All things Solar (merged threads)

[poppa smurf]

yes it will be interesting to see what mine is after the recent rise in power cost (yet again, gets very sickening after a while)

[supershifty]

I got a bit lax this winter and used a 1800w fan heater for about 3 hours at night - it was cold comfort when I got my power bill, added $100. Used to wearing shorts and thongs here in Brisbane - I'll rug up next winter.

Bills are going up! I used 40% less natural gas this quarter compared to last quarter, yet paid 15% more on the bill.

Cheers!

[Winter XR8]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...-power-tariff/
This is a bit of a kick in the teeth for WA customers on the higher FIT. So much for a written contract!

[poppa smurf]

just on the gas side of things, apparently it is the "new" gold mine for investors.

talking about it on the radio yesterday (leon Byners talkback)......gas is set to skyrocket in price, roughly 3 times what it is now.

looks like it will be simply siphoned off, packed up to QLD and freighted overseas at a greatly reduced cost to our neighbours in china and Japan, very good natured of us isn't it.

power is set to fall (don't hold your breath) so profits not as high now.

when are the bloody politicians going to wean off this "dig it up and hock it off attitude".

getting that way we cant afford to turn anything on.

written contracts only help the supplier, not the consumer, no protection against rises for him, mine has changed 3 times since my last "contract".

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Winter XR8

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...-power-tariff/
This is a bit of a kick in the teeth for WA customers on the higher FIT. So much for a written contract!

Mate that's only the half of it. Have you seen what else these douchebags are cutting and increasing fees on?

[comagutsa]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Mate that's only the half of it. Have you seen what else these douchebags are cutting and increasing fees on?

not yet but i cant wait i might just stop working and go on the dole so i can get all my hard earned money back they have taken off me

so happy im paying 8.7c for every unit i export back to them and then they sell it back to me at what is it 29c (it changes ever month now and ive lost track

[poppa smurf]

are we still living in "the lucky country!".........

I dont think so, not with 2660 people having to live without power through their inability to pay.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/s...-1226696641465

outrageous.

[davenl5l]

yay the sun is shining now I can get some of my usage back from using the heater so much this winter

[sgt_doofey]

Amen to that!!! Looking to see our electricity bill drop to a more reasonable amount after winter!!!

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 4

[poppa smurf]

washed the panels, now we sit back and reap a bit of payback.

buggers still haven't sent my account yet so I cant see what winter cost me.

[Matty4]

I've only had ours a couple of months and today has been its most productive day so far.
As of 10 mins ago I had made a touch over 24kwh for the day.
Haven't had a bill yet since it went in and my meter isn't configured for the FIT yet by AGL (not that it really matters at this stage, we use more than it will generate ATM).

[buggerlugs]

We were up to about $950.00 in credit about 6 months ago. Then the bill came in and knocked off about $250.00. Then the latest one just come in and took off another $400.00 . But it did rain here for 7 months straight. The last month thou has seen blue skies every day so here's hoping it goes the other way now.............

[LG17]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

We were up to about $950.00 in credit about 6 months ago. Then the bill came in and knocked off about $250.00. Then the latest one just come in and took off another $400.00 . But it did rain here for 7 months straight. The last month thou has seen blue skies every day so here's hoping it goes the other way now.............

Well it's obviously working well for you Buggerlugs!
What size is your system?

[rancidpunx]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

We were up to about $950.00 in credit about 6 months ago. Then the bill came in and knocked off about $250.00. Then the latest one just come in and took off another $400.00 . But it did rain here for 7 months straight. The last month thou has seen blue skies every day so here's hoping it goes the other way now.............

Yeah SE QLD has sucked since Christmas time with all the rain. My system is pumping at the moment though. 27-30kwh a day at the moment and hitting 3-4kwh outputs at 9am on our 5kw system. Its beautiful this time of year, warm but not hot cloudless days.

Energy Australia has not given me a correct bill since the installation at the end of November last year. Their calculations simply dont add up and each bill is calculated off of the last wrong one. Should have around $900 credit but I am missing around half of that. Made some headway today after many unreturned calls and actually spoke to somebody who understood that X amount of energy exported at $0.50 is very simple math. Hopefully be sorted soon.

[fnm17]

Definetly tell summer is kicking in, also with my 5kw sysem I am getting 27 to 28kw per day for the last weeks.

[BENT_8]

I've been reading this thread from its conception, great thread poppa.

Now, being a complete solar energy noob im curious as to how beneficial the systems are.
Not that im considering installing any as I rent, but im always hearing conversations on it and curiosity has gotten the better of me.

What im keen to know is...

What size system do you have

how much did your system set u back*

What is the average daily production over a full 12 month period.

What is your average yearly electricity usage in kw as electricity prices are all over the place.

After 12 months, how much of the initial purchase value have you actually retrieved, if that is possible.

* I know this is a personal question, but its hard to gauge the positive returns without a base expenditure to work from.

