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Just curious if anyone knows the wholesale price of a lowish-cost, low TCO solar setup.

• maxerickson 13y ago
  The answer is going to be different based on size and the general sketch of the system, so you might want to be more specific (a 3 day battery bank will cost a lot compared to no battery bank, capacity to run a washing machine will be very different than capacity for lighting and small appliances, and so on). (I don't know much regarding the prices...)
  • midas007 13y ago
    Washing machines, hair driers, refrigerators and similar are probably not practical for solar. Shared resources such as solar-powered water pumps would probably be very beneficial, but obviously power requirements would vary widely. Here's one vendor for a "complete" setup, probably not a turnkey nor setup for fool-proof & low maintenance: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/off-grid-solar-system_315721325.html http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/off-grid-solar-system_... On the article overall, the biggest concerns about for-profits coming in is whether they intend to monopolize community resources as has happened with water.
    • maxerickson 13y ago
      There is some definition of practical that says you have enough panels and batteries to meet arbitrary needs. Which is why I thought you should be more specific. I guess in the context of this story (and you asking about low costs) a smaller system could be assumed.