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Going Solar !All info please.


rockola57

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Hi there.

Just noticed on another thread some talk of Solar electricity.We are thinking of getting it installed for our 4 bed house,as bills are real shockers..$870 and $650 last winter and autumn quarters,dreading the next ones.Any information on it all,and experiences please.Also anyone recommend any Companies around Adelaide?Thanks.

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Guest jonescl35

Dont know too much only from WA people that I know/lived with. You use the elec you generate first (to reduce bills) then can sell what you dont need to the grid but there is limits on what each household can sell and some areas are already saturated because too many houses in area already supply grid. Companies have to make some money so they limit how much elec they buy from households.

 

Good Luck.

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We have it 16 panels and are very happy with it. We are in Melbourne and it works well. The only thing is that the panels need to be cleaned regularly to get maximum output. So something to look into. Our friends had it first and used a company called Solargain so we used them as well. Other friends have also used them and they have a much larger system than us. We already had a smart meter installed so it was just a matter of them changing the computer settings.

 

At first we had trouble with the system and no-one seemed to know why but then we found out that the voltage may be the problem. So rang the energy company who supply our company and they came out the same day and checked the votage, adjusted it down and everything has been fine ever since.

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We have both solar hot water and solar electricity at our place and even with a pool pump running 8 hours a day, our electricity bill is only around $120 a quarter. We were very fortunate that we bought a house with solar as we haven't had to fork out the money up front, however the previous owners only installed a 1.1kw inverter and we are thinking of adding to it. From everything I have read, particularly on the whirlpool forums, you should get a return on investment on your solar in 3-4 years, after that it is possible to have money coming back to you from the electricity company. The caveat around this is that incentives are still being offered in your area.

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Are you in the house during the day or have heavy drain appliances running? A grid-feed system is only good for you personally if you're using electricity while the sun shines, otherwise you need one that feeds into a battery system so you can actually access your electricity at night.

 

If you're generally not around during daylight you're better off with solar water.

 

As Petals said, you need to clean the panels; one of those watchdog type shows said that depending on the make of the panel, a bit of bird poo can actually knock out the entire panel, not just the individual cell until you get up there and clean it, they said not to bother with the cheap Chinese systems because of this.

 

And watch out with some of these discounted/free installation offers - in exchange for the installation you may be asked to sign over your grid feed back to the company which means you'll never be entitled to reciver any money that your system may generate.

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We have both solar hot water and solar electricity at our place and even with a pool pump running 8 hours a day, our electricity bill is only around $120 a quarter. We were very fortunate that we bought a house with solar as we haven't had to fork out the money up front, however the previous owners only installed a 1.1kw inverter and we are thinking of adding to it. From everything I have read, particularly on the whirlpool forums, you should get a return on investment on your solar in 3-4 years, after that it is possible to have money coming back to you from the electricity company. The caveat around this is that incentives are still being offered in your area.

 

That is surprising, is PV so heavily subsidised? Return on investment is normally 25 years!

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That is surprising, is PV so heavily subsidised? Return on investment is normally 25 years!

 

We get 44c minimum for each kw we feed back into the grid, and the most we pay is 21c in peak, 12c in off peak - how long they are going to offer the 44c incentive in QLD is anyones guess, but as we are already signed up to it, the buy-back is guaranteed untl 2028.

 

The whirlpool forums are a great source of information, reviews on installation companies, subsidies and a lot of people actually posting their ROI information.

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We have a 16 panel (2.8kW) system. We are really happy with it and have been in credit from the start. We are all electric including hot water.

Payback time obviously depends heavily on the size of your system, your usage and the feed in tariff for your area and energy company. We figured on about 6 years for our particular situation.

 

It is actually better NOT to be using electricity whilst the system is generating as the elec company pays you for the excess you produce ( for us that is 50cents per kW) and then charges you the normal rate (around 22cents per kW) for what you actually use. So the less you use whilst the system is producing, the more you feed into the grid.

We never have to clean our panels in QLD, lots of rain where we live does that for us. Though we do get low cloud some days and ten the panels don't make much.

Definitely go with a decent system. Apparently some of those Chinese panels don't have the output they claim to have. We went with a German system, the panels we have are rated at the minimum they produce (i.e. if they are 175W panels then they have to produce that as a minimum at full output)

 

The systems are subsidised heavily for the first 1.5kW. after that you pay the full whack. That's why you see a lot of houses with the smaller systems, rather than the bigger ones.

Cost varies greatly depending on the quality of the components. We could have got cheaper from the same company had we gone with the Chinese panels.

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We have a 16 panel (2.8kW) system. We are really happy with it and have been in credit from the start. We are all electric including hot water.

Payback time obviously depends heavily on the size of your system, your usage and the feed in tariff for your area and energy company. We figured on about 6 years for our particular situation.

 

It is actually better NOT to be using electricity whilst the system is generating as the elec company pays you for the excess you produce ( for us that is 50cents per kW) and then charges you the normal rate (around 22cents per kW) for what you actually use. So the less you use whilst the system is producing, the more you feed into the grid.

We never have to clean our panels in QLD, lots of rain where we live does that for us. Though we do get low cloud some days and ten the panels don't make much.

Definitely go with a decent system. Apparently some of those Chinese panels don't have the output they claim to have. We went with a German system, the panels we have are rated at the minimum they produce (i.e. if they are 175W panels then they have to produce that as a minimum at full output)

 

The systems are subsidised heavily for the first 1.5kW. after that you pay the full whack. That's why you see a lot of houses with the smaller systems, rather than the bigger ones.

Cost varies greatly depending on the quality of the components. We could have got cheaper from the same company had we gone with the Chinese panels.

 

What sort of cost should one expect for a 2.8kW system?

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I think we paid around $12000 after the rebate, that's for German made Schott panels and a 3.2kW SMA inverter. We could have got the Chinese system for quite a bit less.

That was 18 months ago, they seem to be a bit cheaper now I think. I've seen 3kW systems advertised for around $8000 and less. Not sure what components they use though.

It's something you really need to research well as there's so much out there. I agree the Whirlpool forums have a lot of info.

The system we have has a bluetooth facility where you can check how much power you are making without running outside to look at the inverter display panel. :GEEK:

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We get 6o something cents for our power and the company we are with is supposedly the highest payer. Although the cut off was last year so even though we have this deal no new connections will have it.

 

Cleaning the panels is quite a hard job just hosing them is not any good. They get dirty because of the dew in the mornings. Our solar company will clean for us on a contract but at a cost of course.

 

If you check the system regularly it will give you an idea when you need the panels cleaned and we reckon once a month for ours.

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I have to admit we've never had ours cleaned and it doesn't seem to affect our production. I just checked now, it's making 2.5kW which is pretty good for a 2.8kW system. However we do get a fair bit of rain where we are in the Gold Coast hinterland (over 1500mm a year) and we don't get really long dry spells so I suppose the dust doesn't get a chance to build up. I expect in a different type of climate it would be a different story. Definitely worth keeping in mind though.

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