Solar Panels

[DC3]

...Just wondering if this is a reasonable deal or not.

Would depend upon your confidence in the installer and the expected quality of the installation. I chose a company that had been around for 10 years, used their own employees and not subbed out. They came out and walked the roof to check for shading or any other issues. Good quality panels and inverter.

It all adds to the price but we all have different objectives.

 

[amaroo]

That's interesting.
I have just had a quote to do a 40 panel 13.2kv system with 30 panels west and 10 east for $11,450.
Just wondering if this is a reasonable deal or not.

Focus on the quality of the business, inverter, panels, aspect, and shade .... if they all pull up as A grade - go for it.

 

[Hvr]

My latest billing cycle ended yesterday and by my calculations I am $12.46 in credit. This includes two very hot days when the AC was on full bore all day. My solar feed in was only about 50% of power generated compared to an average 80% but I was still a lifter not a leaner.

A work colleague signed up for the same supplier I used and now I will get the $150 referral fee.

A very good energy month.

 

[Quickstatus]

My solar array covers the majority of the NE facing roof.
I am seeing a massive reduction in consumption - and its over and above that replaced by the solar panels. Total usage now about 70% less.
There must be a reduction in Heat absorption through the roof and I’ve added some roof fans so the attic is much cooler.

I think this resulted in a massive reduction in aircon use.

 

[cove]

With PERTH having a heatwave the efficiency of solar panels do decline a bit. We have several 40 degree days ahead it seems.
We did get a minus electricity bill in one of our office/warehouse locations for a 3 month period. We have 5 rechargeable electric stock chasers, LED lights and air conditioned offices at this location and we mostly work sunlight hours. This solar system is 36 kW.

 

[get me outta here]

My FIT is ~ 53c as I got in on the very first offer around 10 years ago. It’s been all credit since then. But of course then, the system was more expensive with a longer payback period.

No we missed out on the really high ones - I have a friend who is getting over 40c. We have a FiT of 12.5. We could have got 20c, but because we knew we would still draw a lot of power from the grid in winter, we went with a 30% discount on gas and 25% on electric, rather than a high Fit and lower discounts. It works for us as 3 months of the year we consume everything we produce and put nothing into the grid. The other 9 months what we feed in more than covers what we draw out.

I think everyone has a different balance.

 

[get me outta here]

For those with a lot of panels, do they make an appreciable difference to helping to keep the heat in, in winter - for those with cold winters?

 

[Flying mermaid]

For those with a lot of panels, do they make an appreciable difference to helping to keep the heat in, in winter - for those with cold winters?

Can’t say I have noticed any difference? Not something I have thought about. We do have pretty good insulation in the roof anyway.

 

[Daver6]

With PERTH having a heatwave the efficiency of solar panels do decline a bit. We have several 40 degree days ahead it seems.
We did get a minus electricity bill in one of our office/warehouse locations for a 3 month period. We have 5 rechargeable electric stock chasers, LED lights and air conditioned offices at this location and we mostly work sunlight hours. This solar system is 36 kW.

Agree. I reckon on these super hot days I'm noticing about a 10% drop in efficiency compared to a day when the temp is mid-20s.

For those with a lot of panels, do they make an appreciable difference to helping to keep the heat in, in winter - for those with cold winters?

Can't say it has made any different in my house.

 

[Quickstatus]

Yes the hotter it is the lower the efficiency. Which is why overprovisioning the inverter with extra panels makes sense.

I reckon it’s about 5-10% from my reading.
Here is the solar curve for 6kw panels into 5kw inverter.

Notice that the plateau of the first one is slightly longer than the second one. The reason is the temps were hotter for the 2nd one = less efficient.

the plateau just means the inverter is working at the rated kW output. When this happens the inverter just adjusts the MPPT voltage so there is no excess input into the inverter.

