One very common misconception is that the cost of solar energy puts it out of reach of the average persons hands. The truth is that there are certain applications where the cost of solar energy would already be cheaper than paying to be attached to the “Grid.” In remote cabins, and locations which are difficult to reach with heavy equipment, the cost of having power lines installed would far exceed the cost of solar energy from the outset. And while power lines cannot be gotten everywhere at any price at all, a solar power installation opens up possibilities that were otherwise out of the question.
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Solar energy has convenience
With a portable solar power installation, the cost of solar energy becomes priceless, giving you greater freedom on camping trips or travel vacations. Use your solar panel to charge up batteries during the day, and use that DC current to power your camping lights and other gear at night. What price could you put on taking the comforts of home along on every trip? Use it to charge a portable DVD player, and you can watch your favorite movies a hundred miles from anywhere. For an application such as this, there really isn't a limit to what some people would spend, or the uses to which portable electricity could be put.

Solar energy pays for itself
Even for residential solar power installation, the cost of solar power should be considered carefully. Most of the prices quoted on the internet today are based on solar panels manufactured several years ago, and the investment is only half of what it once was. The price of panels themselves have become cheaper as new technology has made them less expensive to produce, and the result is that the cost of solar power is now less than 3 times the price of purchasing your own electricity. Another important factor is that the conversion rate of photovoltaic cells has been made a lot more efficient. In many cases, you can now get in excess of 60% power conversion per square meter of solar panel, which is more than double what the panels were able to produce only 2 or 3 years ago.

By looking at these facts, you can quickly determine that even if it takes more than 10 years to recoup your total solar power installation investment, you will enjoy twice that amount of time when the system is operating effectively free of any cost whatsoever, and in the face of fossil fuel prices which are certain to increase over time, this is a very important consideration when trying to determine the cost of solar energy.

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