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

Electric Solar Panels Cost and Benefit

Counting the Cost!

When folk look to creating their own solar panel home, even the committed environmentalist wants to know how much solar panels cost to install and will they pay for themselves. We may care a lot about our planet, but few of us can make this sort of investment in our solar panel home without being assured of the economic viability. This is also an area where some suppliers seem rather cagey and one suspects, are more than a little economical with the truth.

So let’s have a look at what electric solar panels cost and the expected payback. Rather than talk about vague averages, likely costs and possible savings, this article refers to real life examples presented by ReadySolar in September 2007.

Sizing and Selecting an Electric Solar Panels System

Before looking at what solar panels cost, let us go through the steps for selecting electric solar panels and creating your solar panel home:

1.  Find out if your home is a good candidate for installing electric solar panels. General guidelines are:

• your electric bill needs to be at least $75 a month – the higher the better. You will get the biggest benefit if you are on a tiered electricity tariff.
• the location of the electric solar panels should be south facing or between SE and SW. They can be sited in your yard if your roof is unsuitable.
• the electric solar panels need to be un-shaded for at least 4 hours a day, the longer the better. If there is a lot of shade, it is better to have a smaller panel that avoids the shade, rather than a bigger one that is partly in the shade.

2.  Set your budget and calculate the space available for your electric solar panels. These factors really determine how big your system can be.

3.  Evaluate the various solar ppower companies.  Get quotes, visit their previous installations, talk to the home owners they have worked for.  Be clear what your solar panels will cost and find out if there are any hidden extras.  Finally select the company that will carry out the work for you.

4.  Once you have chosen your contractor, arrange finance (if required).

5.  Get the whole electric solar panels system installed and working. This should take from 1 to 2 weeks.

6.  Once your solar panel home is working, submit your paperwork to get the financial rebate and tax credits.  These can reduce what your solar panels cost by a 1/3 or more, depending on where you live.

Solar Panels Cost and Benefits

Based upon real life examples (2007 prices) from California

These real life examples give a good indication of what solar panels cost and the expected return on investment.  You can see from these real world examples that homes that are on a tiered tariff and are high monthly consumers of electricity, can really benefit from electric solar panels. Homeowner C even makes a $14 a month profit after making the finance payment, pretty cool!

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Technorati Tags: cost of solar panel, much do solar panels cost, solar panel home, solar panels cost, solar panels costs, solar power cost

Electric Solar Panels – The Facts

Ongoing advances in technology and the ever increasing market for renewable energy, means that having your own solar panel home and installing electric solar panels is no longer just for the well off.

If you are attracted to building a couple of solar panels as a project to keep you busy over the weekends, we strongly recommend that you buy one of the “how to make solar panels” guides / kits.  These contain good manuals, diagrams, details of the material to be used, links to suppliers, step by step instructions and instructional videos.  Please take a look at our recent review of solar panel guides / kits. The review confirmed that even a novice DIYer should be able to make a decent 60watt solar panel for around $175 – $180.  But do not expect to save much (if any) money by going the DIY route.

Electric Solar Panels in back yard

Before installing Electric Solar Panels, Consider

• Sunlight. But before you start on your solar panel home, you need to consider the location of your property and how much direct sunlight you get.  If your climate is predominantly cloudy or your property is in the shade of tall trees or high buildings for most of the day, the benefit you get from electric solar panels will be diminished.  That is not to say you should not do it, but be aware that electric solar panels function best in direct sunlight.  Generally, on a sunny day your electric solar panels need to receive at least four hours direct sunlight.  More is good!  However, it should be noted that new solar tiles have been developed that are approximately 30% more efficient than standard electric solar panels.  These work well in more northerly latitudes such as the UK and do not require direct sunlight to function.
• Planning and Building Codes / Regulations. Also, be aware of that in some countries you will be required to get some form of planning permission before settng up your solar panel home and installing electric solar panels.  There may also be specific building codes or electrical regulations that you have to comply with.  Find out what applies to you before you start.  It is much, much easier to plan for this from the outset than try and make changes retrospectively.

Finding out what is available

Now you need to research the Internet and see what is available in terms of products and off the shelf solutions.  You will find that there are numerous suppliers selling a variety of solar power solutions. If you contact specialist companies they should be able to provide the materials you require or direct you to those that can.  These companies will usually have details of professionals that undertake the solar panel installation for you or work with you when you requires specialist assistance.

Electric Solar Panels in foreground, with Hot Water Solar Panels behind

The Electric Solar Panels DIY Route

We can only recommend making your own electric solar panels if you are looking to make just a couple of solar panels as an enjoyable and very rewarding DIY project.  Please see our review of the “how to” guides  / kits for more details.

When it comes to installing and connecting you solar panels, always get professional advice and assistance from an electrician who knows what they are doing and is a member of the appropriate professional body, even if it is to simply check that you have wired everything it correctly.  Also make sure you comply with your building codes/regulations.

Technorati Tags: DIY Solar Panel guides, DIY Solar Panel guides review, electric solar panels, solar panel home