Solar electricity

[goodolddays]

I am not sure solar electricity is worth or not. It is very expensive to use solar power and efficiency is very less.

I was on the fence about Solar for a long time and therefore missed out on both the 60c kw/h and 20c kw/h rebates in  NSW.

Because electricity cost is continuing to increase we have now decided to bite the bullet and are puchasing a 3KW system (with 5KW inverter) from Nicholls Solar (12 x 250 watt Trina panels + 1 x JFY Suntree 5000 TL 3 phase Dual MPPT inverter ) .

10 year installation warranty and 10 year inverter warranty

This system should produce an average of 12KW/h per day or better. The trick will be to try and use as much of that each day as possible .

Expecting payback period to be 5 years  (less if power prices continue to increase)

[Wiked]

I had a 5kw system installed about a month ago with a 3 phase 5kw inverter. The panels are producing around 33kw/h per day on clear sunny days and cloudy days produce at least 20kw/s so it is doing what we wanted.
I like the SMA 5000TL inverter and have it connected to my network via ethernet and just use the phone app to see what it is doing from time to time although that will wear off over time I guess.

[Toads]

I'm curious, how much per kWh are you buying the power and how much are they buying it back of you for?

I am not sure solar electricity is worth or not. It is very expensive to use solar power and efficiency is very less.

I was on the fence about Solar for a long time and therefore missed out on both the 60c kw/h and 20c kw/h rebates in  NSW.

Because electricity cost is continuing to increase we have now decided to bite the bullet and are puchasing a 3KW system (with 5KW inverter) from Nicholls Solar (12 x 250 watt Trina panels + 1 x JFY Suntree 5000 TL 3 phase Dual MPPT inverter ) .

10 year installation warranty and 10 year inverter warranty

This system should produce an average of 12KW/h per day or better. The trick will be to try and use as much of that each day as possible .

Expecting payback period to be 5 years  (less if power prices continue to increase)

[goodolddays]

I'm curious, how much per kWh are you buying the power and how much are they buying it back of you for?

Currently paying 24.66c per kw/h (I think its forecast to increase another 8% this year ?) and buyback is 8c per kw/h .

So its more about reducing our consumption during the daylight hours (to 0) than the buyback amount .
Breakeven will take a while but at least we will break even and then be in front .


 

[Retropin]

We pay 28c KWH and our buy back is 14c.

You have to be a bit savvy with solar and use what you can during the day as you only feedback your excess. Our first full solar bill came in last week and we have a bill of $57

[Wiked]

We pay $26.73 kw/h and feed in tariff is $0.14

[Freiherr]

A couple of gripes I have with solar is that the panels require cleaning a couple of times each year. The other question mark is whether they will retain their efficiency over time. One thing is for sure, the technology will improve and become cheaper to buy over time.

[goodolddays]

A couple of gripes I have with solar is that the panels require cleaning a couple of times each year. The other question mark is whether they will retain their efficiency over time. One thing is for sure, the technology will improve and become cheaper to buy over time.

Agreed .
Hard to know when the right time to jump in is, which is why we have taken so long to buy a system

[AnthonyOvermyer]

Well they rocked up at 6.30am this morning and were gone by 12.30pm... 20 off 250W solar panel on the roof with a  5KW inverter all now installed.
Apparently, im now to wait for Energex to come round ( 2 - 3 weeks) so the system can be switched on... Electrician showed me how to do this in case I need to switch it on at some point AFTER Energex have been.....
Pool pump is running... no system is not switched on... no it is not currently generating 3.5KW of power... no my meter is not going backwards right now...

 

I am not sure solar electricity is worth or not. It is very expensive to use solar power and efficiency is very less.

[Marty Machine]

Ho Hum, Solar....one of the best & worst things ever :-)

OK, so you save a bunch of $$$ by going solar, that's cool, and yes, you will need to clean them, but dont gripe about it as your getting FREE electricity, you gotta be prepared to do 'some' maintenance.

No panels will last forever, they do degrade, in fact "10 years" is somewhat generous for most brands, they die off in 5yrs in many cases, although adding additional panels can offer a pseudo-rejuvination.

New technologies are always evolving with Solar, but it will cost a small fortune for the next revision panels, you can grab those, but then you lose all your savings with your current system.


Beware of cheap deals on panels, theyre simply getting rid of their crap stock ready to re-import the next wave of (better?) panels.


It might seem attractive to remain connected on the grid and get paid for your unused power, but being on the grid means your system is ALWAYS under load speeding up the time it takes to die.
If you have a decent battery/charge system, you wont need sunny days everyday, in fact 1 sunny day of charging can power your house for a WEEK without needing a recharge, but if youre connected on the grid it'll be gone overnight.
Rememebr, you're "unused power" is stored in the batteries and will be there the next day to ofer you FREE electricity, why lose it on the grid, and get paid measly few $$ for it?
Time to turn off the greed switch and just be happy to get FREE power.....get off the grid and they cant touch you.

Additionally, there's a growing trend to now not use invertors for 240V systems, a new growth of low voltage 12-24v DC systems are excelling in performance and safe enough for home-users to D.I.Y installs, no electrical license required.


Also to note, the rise & rise of power (for non-solar people) is based on the great losses the power companies are suffering with everyone moving onto solar, and even worse when they also pay people for their unused energy.
Be aware that you 'non solar' people are basically paying the bills of people no longer on the grid...the electricity companies dont wanna lose, so YOU pay for it.