This is not an exercise to prove or disprove the benefits of solar, it would just be good to understand the real time cost/reward of the investment.
Cheers.

[davenl5l]

4kw,$7,000,approx 18kw, don't know ,approx. $2,000 and was in credit before winter for $380 I feel it is well worth the investment(no more worrying about the ever increasing power bill coming in)also I don't consider it a pay back period as I just look at it s paying up front at a cheaper rate than power is now!! hope this helps

[supershifty]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I've been reading this thread from its conception, great thread poppa.

Now, being a complete solar energy noob im curious as to how beneficial the systems are.
Not that im considering installing any as I rent, but im always hearing conversations on it and curiosity has gotten the better of me. Cheers.

System size: 2kW (12x190w panels)

Cost: About $3700 in April '12

Daily production: 9.65kW averaged over 480 days

Daily consumption: 3.5kW over 480 days

Cash rebate: $1290 over 1 year @ 52c FIT - you may want to factor in that my power bills used to be around $110 per quarter, which I no longer pay, so total benefit is $1730.

My consumption figures may appear to be very low compared to others - I live alone, don't have AC and run natural gas stove/hot water.

Just gotta figure out a way to sink a coal seam gas well in the back yard.

Cheers!

[fnm17]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I've been reading this thread from its conception, great thread poppa.

Now, being a complete solar energy noob im curious as to how beneficial the systems are.
Not that im considering installing any as I rent, but im always hearing conversations on it and curiosity has gotten the better of me.

What im keen to know is...

What size system do you have

how much did your system set u back*

What is the average daily production over a full 12 month period.

What is your average yearly electricity usage in kw as electricity prices are all over the place.

After 12 months, how much of the initial purchase value have you actually retrieved, if that is possible.

* I know this is a personal question, but its hard to gauge the positive returns without a base expenditure to work from.

This is not an exercise to prove or disprove the benefits of solar, it would just be good to understand the real time cost/reward of the investment.
Cheers.

System size: 5kW (20 panels i think)

Cost: About $9,000 in Early 2012

Daily production: 20 to 30Kw depending if winter or summer.

Daily consumption: used to be about 14kW a day if i recall, which I probaly use the most at night, which works out better, because you by the electricty cheaper than what you sell to grid.

Cash rebate: just over $900 check banked for 3 quarters, but took near on a month to get broken inverter exchanged, during peak electicity making. Best rebate has been $500 credit for a quarter, when I would expect to pay $340 to $360 a quarter.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I've been reading this thread from its conception, great thread poppa.

Now, being a complete solar energy noob im curious as to how beneficial the systems are.
Not that im considering installing any as I rent, but im always hearing conversations on it and curiosity has gotten the better of me.

What im keen to know is...


What size system do you have

I have 3.5 kilowatt system

how much did your system set u back*

$13,500 plus around $4,500 for house/shed/wiring/distribution box/feed in meter modifications not counting the extra purlins I had to put in myself

What is the average daily production over a full 12 month period.

total yearly average is around 12 Kw's


What is your average yearly electricity usage in kw as electricity prices are all over the place.

I use a pretty consist an 12 kilowatts per day so that would be 4380 give or take, been a while since I actually took notes

After 12 months, how much of the initial purchase value have you actually retrieved, if that is possible.

according to my sunny boy remote monitor (which is actually quite accurate) I have "retrieved" $5,401.84c

I am currently $1,035.00 in credit awaiting my "winter" bill which could make the final total more or less, we gave the heater a hiding this year.

* I know this is a personal question, but its hard to gauge the positive returns without a base expenditure to work from.

This is not an exercise to prove or disprove the benefits of solar, it would just be good to understand the real time cost/reward of the investment.
Cheers.

all questions regarding solar will be answered (correctly or not is a different thing) whether or not you consider them personal.....bit of a hobby of mine and a few others in here I see.

even without a FIT solar will bring your power usage down.....how much you spend and save is up to you.

the first step is power usage reduction.

[Captain Stubing]

In a weeks time, it'll be 12 months since my panels were installed, but I got my fourth quarterly bill today. So, after 12 months of feeding in at .50c/kwh (44c gov and 6 cent Origin incentive) my account balance is $20.69 in credit.

That's with 16x190w panels, two power hungry kids, split system a/c that warmed the house for a bit during winter, cooled in summer.

Not having paid a power bill in 12 months is awesome! This bill alone would have been $560 without solar energy taken into account.

[poppa smurf]

well done, .....so basically you have saved some $2,200 quid in 12 months (without the cost of the system taken into account).

gotta be pleased with that.

still waiting on my winter account.

