I'm an avid believer in harnessing the clean, free power of our own sun, with the intention of saving the environment, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and (perhaps most selfishly) reducing my monthly power bill.
I've built several solar panel systems over the past few months, and am always working on more. Once I built the first one and realized how simple and cheap it was, I scaled up my efforts and built several more. I'm even making them for friends and family (oddly enough, I found out that they make great Christmas and birthday presents - who knew?).
I've got several solar panel arrays on my house as I type this. And because I had a licensed electrician wire them into my house's existing electrical system, my house and my checkbook benefit from my efforts. There are actually times when my homemade solar panels create more electricity than my house uses, when that happens my electric meter actually runs backwards! That means that I'm essentially selling electricity to the power company, and they're actually paying me for it!
How I Got Started
I've been interested in making my own solar panels for several years. My curiosity took me all over the Internet, my local library and even so-called experts as I looked for decent DIY resources. I found that most information was either so technical I couldn't understand it (I'm not an electrical engineer, just an average Joe) or so outdated that it wasn't relevant.
When I explained my plans to friends, they usually laughed at me. They'd say things like, "You can't make your own solar panels, you can't even change your oil!" Eventually I started to agree with them. Combined with the complete lack of information, I eventually abandoned my dream.
But a few months ago my brother sent me an email advertising a "Make your own solar panel" guide. The product included plans and promised to make the entire build process both cheap and easy. I did a little more searching and found that several other versions on the Internet. Fortunately they were all modestly priced, and I had some overtime money burning a hole in my pocket so I bought several of them, read them and the rest is history.
In a later post I'll explain more about building my own solar panels, and hopefully pass on some tips and tricks I've picked up along the way.
In closing, if you're considering a project like this: Do It! You won't regret it. You can make your own solar panels, it's cheap, easy and doesn't require any special skills or knowledge.
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