Solar Power for Houses: Your Residential Solar Power System

People turn to solar power for several different reasons:

• High energy prices
• Climate change
• Fossil fuel depletion
• Solar energy costs are coming down

When these factors are taken into account, it’s no wonder that people are going solar. Here are some more data on each:

High Energy Prices

While we’ve been hearing most about high oil prices over the past few years, electricity prices have also been going up in many places. When combined with the price of solar photovoltaics coming down, solar looks a lot more practical than it used to. The recession may have lowered energy prices temporarily, but how long will that last? The volatility in energy prices also makes solar power attractive because you don’t get left vulnerable to energy price spikes when you produce more electricity than you use.

Climate Change

Operating a residential solar power system does not produce CO2. While some CO2 is produced during the making of solar panels and other elements of the system, there are vastly lower emissions than from the production of electricity from oil, gas, or most especially coal. Thus, every solar photovoltaic array very slightly reduces the likelihood of catastrophic climate change.

Fossil Fuel Depletion

The easiest, cheapest oil gets used first. Most oilfields and wells being brought into use now produce oil that is difficult to access or process in some way. This tends to keep oil prices high. It looks increasingly likely that we have hit Peak Oil, which means diminishing supplies of oil in the future no matter how much oil exploration and development we do.

While most electricity does not come from oil, prices for all forms of energy are linked and are likely to become increasingly so as more electric vehicles are made, and even more so if Coal-to-Liquids technology is used on any large scale. In the US, coal is the largest source of electricity. If Coal-to-Liquids plants are built to compensate for Peak Oil, this would increase the price of coal, and therefore that of electricity.

Coal supplies are not endless and it looks increasingly likely that there may be less recoverable coal than commonly thought. This is likely to raise electricity prices in the future. In such an environment renewable energy sources, including solar, look better and better.

Residential Solar Energy is Becoming More Affordable

The current recession has resulted in people buying less. During the high oil prices, producers of solar panels and other components vastly increased capacity. When the recession hit, they found themselves with excess solar photovoltaic systems, components, and raw materials. Prices dropped.

The USA is about to start giving larger rebates for solar which will help increase affordability for a very large, affluent market. This is likely to increase demand for solar energy, which might prevent lowering of prices in the short term, but will likely reduce them in the long term by increasing the capacity of industry. China has also started manufacturing solar panels, which is likely to reduce solar panel price due to economies of scale and cheaper labor in that country.

In California there is at least one company that offers leases of solar photovoltaic systems with guaranteed electricity prices lower than that of some utilities in that area. This increases affordability of solar by eliminating the high start-up costs of home solar systems which act as the largest barrier to going solar for many people.

More Information:

Fossil Fuel Depletion, Peak Oil and Energy Prices:

The Oil Drum

Richard Heinberg’s Museletter

Heinberg, R. 2009 Blackout: coal, climate and the last energy crisis. New Society Publishers.

Trends in Renewables and Renewable Energy News:

Renewable Energy World

Pros

The most obvious advantage to solar energy is no operational carbon emissions.  Other advantages include reduced dependence or even complete independence from fluctuating energy markets and efficient power generation in areas that do not have access to a power grid.  In areas that do not have access to the power grid, it is frequently cheaper to buy a photovoltaic system than it is to pay to extend the grid, or to buy and run a diesel generator.

While energy prices have gone down recently with the global recession, it is unlikely that they will stay down.  When the economy improves oil prices will likely go back up, and energy prices in general will probably follow.  Once your solar panels are set up, the vast majority of your costs have already been paid, and rising electricity prices will be something that happens to other people.

In certain areas of the USA, there are programs that will let you lease solar Grid-tied Systems. This eliminates the high start-up cost problem if you are lucky enough to live in one of those areas.

Cons

There are also disadvantages to solar photovoltaic power.  Solar energy requires sunlight.  Photovoltaics do not produce power at night, and the amount of power they produce on cloudy days is much reduced from what they produce in sunlight.  They also produce more electricity during the summer than in the winter.  This is an advantage if your air-conditioning bills are higher than your heating bills, but in colder climates this is a disadvantage to solar power.  In climates with many cloudy days, power output is reduced from its full potential, which means that your initial investment takes longer to pay back than you might expect from tests in Spain or California. 

Purchasing and installing a solar system involves a substantial outlay of capital.  Prices for solar photovoltaic sytems are falling, but the cost is still prohibitive for many people.

Sources:

Home Power Magazine http://www.homepower.com/home/

Solar Photovoltaic Cost and Price Trends Retrieved May 16, 2009 http://www.solarbuzz.com/StatsCosts.htm