Plug & play solar power systems growing in use in US, thanks to SolarPod

If you’re a long-time reader of CleanTechnica, you might recognize the name SolarPod*. SolarPods are modular, plug & play solar power systems developed by Mouli Engineering. I think we first wrote about SolarPod back in April 2012, and then followed up on the technology briefly in May 2012 when SolarPods were shown to be performing well in the field, and again in November 2012 when a house using the plug & play solar power systems won a design award.

We recently caught up with Mouli Engineering to see how things are going and whether or not more people have been using its SolarPods. Also, before delving into that, the first section below catches new readers up on this not-often-discussed solar power option.

What Is SolarPod? Why SolarPod?

To start with, I’ll note a few reasons why SolarPod came about in the first place. Mouli Vaidyanathan came up with the idea of SolarPod when he was conducting “legacy type” solar panel installations. In his opinion, “custom design was too expensive and took too much time.” The solar industry needed something easier, more inexpensive, and more adaptable. Of course, all while sticking to high environmental and safety standards.

“SolarPod^TM as a company believes in protecting our environment, bringing earth friendly products, highest safety and quality and careful engineering for simple affordable end installation,” Mouli notes.

Mouli says that SolarPod is the first company in the US to offer a modular construction solar system product using solar PV panels. I believe he is right. If you haven’t noticed, we don’t really have much news about such solar power systems. And Mouli isn’t just offering SolarPod on the web. He has actually formed relationships with large retail chains in several states that are offering the product, with the plug & play solar power system meeting and exceeding various safety codes and quality standards.

Menards, a large home improvement retail store in the US, and Northern Tool, another such home improvement retail store, are two of the retail chains now carrying the SolarPod^TM.

Two of the keys to SolarPod, again, are very simple assembly and simple connection to the electricity grid. This allows for IKEA-like homeowner installation and lower prices. Even for commercial projects, on-site installation time can be greatly reduced because all of the components are prefabricated, making on-site assembly again much quicker.  The company even has an easy energy calculator built to help owners calculate the number of SolarPods needed based on their energy usage and ge0-location – www.mysolarpod.com/solarpodsneeded.  The company really has taken solar to a higher level of simplicity.

Of course, safety is important with an electrical device or electricity producer. Mouli notes that the SolarPod has “no chance for fire” thanks to the direct current voltage being very low (less than 50V). And SolarPod installations even survived Hurricane Sandy.

The smart tilt capability designed into the SolarPod gives another degree of freedom to the user to seasonally adjust the SolarPod to maximize solar energy production for their geo-location.

The price of SolarPod retails at $2,750 through $3,500 ($2.85 to $3.50/W) for a ~1kW_DC system (price based on volume) which beats average US solar prices by a wide margin, but especially residential and commercial prices. Here is a chart from SEIA and GTM Research regarding average solar power prices for comparison:

 

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/09/20/plug-play-solar-power-systems-growing-use-us-thanks-solarpod/