Developing your own solar energy solution isn't a novel idea, and most projects are tailored to personal needs, material availability, and, of course, budget. However, the SunZilla project aims to add an open source layer to this class of developments, through a compact, foldable, quite portable system based on generic hardware and with a relatively low cost (under €1,100).
It's a superior goal for anyone looking to reduce their dependence on traditional energy sources or for those who decide to live without suffering the classic "infrastructure pains". Installing solar panels on a roof or in a garden has its benefits, but the "entry point" usually sits very high, with five-figure investments that not everyone can face. In some regions, power companies finance part of the installation, but that is changing. A critical example is Nevada, a state that approved a new series of fees that essentially annihilated the local solar industry and left potential consumers without options. Several media outlets already talk about a "war" between conventional utility companies and those determined to install their own solar solution, and no matter how many legal and/or bureaucratic obstacles appear, people are willing to change, while the market responds with increasingly affordable components.
That said, it never hurts to explore existing DIY alternatives, and one that has gained traction in recent days is SunZilla. According to the official project profile on Instructables, SunZilla has reached version 3.0. The system is foldable, has a much higher degree of portability than we imagined, is easy to install and remove (two people can reduce the process to a few minutes), uses standardized components with good market availability, and the most interesting part is that almost all aspects of its construction were published online free of charge and openly, under the CERN Open Hardware license. Some details of SunZilla still need to be released, such as the software for visualization and control mechanisms, but I estimate we won't have to wait too long.
What Can SunZilla Do?
If we follow the data from its reference model, SunZilla 3.0 develops a peak solar power of 140 watts, while its storage capacity is about 600 watt-hours. The maximum alternating current output through the inverter is about 350 watts, enough to charge approximately 30 smartphones at the same time. Needless to say, the modular design of SunZilla allows you to expand or reduce its capacity at will, by modifying the number of panels and/or batteries.
