While the most expensive part of going solar is paying for the equipment, it still only represents 25 percent of the overall expense. Soft costs, or the outlays that installers spend just trying to find you and appeal to you, also contribute a significant percentage.

For many people the dream of becoming completely energy independent may be very difficult to comprehend and the idea that going SOLAR is expensive. To help you understand what you should know before you venture down this path, read below for the basic understanding of how solar systems work.

A solar panel is a set of solar photo voltaic modules electrically connected and mounted on a supporting structure. A photo voltaic module is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells. The solar panel can be used as a component of a larger photo voltaic system to generate and supply electricity in commercial and residential applications.

A photovoltaic system (informally a PV system) is an arrangement of components designed to supply usable electric power for a variety of purposes, using the Sun as the power source. Solar PV’s total global capacity increased during 2010-2013 from 40 GW to 139 GW. In 2013 Germany had the most capacity (36 GW).