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Thread: Solar Installations

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    Default Solar Installations

    There has been some discussion on the latest run of 1kw installations with Nuenergy and Clearsolar. How are people going with their final decision on installer (whether they be the ones listed above or other?)
    I haven't quite made up my mind yet.
    Really wanted to go with the Solarshop panels $5000* for Sanyo and about $4000* for Kaneka's but at less than a grand the above mentioned offers seem hard to resist. (*need some frames to get adequate north facing orientation)



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    The Nuenergy offer is free other than one or two added costs. In my cast $120.00 extra because I have a tiled roof. Clearsolar are about $3000.00 more. They use BP solar panels, Nuenergy use CEEG. Both are guaranteed for about the same time but I expect in say 15 years it’s going to be easier to find BP solar than CEEG maybe. That said you’re paying $3000.00 more for BP.

    The return on investment here is what does having 1 KW of solar panels on the roof do for me. It cuts down on your power bill and perhaps earns money via back feed. The time required to repay $120.00 vs. $3000.00 investment is significant. Add to that the current solar panel technology today will perhaps be comparable to a 40 MB MiniScribe HD in 1982 @ $700.00 vs. a Seagate 1 TB in 2009 @ $200.00. I suspect by the time the cheaper panels fail the technology will have advanced a lot.

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    Clear Solar seem to word their advertising to make it sound free or close to it.
    I have formally requested a more accurate quote from one nuenergy's installers, I have supplied them adequate photos and house plans to determine their requirements. I want to know up front the likelihood of additional charges rather than wait till they have you over a barrell when the rebate expires.
    Another company I am considering is Powerup solar. They offer Bayerische panels which are supposedly German. Negotiations with their rep came in around $1900 after rebates and Recs. Half payment before installation and the other half afterwards.
    There was also another installer advertising in our local paper - end price came in around $500 out of pocket but they wanted full payment for the installation using sunflower panels and a CMS2000 inverter and you get the rebates and Recs back yourself.

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    I'm deciding on which way to go as well, Austech solar are offering installations with no upfront costs. Also saw add in local paper advertising a $495 up front payment which you get refunded once the application has gone thru. In real terms though, what is 1kw going to do for your power bill ? i would be happy if it was able to halve my bill or cover 3/4 of it at least.

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    Nuenergy make this claim on their website “You can generate your own power
    and save up to $180 per year on your electricity bill.” Based on a 1 KW system. I asked them how much would a 1 KW system product in Melbourne. The answer was on average 4 KW per day. My last power bill listed my daily consumption as 16 KW per day but that was over summer and I had an AC running at times and a bore pump to water the garden.

    I love the idea of adding more capacity but at around $7000.00 to increase to a 2 KW system the return on investment in terms of how long the system would take to pay for itself vs. buying grid power worries me.

    To be self sufficient in power would require a lot more panels and storage batteries to cover night time usage. These batteries are very expensive at around the $700 mark each plus you then need to generate sufficient to charge them and run your daytime equipment if you want to be self sufficient.

    I would hope the cost of panels will fall in coming years.

    It’s a pity Rudd is pouring money into green cars and carbon trading which will cost money and jobs rather than perhaps a local solar panel industry.

    Then again I doubt we could compete with China.

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    If i was building a new house i would seriously consider installing a system that would make me self sufficient but to save only $180/pa i dont think its economical at 1kw, $180 a 1/4 maybe.

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    Yee hah. Just scraped in in time for the $8000 grant. Signed up with Diamond Energy 1kw at $0. hmmm will I add some extra $2500 and upgrade to 1.5kw?
    How has everyone else gone with their selections?

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    Default Solar PV system - happy as.

    Quote Originally Posted by dogsbreath View Post
    Yee hah. Just scraped in in time for the $8000 grant. Signed up with Diamond Energy 1kw at $0. hmmm will I add some extra $2500 and upgrade to 1.5kw?
    How has everyone else gone with their selections?
    I received the pre-approval notice from Canberra on 9th Oct and by the 16th Oct had a 1.02kw system up and running and grid-connected. Currently (ha) producing about about 5.5kw a day - couldn't be happier with it.
    Details are:
    6 x 170 kw CEEG SST170-72M panels
    Sunny Boy inverter SB 1100
    Supplier: Regenpower
    Cost: $300 (covers cost of Regen waiting for $8K rebate) + $210 to Western Power for new meter
    Payback period: about 18 months

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    Now, if only Ergon (The QLD Power Company) would offer solar at these prices.
    They are talking an outlay of $9 - 17K up front which is just rediculous.
    So much for living in the "Sunshine State"

    (Thats $9k AFTER the rebates!)
    Last edited by MaXiLeeCH; 14-11-09 at 05:29 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by loanrangiel View Post
    In real terms though, what is 1kw going to do for your power bill ?
    What will 1 kW do? have not had a power bill in 12 months and am now $500 in credit. But then we have gas heating and are careful with our power use.

