How did you go Nino, manage to get it done before Krudd knocked the rebate on the head three weeks early?
We signed up for a system. It is costing us $4090 for a 1kW system (the rebate was only for 1kW) but got a 2kW inverter so we can beef it up later on. Without the rebate it was worth about $14k. Apparently the Govt will be offering interest free loans for any type of green type things around the house which is when I will look at adding the extra panels.
A 1kW system is not very powerful but it depends on how many people are in the house using up power. A mate had one in his place and his power bills over summer with the A/C running pretty much non stop were about $100 a quarter. Mine was $400. The biggest benefit will be achieved if the house is empty during the day i.e. everyone is at school or work and that is when it will start sending your power meter into reverse. Vic at the moment I think sells power at around 27c per unit and buys it back at 60c which is where he made the savings (in Echuca). NSW is the only state not to have something in place like this and I think it is the same to buy as the same to sell it back to the grid. It is supposed to be changing shortly. So whilst with a 1kW system you won't be putting much back in, places like VIC you will be getting back twice as much when you send power back into the grid.
The panels are guaranteed for 25 years and from memory they reckon they guarantee they will be 80% efficient but reduce in their efficiency as they get older. At this stage they cannot say what the panels' life span is - they are talking 40 years at least. Inverter has a 10 year warranty.
End of the day, it is something to add value to the house and hopefully take a bit off the power bills and get some more money back from the Govt at the same time.
