Low Cost Solar Panels

When we first started looking at renewable energy we were floored at how much everything was! Wasn't there a place we could get low cost solar panels? After quite a bit of searching we figured that it had to be quite a bit cheaper to build our own solar panels.

First though we had to find sources for all of the parts that would be required to build them. I figured it would be the most difficult to find some low cost solar cells so I started there. After quite a bit of searching it became clear to me that I couldn't buy solar cells from any of the companies because they were more expensive than buying the panel! That's when I found out that there are different grades of solar cells. I had been looking for "A" grade solar cells and those are more expensive. The "B" grade solar cells are quite a bit cheaper and they work just as well as the more expensive ones. They do have some chips around the edges, but from 10 or 20 feet away you can't even see them. The picture is one of a solar panel that I built recently that uses these "B" grade solar cells... I'll bet you can't even see the chips in them. They are very small and don't affect the power output of the cells.

I personally think that building your own solar panels is the best way to go because you save so much money. Let's look at a used 72 watt panel. The cheapest source I can find priced the panel at around $450, but that panel that you see in the picture cost me around $140 and two hours of work to build. If I was to turn this into a business I could probably make $100/hour. In fact many people that I've told this idea to have used this idea to basically build their entire solar power system for free.

What they will do is buy enough parts to build on panel and than sell it. This gives them enough money to build about 3 more panels. They buy all the parts for those 3 panels and build them and sell 1 of them. They are left with two panels and enough money to build three more panels!! Pretty awesome idea isn't it?

If you're looking for a source of low cost solar panels look no further. You can build them yourself and save thousands of dollars over buying one of those insanely expensive solar installations.