Solar Power - Users Review - Can solar power really power our homes?

If you wonder if solar power can really power our homes? The answer is a big YES.

This review is based on my own experience, ten years of using solar power on our house.

First why solar?
My home town is an island baranggay, a remote place located at the southern part of Guimaras. It has nearly 600 voters so a small island like ours does not have its energy source for powering our homes. It was around 2007 when Shell Solar Philippines introduced solar power to us where my father has also worked as a sales agent. First, we tried it for the sake of lighting and then as time passed added more units to increase load.

So what are the components used?

Solar Panels - composed of photovoltaic cells that converts light to current. If you want to buy your own, worrying about the quality is not a problem because solar panels can last for a very long time. Our installation is now on its tenth year.

Charge Controller - this is composed of a circuit designed to control the current that charges your battery. This component also ensures that no current will return to your solar panels when no presence of light can be observed.

Battery - Stores your electricity produced from the sun. This component requires good maintenance for its longetivity. The typical problem faced for solar power is the changing of battery from time to time. Based on my experience, a car battery (lead-acid) with proper maintenance can last up to 4 years.

Inverter - Converts DC(direct current) to AC(alternating current) . There are many types of inverter but my advice is to use sine wave types of inverter because it produces stable voltage. Other types, like square wave inverter can cause damage to sensitive types of appliances.

This 4 parts are the major component needed for solar power generation.

So how much is the cost? Is it expensive?

Solar power generation have bigger initial cost compared to other types of energy. The cost will depend on your load. Our solar installation drives a television,electric fan and lighting and its overall cost must be arround Php60,000 or more. Greater load means more solar panel installation. A typical Php30,000 installation can already give about 100Watts of power suitable for lightings.

So was it worth it?
Yes, due to the fact that it powered our house without bills.

Is it economical even for places that has electricity?
Yes, you can encorporate and merge solar energy with your generater electricity. This can lower your bills and give power incase of blackouts.

Any comments? Suggestions? Please feel free.