to the substrate and the pick-off point for each cell. Soldering photovoltaic cells is tricky. It is very easy to ruin one with too much pressure and heat.

Finally, you need to weather-proof the array so it is not subject to moisture from rain and humidity. Additionally, you must provide venting holes to allow airflow (but not water flow) into the panel. This means the enclosure you build/buy for your array must be well-constructed to last for years in rain and snow.

Oh yes, photovoltaic cell output is DC (direct current). Your home operates from AC (alternating current). Do you know how to select the appropriate inverter for your photovoltaic array?

Any further questions?

If for example my home is 4 bedrooms and and my roof face south with the angle of 40degree.
And house is located in Great Manchester area.

Which photovoltaic system is best for you depends on your needs. The only limitation would be how many panels you can fit on to your roof. If your roof can fit 4kW photovoltaic great news. Different panels have different Wattage which means you can end up having from 8 panels up to as many as your roof would allow up to 4kW system. Of course you could install larger system but 4kW give you best return on your investment. Everything larger then a 4kW will have a lower tariff, which means the government won’t pay as much for the harvested electricity. If you want to know more visit http://www.tudorsolar.com/feed-in-tariffs/ for more information.

I wanted to know the costs of Solar panel in India for a 2 bedroom house..is it on monthly basis , or one-time investment, maintenance costs…and if it costs more than our regular power supply provided by the government.

It really depends on how big the roof is ? and How many panels you want to install? the price is normally counted by the amount of electricity it produces (per kw). My guess is for a 2 bedroom house it will cost around 8 to 9 lakh rupees which you will have to pay yourself for the installation and it pays you back by saving your energy bill. If you need any more help you can contact http://www.monument-info-search.co.uk .

Hope that helps.

I am thinking about something called, I think, "thin layer solar panels". Also would like info on any federal monetary help on paying to convert to all solar power in the home.

Thin film solar sheets are a relatively new technology compared to standard glass plated PV panels. Standard panels have been around much longer and they are more efficient, meaning you would need more roof space with thin film than with regular.

For state incentives, you can look here: http://www.dsireusa.org/

For more about how solar panels work, you can go here: http://sunlightsolar.com/learning/solar-basics/pv-systems/

The first thing you should do is find a local contractor. They will be able to tell you about state incentives more succinctly and give you a quote that will incorporate the state rebates as well as federal tax incentives. Look for a solar installer that is close to your home, that has lots of experience, and that will give you an on site consultation and quote for free.

Good luck!