6 comments: Gavin - very interested, but when you say 'for a modest budget' just how modest is that? We have absolutely no spare dosh at the mo, but perhaps in a few months time, we might stretch to buying materials Roughly how much do you reckon we need? (we need euros, but hooray for currency calculators...) Hi Carol. If you source all the parts brand new then it would cost approx AUD$1400 at 210Ah capacity with 220 watts of solar panels. That said, you can source most of the parts second hand which would substantially cut the cost to below $500. I am a convert to your books after having had the Chickens e-book assist us so much with having our very first backyard flock. Looking forward to having a read of this one too. I had no idea you could build your own solar power system! Maybe that can be the next project for me and the fella now we have finished building our coop...