Quest for the geeks, power geeks....
 

Our local government is offering a really cool grid interactive Solar Power System rebate, where you can get an $8000 1 kW solar PV system for out of pocket expenses of $1600.

This system will produce approx. 4.0kW hr/day, my useage for the last 91 days was 62 kWh...which is RIDICULOUS!! but we had the really bad heatwave...last year for the same period I was using 11.8 kWh.

So, do any of our resident geeks have any solar power experience? offer any advice?

This system will feed back into the grid during off peak times (at work etc) and my hot water (which is still power at this stage) will still cost me because the PV sytem wont work at nite, but I should be putting enough into the grid to cover this I hope.

Thoughts? Opinions?

My brother set up his whole weekend cabin on solar power, so I will pick his brain, but he's away up in the mountains with no phone coverage.

I have been wanting to do it for a long time, go completely solar that is. It costs an average of $20,000 to completely set up a moderately sized home in the US to go solar. The best you can do is buy little bits at a time as you can afford them or get a loan, do the job, and get your money back in rebates or tax breaks. I have done a ton of research on it. For us, we have just determined that the best bet is to wait until we move again, which should be soon (few years). Off the grid is a different set up altogether, but there is a lot of mixing of terms. The best situation is where you can use the utility provider in times you need them, and not when you don't have to, all the while selling your excess electricity back to them as you produce it (but you will only get a flat wholesale rate from them, not what they charge you to get it fromt them). An alternative is to go solar for little stuff around the house that uses electricity. The most common one is your hot water heater. Next can be isolated circuits like your airconditioner or other isolated circuits as you see fit. Either way it is not cheap to do and really depends on how much electricity you use over the year. I am a complete novice when it comes to electricity beyond simple wire diagrams and putting up flood lights or adding a plug here and there to expand what I have. There are a lot of really smart people on here so I am only telling you what I have researched to this point.

Lot of smart people that arent saying much. :p

The fact that this mob does all the rebating for you, is why its such a sweet deal. I dont have to muck around and pay the $9600 upfront and then get reimbursed.

If I look at my useage over the past year in this house, it will take approximately 15 mths to pay for itself, so I am sold on it :D

Yes, but not all smart people are geeks, nor are all geeks smart people. :p


btw, last month I averaged about 14.2 kwh per day.

My mate's brother is a sparky who does a lot of work installing these and I have asked him about it.
If I understand correctly, the deal you are looking at does not technically produce electricity that is fed into your house. For that you need an inverter which costs big bucks. You'd also want batteries. This package does NOT deliver self sufficiency. If there is a blackout, you will still have no electricity.

However, you will be selling electricity back into the grid and getting money for it. It should pay itself off quite quickly - probably longer than 15 months, but then it is free money AND you're being nice to the Earth.

It is very important that you have some good NORTH FACING roof space that isn't shaded by trees. Given the angle of the sun, especially in winter, the trees don't need to be overhanging the house to reduce your insolation, just nearby and tall. If your roof faces East or West you will get a lot less power from it and your investment might take much longer to pay itself off.

The only other concern I have is about damage - hail, wind, electrical fault/fire or bushfire. If the unit is destroyed early in its lifetime, you may be looking at a loss.

I'd say, go for it! But also consider insurance for the panels.

It comes with the inverter which is really the only reason I looked at it, my useage is high, but during the day when I'm not pulling from the panels, I will be feeding the grid and winding the meter backwards. Self sufficiency doesnt bother me that much, I quite enjoy the blackouts....makes me use my creativity.

The whole side of my house (which is the largest area) is north facing and as my driveway is on the north side...theres no trees in that direction.

Ive researched the hail damage, the new panels are very hardy and should withstand the hail, my insurance will cover them for an additional charge apparently.


Thanks Zennie :D

North facing? From a old roofer, that was the coolest roof - the part we saved for working through noontime. Did you mean south?

Maybe for your crazy, upside-down, back-to-front, inside-out Northern hemisphere houses, but down here in the Southern hemisphere where Ducks and I live, we build houses the correct way around. :p

yeah, what he meant was, "Bush's fault, 7 minutes prove, what previous poster previously posted, GM ruined the north roof". Got that?

frakking australia.

HA HA HA @ Zen - that was great!

You still love us Lookout ;)

Bogus, that kind of toilet doesn't swirl anywhere. :haha:

We don't have the water to flush with.




Which is actually a thought ... do you drink or harvest the rainwater from your roof, Ducks? Will this affect water volume or quality in any way?

"Free" solar installations are becoming popular here in The States. First, you have to be in a state where excess generation buyback is mandated by law. The most practical thing I've seen recently was a deal where the company does the install and maintenance, and you pay them the going rate for electricity (in other words, you don't save anything on your monthly electric bill). The company sells the excess generation back to the utility and that's how they pay for their investment. Then, depending on the size of the system you pick and other factors, you own it after a period of 15 or twenty years.

These 1kw systems look highly suspect to me. It is simply not enough capacity to run the average modern household on a practical level. There's even a firm running a commercial on TV for this sort of system, and it just reeks of scam and impracticality from my rather uninformed point of view.