Who amongst us have gone solar

Yeah that’s right, they said the inverter will keep switching off unless I upgrade the cable to 30mm+, decided to go 8kw system on the house roof instead. Fronius inverter and jinko panels. When batteries half in price I’ll get one of those aswell.

 

This mob were door knocking in our area recently and offering the solar-assistance-scheme

Limited to 100 homes per suburb

 

Hi @r3ckless , did you get the solar installed on your house. I am considering the same but not sure if its worth in Sydney.

 

It'll pay back within 4 years.
Better than virtually any property, plus you have hardly any risk.

 

I (think) I love my solar and batteries. No more black outs and no more price shocks. But you still gave to be careful about useage, unless your system is far bigger than you need (which seems counter productive from a cost angle).

 

I've had solar for a year now and it's saved me $1400.

Thinking about adding a Powerwall mainly for backup functionality (they don't make sense financially)

 

That is like saying...

I am thinking of buying a car, did you get one ? I am not sure if it is worth it in Sydney.

You need to be aware of all the variables and how it will be used to make any sensible determination, even though the industry attracts fly by nighters, it is actually a technical industry.

 

Like a friend used to say to me after a day at the pokies......had a great day...won 400 bucks........in my mind, I used to think it cost you thousands each month to win that 400

But, yeah, a battery is better than pokies, or a poke in the eye

 

Sorry, there aren't any roads in Sydney!

 

Well none that are worth driving on at many hrs of the day, even the ones you pay extra for !

 

We've got plenty of car parks though!

 

I have solar on my PPOR which is now an IP. The solar system/ 70c Gov rebate was fantastic and the system paid itself out in 3 years.
Anyone have solar on an IP?
How do you manage any rebates etc?

 

I bought an IP with solar but haven't investigated the rebates. ... maybe I should. .... The tenants like the solar (not sure they chose the house for it but have asked me to get the solar checked that it is working ok).

 

From a tenant's perspective, I can say the rental we just moved into has solar and it was a significant factor in our choosing the place. It's cut our power bills by maybe $80/month (only a small system) but that's still equivalent to $20/week less rent which is significant. In Perth where the rental market has been saturated recently, it's a nice feature to stand out from the rest and attract good tenants.
That being said, I'm not going to drop $4K installing solar onto my own IP for the tenants to reap all the "payback"...

 

I'm currently researching solar for a big project I have coming up early next year. The problem I find is information overload with sooooo much information, often directly contradictory and the credentials of the source is entirely un-known credibility (although they each seem to say they are the unequivocal authority on solar )

 

I completely agree to you. The information given by the solar panel installation companies is so different. Some say Longi panels are better, other say Long panels are not as per standards. Any one has a good idea on how to select the company and the technology for the solar panels?

 

You can get some good stats on panel and inverter on pvoutput, if you got solar plug into this site then you can watch your solar generations and other cool stats in glory

PVOutput


Rank Brand Systems Share Total Size Share
1 Other 45372 76.08% 257.335MW 74.50%
2 ET 3102 5.20% 15.827MW 4.58%
3 Suntech 2320 3.89% 11.660MW 3.38%
4 Trina 2131 3.57% 17.787MW 5.15%
5 Canadian 2039 3.42% 16.204MW 4.69%
6 Sharp 1815 3.04% 11.788MW 3.41%
7 SunPower 1368 2.29% 8.225MW 2.38%
8 Conergy 470 0.79% 2.139MW 0.62%
9 Ecos 293 0.49% 1.531MW 0.44%
10 CEEG 199 0.33% 670.681kW 0.19%
11 Solar Fun 160 0.27% 542.654kW 0.16%
12 Upsolar 114 0.19% 974.974kW 0.28%
13 Enertech 96 0.16% 291.091kW 0.08%
14 QSE 84 0.14% 206.071kW 0.06%
15 Sopray 72 0.12% 239.082kW 0.07%

 

Yes, I saw an article recently where they said tenants would be happy to pay about $5/week more rent for the $20/week they'd save! Ungrateful little ...

 

solarquotes.com.au has ratings on the different brands. They don't sell but provide a referral service to qualified installers.

As a PV system owner - with a 3rd dead inverter out of warranty - get a quality inverter with a good warranty!

I'm looking to update now and my criteria are:
Inverter - probably Fronius, look for battery compatibility as not all are, warranty, ability to monitor outputs. If you have shading you might be better off with inverters
Panels - again, look at warranty, look at the output degradation rates (ie their output declines over time)
Installer - experience and time in the industry.

 

Hi mate,
This is a great website for comparison. Really appreciate your help. This really cleared things for me.