Solar Power recommendations

[Strangeways]

I'm seriously looking at adding a Solar Power system on the roof of a building we use for storage. The power generated from the PV cells can be stored or connected back into the power grid, so you can almost eliminate power bills.

Has anyone done this before (even residential) ?

Seems there are a lot of companies out there that will be able to do the job, but I want to know who the "good guys" are who actually know what they are doing. I'm in melbourne - So I'd like someone local.

Any info would be appreciated.

[Ford Fairlane]

hmmm not sure about this one Nino as i didnt think solar was efficient enough to provide total power to the house let alone provide excess to throw back into the grid. People who i have spoken to in the past say that its more like a 10 year turn around until you start seeing the payoff but would be happy to be wrong about this!

[ROLLERBALL]

on the money Rob....Mr rudd built the largest ever solar power station in Australia out at cober peady or somewhere for like 100 million...and its can only provide power to like 150 homes...go figure....how would solar power sydney???..lol

[ktm450]

Yeah sounds about correct, 10 years to pay back.

A 1kw system can out put 1kW when there is full sun, which is about the same as your microwave consume if you had it on nuking your food.  Or the same as 10 100w lightglobes all on together.  So it can power some items but wont run your meter backward very often, unless full sun, and no one home using any power.  It obviously can not make power at night so you are basically going to use your power that you may have made during the day at night.

I have looked into it because I like the idea of being green, but unless you have the cash lying around it really seems like a hard decision, as we look into the future (10 yrs if thats what it takes to pay back) renewable energy will be big business, how good and cheap is solar panels and other green power going to get.  Well maybe not cheaper but hopefully more efficient for less outlay.

But then again who knows, if you want to be kind to the environment and you have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, I think it is a great thing, but a large outlay for something that is not going to pay for itself in 10 yrs.

[Strangeways]

The building itself does not use any electricity during the week, other than power an alarm system. It would be used mainly on the weekends - So I was thinking that if it were able to store electricity during the week - I'd use it only on the weekends, and what is not used, goes back into the grid.

[ddstoys]

What sort of things would you be running on the weekend nino?  If its only small things you could set yourself up a small one hooked up to car batteries and just use an inverter?

[ktm450]

In that situation I think it would be a good thing. It would help to offset the connection fees etc, while putting a little back into the grid.

[Strangeways]

It will initially store the power and run my pinballs and small tools on the weekend. Might even be just for one day a week.

[pinnies4me]

You need to talk to Nug Mino - he has done some wild things with a tiny panel, some batteries and an inverter - I think I could run my house on two of what he's been playing with!

[jyebow]

Hasn't uncle Kev got a rebate going for Solar stuff. Might have to get some of these...
 

[Marty Machine]

Isn't Solar Installation FREE at the moment? i keep seeing the promo on TV all the time...
Kev is providing FULL backing on the $10k-$15k package.
This was another 'Kev' stimulus bonus until end of June i think??

Solar is average in winter, and great in summer (not that Melbourne has a summer anymore).
So, i'm still sceptical about "saving money, going green" in their advertising 

MM.

[Strangeways]

There are three or so companies advertising ;

Clearsolar, Modern, Yessolar - But I was hoping that someone could point me in the right direction as to whom the better providers are ?

I think the rebates are for residential only.

[bigdaddy]

These rebates are means tested for combined ($100k), so it if you are under that then read the fine print that some of these companies are asking in relation to signing over your future carbon credits. Also I was under the impression that the PV cells are only 25% efficient ATM. That is only 250w from a 1kw system will make it back into the grid or your home. That would mean that with the average house uses about 1,5kw per day making the up only about 1/6 of your power requirements. At that rate at a saving of about $60 per qtr all things being equal or $240 per year.  Not pretty

[Pintoxicated]

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.

[Strangeways]

Talby,

I didn't end up doing it as there was too much fine print to go through and the intent was for commercial, not residential.

I will look into it again in the future, but the installation time for some of the companies was 9 months waiting !