Ben Peterson is an intriguing fellow. He has lots of good ideas. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Elon Musk but without all the zeros in his bank account. Ben is anxious to spread the word about his Solar Station, a self-contained and scalable solar power unit with battery storage that comes either fully built by his factory or as an e-book with all the information you need to build one for yourself.
Peterson wants everyone to know they may not need to begin their love affair with solar power by signing up for a 50,000 watt system that costs $40,000. In fact, families can start small, create some of their own electric power, and scale up after they get some experience with how a solar system works. His system is aimed primarily at people in the Tiny House movement, but it can be employed and enjoyed by anyone.
“At Solar Station we think the future is fun. Small living is awesome, so we wanted to show our support for the community by designing a really fun and simple solar solution that will let tiny dwellers enjoy more power, more space and greater peace of mind.” — Ben Peterson, Solar Station founder.
TreeHugger says Peterson is offering complete versions of the Solar Station Lander, a 600 W solar generator, complete with a 2000 W inverter and six 84 AH batteries (total 504 AH) for energy storage, built into a 4′ x 6′ shed that can double as storage space, for $6,800. He’s also hard at work on a larger version with 2000 W of solar, a 3000 W inverter, and a higher capacity battery storage system. He says it is intended “for homes and vehicle charging,” but there’s no indication yet of what the price of those units will be.
To get Peterson’s e-book featuring “detailed DIY construction plans to build your own solar station,” complete with parts list, photos, and additional commentary on building your own solar solution, simply sign up at his Indiegogo campaign at the $25 level. Contributions at the $45 level include a downloadable video of the Solar Station building workshop.
For those who want to dip a toe in the solar power pool before jumping into the deep end, Peterson’s scalable solar station may be the ideal way to get started.
