Solar Rebates

Probably a waste of money, but you might get a write up in one of the property mags as the lean green renting machine!

So a 5kw system would create $600 per quarter of power? If you split the benefit with the tenant then you'd get an extra $25 pw rent. You may even find some greenie who'd give you an extra $50. Doesn't seem financially viable.

 

That is not true at all, not even close, people need to understand how to utilise and modify habits - this is one of the bigger problems, lack of understanding & poor usage habits.

The key to solar, is use/move your usage to when power is generated.

Our bill is always less than 100/quarter, we do not have a juicy tariff (get 8c) and those quoting long term pay back and high buy in must also pay too much for IP's good solar systems are 1k/kw, you also have the benefit of using all that power instead of feeding to the grid, which is what we do as much as possible, we use more electrical appliances now than ever but cut around 1800+/yr outgoing, we were really watching how we used before, where now during generation we just use what we like.

A good analogy may be a new investor doing some sums on a scrap piece of paper for the costs/benefits, then the reality of when you have an IP and things are not what was on that scrap paper and you have the actual s, 2 different things, experience and understanding allow a much better near true estimate.

I can assure you, solar is not some sort of fad idea like fuel ionisation or the like.

That is a far better idea, wish I could have got one of these rebates.

 

Not necessarily.

The key is to move usage to when it's cheapest. If you're on a legacy deal then use as little power as possible when the sun is shining and you're selling power to the grid for 68c then use power at night when you're only paying 30c. Set the washing machine, dishwasher, pool etc to all run at night.

 

Yes, if your on one of those silly deals.

You wont get them in NSW, so you need to work out the output and usage & modify habits.

Ideally, one day batteries and the smart controllers that you can programme will be cheap enough that everyone has one and we can just disregard such things.

 

Im a sparky. And ill give you the drum now. The only way to to get the most of of solar is with a battery backup system. ​

 

If your a "sparky", then you should easily be able to modify habits to get the most without a battery.

People often won't make changes to habit as they find it inconvenient or too hard, or they just cannot be bothered becoming informed. As our bill is less than 100 every quarter, a battery would not be worth the outlay, would be better to put up more panels to offset the usage at night, but at the moment, we have sorted our usage and habits, solar will be one of the first improvements if we move again.

 

to get the best out of solar you need to use it when generated
Solar makes most sense for commercial premises as people are there during the day. Only worthwile in resi for retirees and the unemployed!
Batteries are too expensive and the ROI is too long. Most families would need 3 powerwalls to bank their daily energy useage. That doesnt account for those times when you dont see the sun for a couple of days as well

 

Well, we are neither retired nor unemployed, nor at home every day in the middle of the day.

There are many things you can do to make solar worthwhile and work for you.

 

Everyone is hung up on solar power, but look at solar hot water, That is where you will get a lot of savings.

In the future you are going to have time of use tarrifs so that the energy provider will get you to use less power during certain times so as to even out the grid load.

Batterys will come down. Again everyone is all about telsa, but there are new companies introducing new batteries, one im keeping a eye on is redflow. No loss in battery export over 5 years.

Also cost of connecting to the grid per day will go up because of everyone being on solar.

 

We installed batteries on our PPOR, not to make money or to save money but to give us power reliability.

We live on acreage and experience blackouts on a regular basis. This is a pain when you have your own server and effluent plant plus security systems, cameras, electric garage doors, electric gate, etc don't work that well without power.

We had solar panels before we had batteries. The payback period is now shorter with solar panels+batteries as we pump more power back into the grid than we did before. We are on a 50c/kWh contract until 2028.

 

No one is hung up, you play by the rules you have......

Even after power rises when the carbon tax came in, out hot water is 10c a kw, we get 8c for feed back to the grid, in other words, it is not worth running another cable and putting our own time clock so it runs during daytime.

If it gets more expensive or no choice for off peak, which is not likely, then will do what works best.