[rancidpunx]

5kw system installed at the end of November last year. Cost about $10k. Average daily usage is around 15kwh. 20kwh in summer and 10kwh in winter. The system has averaged 20kwh daily production since being activated with peak days cracking 30+ kwh. But we have had miserable weather since Jan in SE QLD so im still pretty happy with it. After 9 months the system has generated me $1600 of which $1000 has covered my bills leaving me with a credit of $600. At this rate I expect to break even in just under 5 yrs. The big benefit is one less bill to worry about. I have spent the money up front so wont see that again but if I had not spent it here I would have spent it elsewhere and still have to scrape together around $350 a quarter for power bills. Its clean energy so I feel I am doing my bit. The negative though is that I still have 4yrs to go to break even and I dont trust the shortman with an ego at the helm in Queensland. Those with solar are bad apparently as our FIT is being paid for by those without, or so the bull crap says. What is swept under the carpet is our initial outlay, our lightening the load on the grid, our money keeping businesses open and our green energy production. As long as I break even before they change the 44c FIT I will be happy.

[SJG351]

We have a 2kw system that cost us $3500 and on average it halves our power bill, sure on those numbers it takes a few years to pay for the system but it is worth it just for those discounted bills when you get them!

[BENT_8]

Thanks for the honest replies guys, keep em coming.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I've been reading this thread from its conception, great thread poppa.

Now, being a complete solar energy noob im curious as to how beneficial the systems are.
Not that im considering installing any as I rent, but im always hearing conversations on it and curiosity has gotten the better of me.

What im keen to know is...

What size system do you have

3.8kw. 20 x 190w panels and 5kw inverter

Originally Posted by BENT_8

how much did your system set u back*

$6500, paid in full up front.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

What is the average daily production over a full 12 month period.

the system has only been up for about 10-11 months. as of thismorning its produced 5570kwh total. thats roughly 17kwh a day on average.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

What is your average yearly electricity usage in kw as electricity prices are all over the place.

my usage pre solar was about 18kwh a day, and now its down around 12kwh a day.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

After 12 months, how much of the initial purchase value have you actually retrieved, if that is possible.

being late to the party means i don't have much of a FIT. my FIT is 25.8c/kwh, and i pay on average 30-33c/kwh from the grid. during summer, it pretty much wiped out my usage bill. over the first 2 bills (6 months) i had to pay about $50 which was the supply charge. during winter (only 1 bill so far) it only knocked about $200 off the bill (normally $500, now $300). so if you consider 2 x $500 saving for summer and $200 in winter that i didn't have to pay, its paid off about $1200 so far. i may not be getting credit, but its still helping. payback period will take a while at this rate but who can say what will happen in the future.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

* I know this is a personal question, but its hard to gauge the positive returns without a base expenditure to work from.

This is not an exercise to prove or disprove the benefits of solar, it would just be good to understand the real time cost/reward of the investment.
Cheers.

so there you have it. we got to the stage where we had to do something. our quarterly bills were getting out of hand and the longer you procrastinate, the more money you keep spending anyway. my system is a cheap system, as thats the only choice some people have. i did not consider the investment worthwhile unless i went for a system big enough to at least cover my usage and the only way to do this was to buy on price. nearly 12 months on and i'm happy with the outcome.

like most though, i don't hold out any hope that the scheme will become any fairer. most govt's now seem to be making moves to make it even less viable. solar customers are now being made to feel like the rising cost for non solar customers is out fault.

[comagutsa]

Well my 3kw system just did its first 17 unit day from after winter. Just can't get over how just 1 panel not hooked up can make so much difference. The most I ever got before in summer was 16 now I have just beat that and it's no where near summer.
And 3kw system. Sunny boy inverter. 15x200w sun tech panels cost $6500. Been in for 15 months and made 5500kw approximately but wasn't hooked up correctly for 10 months so will perform alot better now

In WA we only get 8.8c for every unit we export and then get to buy it back at 29c so the only real way to save is to use most of you power during the day while it's being made. Still save approx $100-150 every bill

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by prydey

like most though, i don't hold out any hope that the scheme will become any fairer. most govt's now seem to be making moves to make it even less viable. solar customers are now being made to feel like the rising cost for non solar customers is out fault.

Thanks prydey, many of the people I have spoken to believe the push to get people producing solar feed in was just a ploy to make private homeowners make up the grids shortfalls in peak demand times without having to upgrade existing infrastructure.

Much like the FHOG, which gets people who would otherwise be renting or in community housing into their own homes and lightens the load on government housing expenditure, ie bonds/rent assistance for low income households.

[sgt_doofey]

System size: 1.5kW (8x190w panels)

Cost: About $2200 in July '12

Daily production: 6.64kW averaged over first year of use

Daily consumption: way too much as we're an all electric house here, no natural gas.

Cash rebate: Dunno, but we've saved roughly $600 over it's first year of use.

Another question you should probably ask is orientation of people's systems as that has a big impact on what they generate. Ours is a north facing one, but probably tending towards NNE a little.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Another question you should probably ask is orientation of people's systems as that has a big impact on what they generate.

good point.

due to roof space, my 20 panels had to be split between the north and west faces. 11 panels face north, 9 panels face west.