Factors to Consider in Building Your Own Solar Panel
Residential solar power is beneficial, obviously. Harnessing energy from the sun to provide power at home offers several benefits. From being eco-friendly to acquiring huge savings from monthly bills and maximizing the endless energy from the sun, solar power is indeed appealing. Just as you plan to have solar panel at home, might as well consider important things before you start to build your own.
Direction and Angle of Installation
The sun, itself, is very important. Since solar panels and other solar products need adequate exposure from the sun, you need to consider the location of the solar panel. The direction should maximize the extent of the panel’s contact towards the sun’s rays and the angle should be correct in connection to the changes of the sun’s position throughout the year. If you live near the equator, there will be less changes to do. Otherwise, more adjustments will be needed to capture the right angle of the sun.
Do-it-Yourself Solar Panel Expenses
Normally, installation of residential solar panels incurs high costs. But if you build it in your own, you can save more. For as low as around $7 per watt, you can already enjoy greener electricity at home. The lesser the electricity you need, the lesser the associated expense would be. Also, you can consider powering just half of your house from solar panel if you think you couldn’t bear the cost of having the entire house fully solar.
Insolation and Solar Coverage
Insolation is the measure of how much radiation reaches the ground in a given period of time. This is an important factor to consider as it tells you how much sunlight is available for the solar panel to generate electricity. If the insolation is higher, so does the amount of electricity your solar panel can generate. With this, you also need to keep in mind how many solar panels you should build to cover the power needs of your home. The higher the insolation, the fewer panels you need and vice versa.
House Location and Surroundings
The location of your house is important as well. As your solar panel depends on the sunlight to generate power, you will have a problem if your house is surrounded by tall trees or towering buildings. This will limit the efficiency of your solar panel. To avoid this possibility, make sure that there are no shades in the solar panel area during the sunniest hours of the day.
Maintenance
When you build your own solar panel, indicate the areas the need maintenance and how often it will be required. This way, you already have knowledge where dust buildup is mostly found and how to clean it. Keep in mind that bird droppings and too much dust on the panes reduce the capability of your solar panel to generate adequate electricity at home.
The world of do-it-yourself solar power is fun, colorful and exciting. And understanding the important things that might affect your solar panel will enable you to experience the wonderful convenience of solar energy at home.
