Building a Garage with Solar Panels ... $$$

The powerhouse !

If you can't do basic addition to determine the cost of your project, you'll never be able to build it. You're simply just too stupid to make it happen. I blame your parents.

You hire a solar company to install the panels for you.

Also forgot to mention it's not as simple as just setting up panels, they have to rewire your house and install a whole separate circuit breaker.

Build it out of pallets.
They are free. Fill the voids with two inch
rigid blue board and install panels on the roof.
Solar panels are not building materials.
Panels are expensive.

You may choose to go refresh your memory about the tale of the three little pigs! Especially about the pig that decided to build their house with straw!
See what happened there

You can't just cover a whole building in solar panels. I mean you could, but that's stupid. To get the best bang for your buck you want the panels to face the sun directly, not at crazy angles such as the sides of a building.

Roof panels are fine, but to be even more efficient you want the solar panel to automatically orient itself to track the sun. Up front costs are high and you also have to consider the weight. If you just slap a bunch of panels on an old roof that's not designed to carry that weight you're asking for trouble.

Heavier weight = more $ for a reinforced structure.

You're probably going to be better off buying cheap land in the desert somewhere, building an actual efficient solar power plant and using the power to run bitcoin miners.

Otherwise you're just not getting good return on your investment.

Sure you could get a huge tax write-off, but that's only beneficial if you already make alot of money and pay alot of taxes. If you're broke like the rest of us and get a tax return in February a tax write off isn't doing you any good.

I got 3 harbor freight Amorphous cells, and after a 10 year life span, they all crapped out. Stay away from those and go with crystal cells instead. After 10 years, they should still be producing 80% power.

The latest charge controllers are MPPT, great for charging in low light/low sun conditions in the Winter. Any other charger will work, but not as well.

If I understand your post, solar panels are only as structurally strong as the frame they are in, so go for metal frames and not plastic.

Finally, the best bang for the buck will always be lead acid 6 golf cart batteries rated for 200 Amp Hours or more. Low cost and they store TONS of electricity. They also weigh a ton - the only disadvantage, but if they sit in a corner somewhere, who cares. Put them in a Styrofoam cooler to keep the temperature stable during cold winters - they don't don't like that. Install a fish tank heater in the cooler to keep them warm (without the water of course) . String two of them in series together for 12 volts, and treat as a single 12 volt battery when you build your battery bank. Add more batteries as you need over time.

Typo: lead acid 6 *VOLT* golf cart batteries

The panels themselves are not meant to be loadbearing...

So those metal door frames instead ... and concrete floor ...

Don't forget snow which weighs a lot. For a roof, I would go with lumber, or stronger metal beams. Should be a slanted roof, not flat, of course.

For building the sides, typical 6x8x16 cinder blocks are less than a couple of dollars each.

Plan for electrical outlets, plumbing if needed, garage door, entrance door, and get your plans approved by an architect + fire marshal for city permits and such.

PC building, Home Depot, and many other lumberyards have prefabricated sheds and barns that are fairly easy to put together if you have at least some carpentry skills...then mount rails and finally the solar panels...you don't want them flat on the roof, air and debris such as leaves, must be able to fall below the panel and roof...

there ya go. old panels of toxic elements piling up in storage world wide. buy more, i say. living in canada, during a grand solar minimum, with solar irridiation management, and increasing cosmic radiation should be the perfect environment for use of solar power.
you'll get no virtue signaling likes from me.
fool.

We are having a car port built and then solar panels will be installed on that. We don’t want them on our roof. In permitting process now.

Go stackwood .

damn these panels are cheap compared to when I bought years ago.
[link to sunelec.com (secure)]

Build a structure, install panels on roof, MPPT controller and batteries.

you could forego an inverter and power your battery bank at 120 volts if you aren't running any asynchronous motors. Some things (motors) need AC, but lights, various electronics just need the 120 voltage. <10x12 volts> or <20x6 volts> in series...
Consulting someone with electrical savvy will save you money in the long run.

Solar panels are not construction materials.You need to build a structure, then add the panels.

Your flag is Canada. I have a friend who has an outpost cabin in Canada. They added solar panels to this cabin. It is not used in the winter. It cost $60K USD to install panels, electronics, and batteries. Now this is a top of the line system, and runs 2 fridges, a freezer, water pump, lights, and other trappings of society (microwave, blender....lol, we do NOT rough it when we fish.)

You might not get enough sun in the dead of winter to make it worth while.

A solar roof will cost around $30 per square foot when you add in panels, batteries, controller and inverter - plus copper cables.

Assuming you do the work yourself.

Small car port maybe, garage...NO