Solar Power help

[Dave085]

Gday all,

Without me rambling on, does anyone know who installs a decent quality solar system and what prices are we looking at? Im going to start researching, prices just keep going down and i think this might be a really good time to get on it.

My bills in summer are about $300 and winter is much lower, about $250 if not $200...
Im just getting sick of being so concious and uncomfortable in summer with the air con on and also looking at staying in our house for at least the next 8 years.

So we own (if you want to call it that! (Mortgage  :-[ ) our house in Adelaide.

Anyone had a good experience, and include bad ones too. I need to get this done and will appreciate help.

Cheers!

[upthemaidens]

sorry cant help..  but im also interested,, i would like to know if un-used power is put back into the grip, how much money can be made from that?
  and on a side note..  all new houses built these days, should have to have solar panels and rain water tanks included by law. to me that seems logical... and one step further, why cant they build roofs out of panels? so the whole roof is effectivly a solar panel

[Ringo]

Guys make sure you do your research and look at the capacity of your systems.  Do not get sucked into the smaller 1.5kw systems as they are too small to adequately run your household.  Will reduce bills though.

If you went for a 3kw or 4.5kw system you would be putting money back into the grid.  Need to look at your states system for the buy back price of electricity. For Qld it is 44cents per kwh at the moment.  My neighbour has a 4.5kw system and is getting a quarterly credit of $60 - $100 on his electricity account.  System cost him around $9000 though but not paying any electricity costs.

The items you need to firm up:
Number of Panels and Capacity for roof - More Expensive for the higher capacity panels but less on roof for output
Positioning on roof for maximum effect
Load required to run your household
Buy back tariff from supplier of electricity
Make sure you go with a recognised Supplier - I am looking at having all done through my Electricity Biller who will send someone to quote. Do not know whether ETSA offer this in SA.

Basically you have to as I am doing at the moment is the return on the investment as to whether outlay on a smaller system with no surplus power and reduced electricity bills v system that will generate power for the grid but more expensive and generate some income (Christmas Bonus).


Check also on when rebates etc disappear if any available in your states.

@ Maidens They are starting to build panels as roofing in Japan so it is not as far fetched as you think. Technology is there.

[coolfugitiv0]

Having an entire roof of solar panels would be crazy expensive though, wouldn't it?

[Dave085]

A bloke i know has put in a $5000 1.75kw system and had a bill of about $280 per quarter. He reckons it should now be $0, so im looking around that mark.

There seem to be some good discounts at the moment with end of financial year and other things.

I would also have to check if that feed in tarrif is a set rate for a certain period or if they can lower it at any time. There was talk a while back that the feed in tarrif was going to be taxed on systems that generated large returns etc. so it would make a big difference on which way i went.

[coolfugitiv0]

Don't forget to account for rising energy bills due to the carbon tax.

[LF]

I`ve been doing a heap of research lately on solar panels(we have opted to wait)
Whirlpool forums is the best place to get solar panel info from.

[valkorum]

I was looking at it as well and it appears that a 2kw system (on average) will be able to run your house but not put much (if any) back in to the grid.

@ringo I wish we got the same buyback rate in Perth (about 10c per kwh)

[valkorum]

Another thing to take in to consideration is the warranty length on the panels and inverter.  The return on investment (ROI) is considerably long (money spent vs money saved over time).

For example:
System costs $5000 to buy and install
If you average bill is $250 a quarter it will take 5 years before your savings = initial outlaw. 

If the warranty is shorter than time it takes for you to break even then I wouldn't consider it a good deal.  The last thing you want is for it to break and you haven't "actually" saved any money.

[CFC 1979]

ah the old solar debate

agree you need to install a large system to get any benefit.
The FIT ( feed in tarriff ) is vital as well
In Victoria you will have missed the boat already. P (premium ) FIT was locked at around 66c
These people have this tarriff locked in for 15 years at that rate. Yes 15 years.
To get the PFIT  people had to forgo any other special tarriffs they had  ( climate saver ect )
The other was S (standard ) FIT at around 23c. You will not make any savings on this.
Now because it's has exploded we have T ( transistional ) FIT which goes until the end of June.

# note these tarriffs are with Origin energy

I'm no expert on solar but i have been in a meeting with the manager of Origin new connections and he showed
us a graph which shows Origins actual feed in times to the grid. They are for 2 hours only at a set time of day.
So what residual is remaining in your system only feeds back in at that time.
When the manager of a retailer actually laughs when discussing solar your ears prick up.

Also there is a very serious side affect on the low voltage system that is not being reported.
With the flood of solars being connected to any transformer grid, the voltage being produced
inside that system ( the street curcuit ) is going through the roof at feed in times. Your typical
house system runs on around 230 V to 250 v but Queensland has had cases of the low voltage going as
high as 270 V damaging peoples house appliances. In systems that are not properly regualted, it will be the
poor man that cannot afford solar who looses out. Power companies ( distributors ) are doing nothing to regulate
voltages in thier system. Or were not. Powercor in Victoria has now regulated a certain amount of solars that can
be connected to a transformer grid. I think it is currently 75 KW. Once this is reached no more solars will be connected
to that grid. Period. So are the installers saying this to people. no.

[Ringo]

@ CFC The issue in Queensland is that with the number of Solar applications the electricity grid can not cope with Feed in and this is causing the voltage fluctuations. Electricity supplier in Qld has knocked back applications in some areas until upgrade of grid takes place because of this.  This is similar to your last par for Vict and the same situation in Qld with suppliers not telling.

From my Calculations you probably need a minimum 3kva system to break even with your current Electricity Bill factoring in the Carbon tax.

[nas]

Ringo, Without doing all your quotes & taking up the whole page, I did mine thro Hembrows of Springwwod & looked around & getting 50c a kw thru Origin. < Not locked into a contract as well. Currently have over $200- in credit & normal bill of $700 wiped every time. So in round figures means a approx return of $800 a bill. Started with a 2.5 & then added on another 1.5 & married them all up. There is another supplier offering 52c a kw but you are locked in.

Hope this helps.

[Ringo]

Thanks Naste - Will follow through. Had done some initial investigation with Origin. So basically on the money with a 3/4 kva system.

[JBs-Hawks]

Im from Adelaide a 3rd year apprentice electrician. Installed solar panels for origin and agl for 9 months of my apprenticeship. If your roof permits id get either a 2.6 or 3kw system. Don't buy a 1.5kw system with a bigger inverter so that you can upgrade later u won't be approved and will lose your feed in tariff.  Any questions about installations and I can answer for ya

[nas]

Im from Adelaide a 3rd year apprentice electrician. Installed solar panels for origin and agl for 9 months of my apprenticeship. If your roof permits id get either a 2.6 or 3kw system. Don't buy a 1.5kw system with a bigger inverter so that you can upgrade later u won't be approved and will lose your feed in tariff.  Any questions about installations and I can answer for ya

Sorry Mate I beg to differ, In Qld I started with a 3Kw Inverter & Panels for 2Kw & upgraded as I got the dough for the extra panels with no problems to make it up to the 3Kw . Maybe different States different rules?