An off-grid power system is a stand alone system - it operates completely on its own to supply all of your power needs. The cost of such a system can be less than bringing in power if you live in an area where it's expensive to bring in utilities. We chose an off-grid solar and wind power system for our own home because it would cost over $10,000 to bring power to our home.

An Off-Grid Renewable Energy System

An off-grid system consists of five basic components:

• A solar array, wind turbine or both to produce power
• A bank of deep cycle batteries to store energy for overnight and cloudy or calm days
• A charge controller to regulate and prevent overcharging fof the batteries
• An inverter to convert DC power to 110V or 220V AC household power
• A backup generator to recharge the batteries during extended cloudy or calm periods

The cost of an off-grid system depends on how much energy you use. To produce more energy you will need a larger solar array. A wind turbine can provide additional power.

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