I started getting the first “plateau” day in lateOctober.

overprovisioning means that the inverter is maxed out for more of the day than a precisely 1kw:1kw setup. This reduces the relative cost. It’s better to have more panels around. This setup is 1.2:1. the installer said I could have gone to 1.3:1, the only limitation is the DC input voltage which has a hard limit of 1000V.
A precise 1:1 setup in the best condition may only result in max inverter output for only a few minutes of the day. The rest of the time the inverter is operating at less than nameplate capacity
Post installation it’s always a good idea to see whether an installed system reaches the maximum that a inverter can handle.
If not it’s worth thinking about adding more panels - so long as they are exactly the same make and model panel.

 

[cove]

At the office we started into solar and LED lighting as we saw an opportunity to save money. It grew from there into getting our whole business carbon footprint down to nearer zero. The choice of hybrid cars, solar , battery powered rechargeable stock chasers and LED lighting have been helpful in getting there.

 

[Antoallison]

I wanted to get solar panels quite a few years ago but hubby vetoed the idea.

Now he says that as we will probably be downsizing within the next 5 years, the expense of installing panels would not be worth it.

I was thinking that it still adds value to a home for sale.


Any suggestions ?

 

[Daver6]

I wanted to get solar panels quite a few years ago but hubby vetoed the idea.

Now he says that as we will probably be downsizing within the next 5 years, so the expense of installing panels would not be worth it.

I was thinking that it still adds value to a home for sale.


Any suggestions ?

Payback on my install was about three and a half years. That's with a 7.x cent feed in tariff. Obviously you'd need to do the sums for your home and usage.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I wanted to get solar panels quite a few years ago but hubby vetoed the idea.

Now he says that as we will probably be downsizing within the next 5 years, so the expense of installing panels would not be worth it.

I was thinking that it still adds value to a home for sale.


Any suggestions ?

Our payback is about 7 years, but we went top end for panels etc so you could certainly cut the payback time.

I think panels would make the house attractive to people but whether that equates to getting your money back on them I am not sure. Of course if you end up staying longer than you anticipate then you are ahead. We have been talking about downsizing for ages, but are no closer. Our endpoint is “when the dogs die”. - but I am willing to bet we still procrastinate.

 

[Quickstatus]

I wouldn’t put in solar if planning to sell the house within the payback period. For most that’s around year 5-7. It won’t add anything to the house value other than perhaps the residual value of the solar system.

it’s like doing up Only if the kitchen before selling it -dont rely on it providing any capital gain, at best you get your money back at worse you lose the amount spent as the buyer may have values the house higher with an old kitchen (more scope to renovate the kitchen the way they want it)
if you intend to rent out the place then that’s a moderately different proposition

 

[Antoallison]

thanks for the feedback....


So now I can tell hubby that several AFF members say they agree with me.

That we should have installed those solar panels years ago - when I said !

 

[get me outta here]

I looked at my original invoice for 10 years ago and it was $1540. For 10 years I have had free electricity, so the payback was very short. The FIT is 50.5 cents (not 55c as mentioned earlier).

 

[amaroo]

Jeez, the dry and cloudless QLD spring has resulted in some big solar dollars for the quarter. Just got my bill and with the combo of the recent big reduction in kWh charges and fees the refund is well over $1,000 ... and we're a pretty big electricity user.

 

[Quickstatus]

Electricity bills which are in credit due to solar feed in will not be sustainable in the long term with increasing takeup of solar.
The addition of supply during solar generation periods will pushing spot prices down, causing the FiT to be higher than the spot price at the same time of day.
Eventually the math will have to change and there is talk of pushing the 6-8 pm prices up as that is the period with highest demand and/or reducing FiT or putting a cap on the $amount of the FiT. Pushing the 6-8 pm prices up will make the battery economics closer to breakeven and soak up some of the excess grid export and time shift it to the 6-8pm period.
in the meantime....

The AEMO spot price at 1030am in NSW is 3.7c/kWh (or $37.5 per MWh)

 

[get me outta here]

"in the meantime.... " I have a 20 year contract and am only half way through it on 50.5C .