Hello Ors,

I have some experience with DIY small solar photovoltaic systems.

Energy consumption is measured in wh (watts-hour). For instance, a 60w light bulb, lighted for 3 hours will use 60w X 3hrs = 180wh.

The same ideia is applyed to energy generation: one 20w solar pannel, receiving full sun for 5 hours will generate 20W X 5hrs = 100wh.


To supply your current demand of electric power (16.9kwh/day), you would need aproximately 3.4 kw in power generation (assuming 5 hours of full sun). It can be achieved with 170 20w panels, 28 120w panels or other similar configuration.

Unless your are very far away from the power grid (or the goverment has some kind of incentive to "on grid" systems), Solar photovoltaic power is rarely the cheapest option. But it is still usefull as an emergency energy source.

My first experience in photovoltaics has been with a 20w solar pannel, small gel cell battery and a charge controller, to feed a ham radio transceiver and two emergency lights.

Now I have a bigger pannel (120w) and batteries, to run a complete ham radio station, wireless internet link, notebook computer and some fluorescent lights.

You can find lots of information about DIY alternative energy (wind,hidro, solar) in this site:

www.otherpower.com

Fabio