About 6 months ago I saw something similar being sold at Lowes. You buy one panel at a time (I think they were around $800 each), but you can add as many as you want. I thought it was overpriced but the idea is the same as what you mention in this blog, so I'm just wondering whether you knew about that.
Here is a link to a full kit:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_322515-11338-39107_0_?productId=3192989&Ntt=solar+panel&Ntk=i_products&pl=1tURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=solar panel$y=2$x=34
Edit: The Lowes product is off-grid, so maybe the Sunfish product is unique in that you can connect it to the power grid (and slow down or reverse your power meter).
Do-it-yourself solar panel allows tech tryout
Summary
Start-up Clarion Technologies is developing a kit that lets you dip your toe into solar-generated electricity without having to pay the hefty cost of a full array.
Topics
Start-up Clarion Technologies is developing a kit that lets you dip your toe into solar-generated electricity without having to pay the hefty cost of a full array.
Called the Sunfish, the product package is designed to let a homeowner install up to three solar panels and get them generating juice in about an hour. The cost: about $800, said company president Chad Maglaque. The goal is to have a product available in the spring of 2011.
The kit will include one or three standard solar photovoltaic panels and a mounting system, which lets a person place panels on a shed roof, wall, or other structure. The output of three panels will max out around 600 watts, which is about the amount power a large appliance, such as a washing machine, consumes. So the set-up will only offset a portion of a home's electricity load.
For more on this story, read Do-it-yourself solar panel kit aims to slow meter on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 2 Talkback(s)
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Qbt16th Aug 2010 -
That would be nice
if it works well, you can have it crankin the juice in the daytime during work. the grid has to pay you top price for the power. In the long run it will offset your electric bill as you would use more electricity during the afternoon/night anyway. Now they just need a cost efficient wind turbine
KBot16th Aug 2010
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