[JRobertson]

If you're sincerely interested in solar panels you should look into doing it yourself. It's not as complicated as many of the solar retailers want to make it out to be.

Step 1) Buy panels direct with mounts Step 2) Mount the panels yourself. They aren't super heavy, just fragile. The tricky part here is measuring and drilling the holes you need to get them secured to your roof properly. Or buying a slanted frame if you have a flat roof. Step 3) Hire a licensed electrician to wire them up.

That's pretty much it. Total cost for a 9kw system will run about 13-15k after the electrician. You'll get 30% (almost 4k) back in rebates bringing your total cost out somewhere around 10k. That's a 5-7 year payback for your average american home.

There are a number of online solar panel distributors that are reliable and have been in business for quite some time.

[marvin]

Isn't there a good, cheap solar tracking system available yet? Seems like you are leaving a lot of money on the table by not keeping a ~90 degree angle with the sun at most times during the day.

[ansible]

Good, cheap, reliable? Not that I know of. Mounting costs are higher too; you something like a post in concrete to attach the panel, rather than just screw it to your roof.

People are still working on that sort of thing. An interesting system I saw a few years back was one based on the sunlight heating up a fluid. The fluid (maybe it was a gas) expands a cylinder that keeps the panel pointed at the sun. At night, the fluid cools, and the system resets to its default state, pointing east for the next day. So 100% mechanical, without any active control.

[steven2012]

This is interesting about DIY. I'll research this a bit more, thanks for the info.