Hopefully everyone will get on solar ASAP, and the elctrical company can just close it's doors, nobody wil need it...they had it too good for too long. ;-)


Additionally, i'd been involved with a private installation a few years back in rural vic (no power lines).
We developed a system using double the typical range of panels, twin invertors for redundancy and 4 battery banks for energy storage.
1 sunny day can run that building for almost 1 month without a glitch...
I'm now working on some projects on the side so that we can aim at providing an energy system that only needs sunny days a few times per YEAR to keep things boosted, although there's additioanl contraptions added to the mix.

FREE energy (or very close to it) is the ultimate way!

MM

[DSB]

Ho Hum, Solar....one of the best & worst things ever :-)

Well said!    Couldn't agree more! They are causing some serious overvoltage issues in south east Queensland. Not saying they are totally a bad thing, I have a system on my roof and have installed a few but maybe a not so well thought out power generation system. Just remember your inverter will most likely fail no matter what brand it is. I have replaced many inverters of all brands. There is no rebate for repairing or replacing it once it is out of warranty. It can be a big shock to the customer when they find a new inverter "can" cost almost as much as the whole system originally cost. Just something to consider. Also remember the panels produce power anytime the sun is out even if your system is turned off so regular inspections of the panels and roof top isolator will greatly reduce the risk of fire.

[Retropin]

Yes but it doesn't matter..

I was paying for the shortfall in power companies revenue by NOT having solar.. each rise in price pushes more of us to it. Power companies are paid bonuses for the amount of line work they do.. so they continually do more line work to continually increase profits.. we have shareholders to think of and we MUST increase profits every year.
I can buy one of my panels for $350.
I can buy my inverter for $1200.

I have unconditional 5 year warranty on the inverter.
20 years on the panels with a degradation of 20% efficiency over 10 years expected.. anything over that and they are replaced.
20 years on installation

My bills would now be  well over $700 a quarter.
My repayments over 2 years are $780 a quarter.
My bill is $57 and yes weve had the aircon on.

So, I see a slight increase in my bill for 2 years max... but that's not really the case as electricity prices are going up again. My guess is by end of 2 years im even.

After that, I have hardly any bills at all... cant wait for that one!

If you cannot keep control of your overheads you go broke - rule#1 of any business and running a family IS a business.

I don't care if it throws spikes down the line.. that's not my issue.. Power company never cared about anyone who went broke cos their bill shot up.. F**k em I say.. its each man for himself now and I intend to cover my lot as best I can.
I don't care if its "green" or not.. couldn't give a stuff.. its all bollox anyway. We get penalised for using electricity and pushed to use less through price increases.. but its not us causing the problems.. its the power companies refusing to move beyond burning fossil fuels.. we sell coal to China to burn for electricity at a fraction we sell it to ourselves... its all a con...LED speed signs - those things chew the juice!.. but hey, its LED so it costs nothing to run right? Bollox - theres tons of the bloody things in there.. add the inefficiency of the SMPS and it all adds up.. pretty sure the old reflective ones were free to run?

Its one big fat con.. get in now on solar I say while you can and then in 20 years time when we all have it, we will be paying the same bills for the same amount because " line maintenance" and " the grid" will cost.. just like renting the line for your telephone...one...big...fat...con.

JP Morgan.. " if I cant put a meter on it - it cannot happen"


Ok.. rant over... now breathe and allow blood to come from boiling to normal...

[DSB]

All good points Retropin to consider to put a system in as long as the manufacture and installation company are around in 20 years to honour the warranties.  You are right though, if you've done your research and think you can save or make money in the end, I agree go for it!

[Marty Machine]

.. we have shareholders to think of and we MUST increase profits every year.

Yep, that's EXACTLY the problem for all companies, bloody shareholders!!!

Any company with shareholders is on the eve of it's closure, we dont have the same economic climate that we've had 20+ years ago when shareholding "WAS" a good idea and investment.
NO company today can offer fantastic economic growth, there's no room to spread, not enough money to go around anymore, and HAVING to provide for shareholders worsens the expansion of any company.

It's about time companies started offloading all their shareholders and remain strong and having a future....afterall, it's shareholders that kill companies and cause everyone to lose our jobs, it's that simple.

Shareholders alone ARE the end of the world.

[Retropin]

.. we have shareholders to think of and we MUST increase profits every year.

Yep, that's EXACTLY the problem for all companies, bloody shareholders!!!

Any company with shareholders is on the eve of it's closure, we dont have the same economic climate that we've had 20+ years ago when shareholding "WAS" a good idea and investment.
NO company today can offer fantastic economic growth, there's no room to spread, not enough money to go around anymore, and HAVING to provide for shareholders worsens the expansion of any company.

It's about time companies started offloading all their shareholders and remain strong and having a future....afterall, it's shareholders that kill companies and cause everyone to lose our jobs, it's that simple.

Shareholders alone ARE the end of the world.

Im hearing you and have always been a firm believer that anything that is fundamental to our way of life should be government controlled...NOT... privately owned to make a profit.
Electricity.. water... health... all should be in the hands of....wait for it.... US!! Yep radical as it may sound but we did once own them all.. then got fed a few sheckles to sell them off to a private conglomerate who will rape them for all they are worth only to sell them back again when exponential growth plateaus out. Then we will invest and build them to 21st or 22nd century technology to sell them to the very same groups again.
They've been doing it since Oliver Cromwell and will continue while we allow it