For getting free environmental friendly energy to meet your power demands, you need to ascertain how many solar panels are required to be installed. There are various factors which will determine the numbers of solar panels to be installed; this will give you an idea about the numbers of Photovoltaic (PV) panels to be purchased.

The PV system will meet all your energy demands provided you have the initial budget for the investment. Furthermore, you will have to decide about using a high tech solar array or you are planning to have your own panels installed using cheap materials which are readily available in the market.

Calculating Energy Consumption

If you have to arrive at the number of PV panels you need, you will have to calculate the amount of energy you require to meet your energy demands. Considering that a normal household has to meet energy demands about 8000 – 9000 Kwh on yearly basis, a good quality solar panel costs $300 but it can provide about 100 – 200 watts of energy, it means the number of panels should be substantial.

It can vary from home to home, may be you may not require that much power on regular basis. If you love the environment, you must choose the appliances that consume less power consumption, this will ensure that you cut your power demand by half or even more.

If you have the intentions of building your own PV panel, you can further reduce the manufacturing cost under $200 for standard 36 cell solar panel. It also depend upon the quality of your homemade solar array, you may need 30 to 40 panels to provide enough power for your entire home.

The number may become even larger or lesser, if you will use other types of energy like wind power. This will ensure that you get uninterrupted power even in rainy days, especially in this season when the solar panels cannot generate sufficient energy. This is also true that the different types of solar cells provide varying amount of energy, this can be calculated by energy output easily.

However after the building of DIY solar panels, you may measure the current and the voltage produced, which can be multiplied to get the watt value. A small 6 ampere panel produces 12 volts can offer you 72 watts. Such weak panels may not give you sufficient energy, but there are some inexpensive panels which can give double or more power, it should not cost you more than $300 to $400.

A solar array containing 10 to 20 of these panels should be sufficient to meet your energy demands. You may meanwhile use gadgets and appliances which consume less power; this will further reduce the energy demands.

Different Solar Panel Types

The rate and efficiency with which solar cells transform sun light into electricity will also determine about the number of solar panels. The monocrystalline panels have brought a revolution in the use of solar panels; they have been able to transform 24% of sunshine into electric power. It is also possible that in few years these cells may be able to convert 30 to 40% sunshine into electricity.

A good example of the energy efficiency is that uses 36 monocrystalline cells which can produce 100 to 130 watts. Depending upon the quality, your investment should be around $3000 to $4000 for such a plan.

Many people who are interested in installing residential solar power system are quite confused by the terms like Photovoltaic (PV) batteries, solar cells, pop ups etc. Basically they do not understand the differences and are unable to decide about the type of battery to be used in the residential solar power system.

There is nothing complex when you plan to install the solar power system; even in some cases you may not even need batteries.

Solar vs. Photovoltaic cells

Let us understand the meaning of these terms and what is exactly is a Photovoltaic cell and solar cell. There is no difference between the two, the terms have same meaning. Photovoltaic term means converting sunlight into electricity, this can be better understood by the definition photo = light, voltaic = electricity.

The term PV cell is the short form of the photo voltaic cell. All these are technical terms which are often used by the professionals. The solar cell has both negative and positive wafer of silicon placed under a special type of glass which does not get damaged due to variation of temperature etc.

When solar cell is kept in open directly under the sunlight, this stimulates electron activity, normally in a solar panel there are 36 photovoltaic cells also called array, which are connected by wires that captures the electrons when connected to a circuit, it generates a current.

This current is routed through the wires from the panel of the solar cells into solar regulator or is directly sent to the inverter. The inverters further convert DC current to AC which is normally used in the residential areas. This is the reason why the residential solar power system is quite simple as it has no moving parts, this makes it quite durable and it also needs very little maintenance.

It has been seen that even solar power system installed in 1970’s are still working fine and generate power even today.

Batteries or Not

In some of the system, the use of the batteries is totally eliminated, it is normally in the system which is called grid connects, in other words the solar energy produced is not stored but you are still connected to main supply.

If you have surplus production of solar energy or you do not require any appliances to be run on solar energy, it is routed back into the main supply grid. If you are not producing enough solar energy, you can meet the shortfall by drawing it from the grid.

In case of surplus generation, it is metered and you will get credit for it. In some countries, the surplus electricity is more than the market rate, and people in fact earn money by selling the surplus power generated. The only drawback is black out, you will not have any light in such cases and you will be at par with your neighbors.

To have an interrupted power supply using solar power system than the battery backup is absolutely must. Batteries is an excellent option for the remote areas where connecting to main grid system is difficult.

What type of batteries should you use?

Some people have been seen using car batteries for solar power storage, this may work but in fact it is a short term solution, these batteries have a different specification and constant drawing of power will have deep discharge over a period of time. The only solution is to use deep cycle batteries which will give optimal results.

Solar panels can generate enough power to meet the demands of various electric appliances under optimal conditions in a typical American home. Not only this, it can also warm your homes in winter and cool in the summers.

The efficiency of the solar panels depends mostly on the location and availability of the sunlight. Solar panels can be placed at any place of your house provided it is properly exposed to sun. Most suitable position for the southern climate is the north facing side and for the northern climates it is the south facing side.

The places where the sunlight is for less than six hours in a year, the energy generation will not be sufficient. It also a fact that sunlight is more at many places as compared to others, in such case number of solar panels have to be increased.

Not enough sunlight? Even if the sunlight is not sufficient to generate enough power, it is still recommended that you must take the benefit of the solar power. Most of the homes who have installed solar panels still use power from the main grid.

This ensures that the energy bills are in control as the consumption from the main grid gets reduced. They can use the solar energy generated to run the appliances even if the solar energy partly meets their demands.

How much will Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels cost?

Having a hybrid option to use both solar power and power from the grid, the installation cost should be more, using only solar power should cost about $12 to $15 per watt. This means that you will have to spend $12K to $15 K per kilowatt hour of the energy which you want to produce.

Even if you compare it with the power supplied by the utility company solar energy still is very cost effective. There could be places where the utility companies do not supply power; you will have to totally depend upon the solar panels to get the electricity. You can recover the cost of installation in few years by saving the rising bills of the utility companies.

Solar panels are not only cost effective but fascinating too; you become savior of the environment. Another good option is to combine solar power with wind turbines which should generate enough power to meet your energy demands.

Furthermore, you can also reduce the electric consumption by using appliances which are Energy Star appliances, efficient light bulbs, efficient cooling and heating systems and other appliances which consume less power. You can also use separate dedicated systems like solar and geothermal water heating systems for the pool and or for bath which can be done by using portable solar panels for the areas where you do not need power all the time.

If you simply discipline your energy needs, you can produce enough power from solar panels and save on the rising energy bills. Using lights, unplugging the plugs, using natural renewable energy sources like solar and wind can go long way in consuming less energy and also contribute to the environment.