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A solar shed differs from a common or garden shed in much the same way that power walking to a power lunch wearing a power suit differs from walking to lunch dressed in regular suit. The operative word is power; solar power to be precise.

An obvious problem with garden sheds though is that other little word “garden”. A shed that sits, as the name suggests, in the garden is not easy to supply electricity to. The solution has in the past always involved laying out a power supply cable from the main house to the shed.

You then have to dig a trench though your garden so you can bury the (shielded) cable and hopefully protect both it and the next poor sap wielding a spade from an unfortunate coming together. And assuming you complete this onerous task you will then have to contend with the fact that you have now introduced a serious fire hazard to your (wooden) shed.

Then there’s question of what exactly are you planning on doing in your shed that actually needs 220 volts (or a more wimpy 110v for US residents)? Of course, the number of different answers you might get to this question is proportional to the number of people you might ask.

Some folk simply want a basic workshop or a place to pot up plants and store tender specimens in cold weather. Others seek a peaceful respite from the world where they may shelter from whatever the weather brings and quietly enjoy a book or the newspaper. Then there are those who can spot an opportunity to easily and cheaply kit out a serviceable study or office in which to work.

But whatever you want to use your shed for (other than as an auxiliary storage depot), there are some basic things you will need. Lighting is clearly top of the list – if you can’t see anything then you can’t do anything. Then you need to consider whether you want to power any particular tools or appliances, and finally you might give some thought to heating or cooling depending on your plans and where you live.

That’s where you’re going to need some power. But luckily all sheds share a useful characteristic, which is a large amount of otherwise wasted surface area (namely the roof) which is ideal as a platform for a solar panel or several.

Modern solar panels are remarkably effective and will relentlessly convert sunlight into electricity day after day, even when it’s not especially sunny. All that is required is to rig up some means of storing all this free electricity, and for that you may offer your thanks to Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta who thoughtfully invented the voltaic pile, otherwise known as the battery.

One of the many cute aspects of solar panels is that they invariably output 12 volts (thanks again Count Volta) DC which is coincidentally (or not) exactly what all “low-voltage” power packs, lighting and other appliances use as input. So when you’re using any of this kit during the day it’s automatically kept topped up on trickle charge, and the surplus can be diverted to a larger deep-cycle battery for use when the sun goes down.

And the next day the whole cycle repeats itself, costing precisely nothing and polluting precisely nothing. So if you want to setup a low-cost home office, write the greatest novel of the 21st century or just have a cosy, peaceful retreat to study or relax then consider a solar shed.