Is it really possible for me living in Denver to build and install and setup my own solar panel to help make electricity for my home?
I honestly don't know but I have done lots of internet searches and there are several site where you can buy the plans to do this for around $49 and in the blurb it says that the hardware is very cheap to buy too. These are american based sites saying that all the hardware is easily available so why not give it a try though it could all be a con - $49 dollars might be worth a try
Sure you can build your own solar panels, people do it all the time, especially with the efficiency of PV technology accelerating. How much you spend on a system depends on how much work you are willing to do for yourself, and how much and how efficiently you consume power. You can go all the way from high-end prefab installs that will run about $50 grand to fill the energy needs for an average 3/2 suburban home. You can buy kits and install them yourself, that cuts your price down quite a lot. You can purchase the components and put together a system yourself really cheaply. You can save even more money if you buy stuff used. You could actually build solar photovoltaic panels yourself, but it is a serious pain in the behind, you will need to use copper sheets and some highschool chemistry and do a lot of experimenting, and even if you do it right you definitly won't be able to replicate the power output available in manufactured silicone photovoltaic cells. So I say don't even bother. To get an idea of what a PV system for your local area might put out, use the PV-WATTS calculator at the government Renewable Resource Data Center. To learn how to build home solar energy systems, there's a lot of good free information online.
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