Who amongst us have gone solar

No, in my case it was just clouds. Here's my output voltage for the same day. Never went over 250V.

 

I've thought about it before and at a rough cost of $20k for the panels and battery storage it would take me 12.5 years to recoup the investment ( based on my energy usage ).

Just looked at my bill and it seems I'm averaging about 12.5 kwh per day. Bill for last qtr was $370.

 

In my opinion: Get solar now and a batter in five years when prices will have halved.
Much better economics that way.

Solar now for two reasons, one because it makes financial sense now, and two because the rebates are reducing for solar year on year.

 

Rough cost of a solar system for 12.5 kWh / day ???

Also, how do the rebates work and do they lock you in with an electricity provider?

 

I was quoted for around $15,500 for 5kw inverter and solar panels by onesolar. Read some reviews on onesolar and it isn't positive.

 

Don't shoot the messenger but I got this off True Value for $2100 . Installed. Granted I only got the 5.2kw inverter because they were out of 4kw inverters, and only got 10 panels (inverter could easily handle an upgrade to 20 panels), but $15,500 should get you this AND a Tesla!

 

$15k should get your heaps more if that includes the STC rebate. I am getting 20kw and 80 panels for $20k after STC.

 

Thanks. I will google True Value. Is True Value Sydney based?

 

Thanks. The price quoted already put me off.

 

We have a 30kw system on our factory for 2.5 years now, which we have had a number of problems with to begin with but overall has worked out not too bad for us. Has 6c feed in tarrif which is bugger all but we use a lot of power here so we use most of our own power only really get feed in on weekends/ holidays etc.




We also just bought a house with a 4.5kw system which is on a 52c feed in, still yet to see our first bill but it should be good. Weve been producing between 20-30 most days since we have been in

 

For Sydney, people use different figures between 3.9 and 4.4 kWh/kW/day, I use 4 to be somewhat conservative and realisitic, whiich would in your case mean a 3 kW system. Personally, I'd go for a 5 kW system, which can be had from $4,000. But if you value warranties and being able to get things done (I went the cheap way and had to call my installer around 10 times to get an issue fixed), you can get it for $6,000.

Tell them where to go!

 

Just did an online quote on True value website (jinko panels) for5kw the package is around $5000. That's one third of onesolar quote.

 

Over the last six months, my average daily grid draw is 6.5kWh a day, so a 7kWh battery would be sufficient.

I don't understand why connecting a battery up to an existing solar system costs over $2K though. Surely it is not much more effort than affixing the suitcase size item to the garage wall and hooking up a couple of new wires in the power box, in my case right next to where the battery would be mounted.

 

Why do they charge so much? Because they can.

I agree, it's ridiculous to charge that amount of money for two hours of work.!

 

Got enough change out of 15k to throw in a Tesla 2 with your system. Set.

 

Has anyone installed a solar system on a unit?

If I was given approval by the body corp, is there any reason why solar panels can't be installed on the roof of a strata complex? The unit I'm thinking of has the roof directly above it's ceiling (3rd level of a walk up) if that makes any difference for ease of wiring. I've probably got about 80m2 of roof above my unit if I'm restricted to using only that part of the roof.

A friend has a townhouse IP with solar panels on it's roof and body corp insurance even covered the inverter when it needed replacing after storm damage. Owner had to pay the insurance excess.

Anyone done this before on a unit or had issues doing it?

 

I installed solar on a unit in QLD. I had to ask Body corp for permission and they didn't have a problem with it. I think they are that common now, it is difficult for body corps to reject.

 

I just got my latest electricity bill and they reckon I am using 18.87kWh per day on average. I'm single, living alone in a 2 bedroom house so I have no idea how I would be using that much electricity, especially seeing as I rarely use the aircon, hot water and cooking are all gas, so I have no idea. It is an estimate, but it shows that the same period last year I used 16.19kw/h (I did have a husband then, he's since left). Do you think this could be right? I do leave ceiling fans on in 2 rooms all day everyday, but they were only put in last year and are meant to be quite energy efficient.

So would solar be worth it for me? My idea is to actually use the air-conditioning all day while I'm at work as the house gets extremely hot during the day and I am worried about how my elderly cat is coping with the heat. I'm guessing using aircon during the day would really increase my bills hugely?

 

Why would you do that? Ceiling fans increase the temperature in the rooms.
They don't use that much though, 1 to 1.5 kWh per day per fan.

Definitely.

Sounds that instead of using solar to reduce your electricity bill, you'd use is to increase your energy consupmtion. Not a great idea in my opinion, especially since Australian homes are so poorly insulated that at least 90% of the energy would be wasted.
They make aircons with wifi connections, so you could turn it on when you leave work and your house would be nice and cool when you get home.

 

That's not a bad idea. But I would like to be able to monitor the temperature remotely to keep it comfortable for my pets ideally.