I plan to move to rural part of northeasten Kenya where my sick dad lives and of course there is no electricity there. I would like to isntall solar on our small house since it’s always sunny there.

Best answer:

Answer by roderick_young
If it’s rural Kenya, this can be a very small system. Maybe a 175-watt panel, a deep cycle 12V battery, and a charge controller. You would then run a few LED lights, fan, radio, or laptop directly off the 12 volts. You might need to go to an RV store to find appliances suitable for 12 volts. No special skills required. There might be a ready-made system already at an RV store (you would buy the battery in Kenya, of course – it’s heavy).

Is there internet access there? If not, it might not even be worth using a laptop, unless you plan to go to the city often.

It would be an expensive proposition to install enough standalone solar to support a typical power-hogging US lifestyle, so I wouldn’t go in that direction. That would also take more expertise to do right, and would make the house a target for thieves, if that’s a problem in that area.

Add your own answer in the comments!