There is no cost benefit I can see to getting solar hot water, I would rather have more panels and use power from panels in day to run a normal storage tank with appropriate element.

I wish we could get a 50 odd cent contract, no go in NSW, can you get this in QLD on IPs ?

 

What can you guys tell me about the little wind turbines you put on boats? Saw one being used on Tiny Houses on the TV last weekend.

 

May I ask the average cost of the battery?

 

We installed our batteries about 2 years ago and, from memory, the batteries themselves cost around $8k. Then you have labour, a smart invertor, a charge controller, cabinet of the batteries, ... - I can't remember the total cost but I could look it up. I am sure the price has dropped over the last two years.

Ours is NOT a battery backup. We run our house off our batteries all the time. We have one array of solar panels charging our batteries and then we use the grid as a top-up. To maximise the life of the batteries, one needs to monitor the batteries State of Charge (SoC). For example, every Sunday night, the system connects to the grid and bring the batteries up to 100% SoC. Also, prior to a severe storm (an increase risk of losing power and a frequent occurrence in Brisbane summers), I can hop on my laptop and manually charge the batteries up to 100% prior to the storm hitting us. That is why you need a smart invertor + other components.

We have a second array of panels that have 2 x 2kWh invertors. These are the system covered by our 50c/kWh contract. By having batteries to power the house, we can maximise the amount of power we sell to the grid and minimise our payback period.

I am a bit anal . Every day I am home, I read my invertors and my meters to see how much power we have consumed, how much power we have generated, how much power we have sold, etc. I have been doing this since we installed the original set of panels (before batteries) and I have nearly 1,400 days of readings.

I have a very good idea of when we will breakeven.

 

... not the like of Tesla wall? I need to do more reading on this

 

You need a pretty big turbine to get even 1kw, so they won't be producing much & turbines are mechanical, so they are wearing out and need maintenance, where panels basically don't, dirt and shade are panels downfall.

I not sure what they use the turbines for, but if it is for energy, would be good to keep some batteries charged and or small electronic devices, have a look at boating supplies to see if you can find some and output ratings for an idea.

 

Ours is a Selectronic MG0481B. Selectronic is an Australian manufacturer, based in Melbourne.

We used a Selectonic certified installer to install, configure and commission the system.

 

Sorry this is just plain wrong. The economics of batteries don't stack up, the payoff periods are at least 15 years or longer. I have a 6KW system installed on 8 FIT and will roughly pay for itself in 5 years. When battery prices come down there may be a point where they make sense, but that time is not yet for the vast majority.

 

This makes no sense. If you installed batteries you would be storing some of that energy rather than exporting it thus exporting less and increasing your paypack period. Why on earth would you want to store power to save about 25c a kWh if you can instead export it at 50c kWh.

 

If you read Post #34, it should make perfect sense. In case it doesn't, I will explain further.

Prior to batteries, we had one array. The power generated by this array was firstly used by our PPOR and only the excess was sold to the grid.

With batteries, we now have two arrays. The second array charges the batteries. The PPOR runs off the batteries (except for a couple of circuits like the electric stove, electric oven, air-conditioners, etc). So, now the PPOR basically does not use any power from the first array, resulting in most of this power being sold to the grid.

Unfortunately, when we did the initial install, we bought 2 x 2kWh invertors. It is these invertors that we have the contract with Energex and they limit how much power we can pump into the grid. I would love to upgrade the invertors to say 6kWh or higher. If we did that, our current 50c/kWh would become null and void and we would be given a new contract at 8c/kWh. Not going to do that!!!

When our existing contract expires in 2028, we would connect both arrays to the batteries and only sell the excess to the grid at whatever the price is at that time. I assume batteries will be even cheaper by that time plus we will need to replace our batteries around then. So, we would consider expanding our battery bank to take all the power generated by both arrays. We will do a cost/benefit analysis at that time to see which is the best way to go.

I trust this explain our situation in more detail.