A typical solar PV panel system for small load application like charging station and low load houses, where electrical loads are mostly composed of lighting and low powered appliances like transistor radio, is composed of three parts; 1) the PV panel, which converts the solar energy to electrical energy, 2) Charge controller, which control the charging of the battery and protect it from over discharge and over charging. 3) the battery, which stores the electricity for hours where there is no sunlight and to stabilize the supply of electricity. An additional device called DC-AC inverter is used if it is necessary and/or, it is found more economical to use an AC power supply for the loads.

Currently, the estimated cost of a solar PV module is $10 per watt. That is, a 53 Wp PV module will cost $530.

The PV module or panel is the most expensive component of the system. It’s cost is approximately 75% of the total cost. The remaining 25% is the combined cost of the charge controller and batteries. Additional cost will be added if a DC-AC converter is necessary.

For example, if the power requirement of a load is 1kW for 8 hours of use, and a system efficiency of 80%, and considering an effective peak sun hours of 4, the size of the pv panels needed is (1kW x 1000)x(8)/(0.8 x 4) or 2,500 Wp. Therefore, the cost of the PV array alone is already $ 25,000.00. This amount of capital is relatively higher than the existing conventional power generating technology.

A typical life span of a PV panel is 25 years. Thus, if you want to recover your capital in the whole life span of the system, assuming a capital cost of $8,333 for the other devices, the effective cost of the electricity generated by the Solar PV System is ($25,000+$8,333)/ (365*25*8) or not less than $0.457/kWh.

Other commonly used term for PV panel;
Photovoltaic cell, PV cell, PV panel, PV array, PV module, solar panel, solar cell, solar module, solar power plant