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    i got my rebate confirmed the other day.
    then recieved a letter from my "installer company" stating that i now had to pay the full amount upfront. prior to this it was free install and they claim it back.

    never did pay a "deposit" so now i am looking for an alternate supplier to install the 1kw system.

    any suggestions..........

    btw i do 49kw per day. (@Maxi, some of it is RF )

    basically the power companies ar trying to "fill the grid" with extra power when all these aircons fire up on hot days, which is when the sun is out.

    so as we install panels, they wont have to upgrade the generating plants.
    Last edited by lee; 16-11-09 at 09:34 PM.

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    Try giving Nu Energy a call but I would beat them up for a 1.5 KW system as they have dropped the prices since the grant was cut back. You might score a 1.5 KW for a little more than the 8K grant. Worth a try anyway.

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    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgeR View Post
    What will 1 kW do? have not had a power bill in 12 months and am now $500 in credit. But then we have gas heating and are careful with our power use.
    $500 in credit from a 1KW system !! yeah right how about you post a pic of your last power bill with only your name and address blacked out.
    A 1 KW system will average around 4KWH per day over a year , the average usage is a very modest 16Kwh per day.

    Even if you live by candle light and used no power at all you wouldn't have $500 in credit from a 1kw system.

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    Quote Originally Posted by lee View Post
    i got my rebate confirmed the other day.
    then recieved a letter from my "installer company" stating that i now had to pay the full amount upfront. prior to this it was free install and they claim it back.

    never did pay a "deposit" so now i am looking for an alternate supplier to install the 1kw system.

    any suggestions..........

    btw i do 49kw per day. (@Maxi, some of it is RF )

    basically the power companies ar trying to "fill the grid" with extra power when all these aircons fire up on hot days, which is when the sun is out.

    so as we install panels, they wont have to upgrade the generating plants.
    lee a 1kw system with that type of usage will be barely noticeable , you would need at least a 12kw system to cover your usage before you even start to make anything.
    Putting 1kw systems on houses to make up for air cons on hot days isn't going to cut it unfortunately , you would need a minimum 4kw system operating in perfect conditions to supply an average aircon.

    BTW guys not sure if you realise what a 1KW is , it means that in lab conditions the panels will peak at 1kw output but with normal loses these systems have, on a perfect day you will see it putting out between 800 to 900w. , less on really hot days and virtually nothing on full cloudy days.

    Suntech are the only panel manufacturers that underrate their panels , meaning in average conditions a 175W panel will produce 175w but as high as 205w , other manufactures sell the same panel for a much higher price calling it a 205w panel.

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    See for what you can do with a 1Kw system.

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    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgeR View Post
    See for what you can do with a 1Kw system.
    George , even with that tiny amount of usage there is still a daily "cost" of $0.81 , the only credits that appear on your account are "guaranteed service level adjustments" which has nothing to do with how much a 1Kw PV system can make.

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    Why are the governemnt giving billions to the likes of LNG producers who still make some polution when they could spend billions on solaring australian houses to be independant during daylight hours thus reducing the power usage (and pollution produced) from power stations only needing power during night time hours!!!!

    I have said it before, the ETS is just a rort and us end users will be paying while producers of pollution will actually make money! Better to fine them and legisate that they can not pass this onto customers. Give them carbon reduction targets that have to be meet or again fine them. Force their hand to become clean!

    Man I get so pissed off just thinking about the number of clean energy methods available at our disposal, wave, wind, solar, geo-thermial, mother-in-law () but we as a community facing disaster do diddily squat!

    Oh well, at least my soap box is made of recycled soap boxes

    jm2cw

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    Re our electricity account - I do not understand why they call our credit that. We have been paying in the low 20 cents per kWh but being credited 64 cents for the solar that we supply to the grid ("the feed in tariff") This goes a long way to explaining the overall credit. As from this month it drops to 50 cents/kWh. The government guarantee is that we will be credited at least 44 cents/kWh, so the energy retailer will be only be paying 6 cents and reselling it as green energy for some humungous amount. Its not as if the have much in the way of distribution costs because we are supplying power to nearby houses.

    Don't apologise for the soapbox, we all need one.

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    Default What does 1kW do?

    Further to my post of 5/11/09, i have now got my first bill from Synergy for the period 16/09 to 16/11. It just so happens that my 1kW system was first metered from 16/10. So my bill goes like this:-
    692 units for 31 days pre-solar for 22.32 units a day.
    562 units for 31 days post-solar for 18.13 units a day, plus 10 units pumped back to grid for a credit of $1.60.

    Assuming equal usage in each of those 31 day periods, that's a fall of 20.2%. However I know that the A/C was on 5 or 6 days post-solar so would be closer to 25%. Averaging over last years power bills, I think the saving will be close to $1.00 a day in this house.

    That's OK if a system's net cost is $500, but given the starting price for 1 kW is now around $5,000, the pay back period is now more than 13 years.
    Murderers get less than that!

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    For what it's worth my 1 KW system shows 1200 hours run time on the inverter and has a gross output of 368 KW. The new power meter shows total consumption of 1031 KW and a back feed of 85 KW. My total investment in the system was $109.00 being the cost of the new power meter. The power company screwed up my last bill so the next one will be interesting to see.

    I see Nu Energy are still doing 1.5 KW system for $2500.00 with the reduced grant.

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