Going Solar...

Russ and I bit the bullet and decided to install a back to grid solar system.

Russ has started putting the uni-strut framework on the roof, solar panels soon to arrive. Then to wait for final approvals and wiring to be done...

Hope to be seeing the meter run backwards by Christmas

It is a 5Kva system, which will comprise of 28 panels, set up in 4 rows of seven 190w panels... 2 rows on each side of the roof.
The inverter we have allows for three seperate inputs but we will only use 2 of them. Each side of the house will have its own input.

By placing the panels on both sides we should generate more electricity over 12 months than having them all on one side as it allows for the shift in the suns trajectory between the summer and winter months.

Every day of the year both sides will have full sun from about 10am 4pm. During summer that is extended from about 930am until 530pm.

In full summer the panels on the left of the photo will be in sun from about 7am until 6pm.

Barring cloud, which we don't have much of, we are hoping to generate between 30 and 40 kws a day.

The WA govt has guaranteed the FIT at 60c a kw until 2020 so we will be enjoying seeing the meter spin backwards.

I think our only problem now is that we didn't go for a 10kva system as all the rebates only apply for the first submission so any more panels will have to come out of our pocket rather than the govt's.




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I'm really keen on fitting a wind turbine, trouble is, I cant afford it and the land lord is not interested as he can afford the electric bills.
Solar panels would be a waste of time here

I am waiting for the gas age to kick in so I can get heaps of power credits ( fart smilie )

Going solar is an excellent idea Tammy.
i commend you on your choice.
and David farting is not funny yuo should grow up.

th.

Sounds like the ducks guts Tam and as for:

and David farting is not funny yuo should grow up.

Someone oughta get one, a life that is

Making progress...

Russ has been busy lugging all 28 panels up onto the roof and locking them in place.

Now just waiting on Horizon power to install the meter and sparky to wire it all in.

Hopefully (fingers crossed) it will all be done before Christmas


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I wish I could have them on my roof ............. ohh wait ......... for the last week they would have been covered in snow

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Mugs.... I would love to visit and see that kinda snow for a while...

But overall... you can keep your cold weather...

We sleep with a doona if it drops below 20... actually we have had the doona on for the last few nights and I think it was only 22-23 ish...

As for our Solar progress...

All wired into the house and main line today, still waiting for Horizon Power to install the meter that will measure our output so they can pay us the feed in tariff... but until then, we are generating our own electricity and not paying Horizon for any more

We also have the joy of seeing this lovely cloloured inverter on our wall....

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Is that rammed erth Tammy.
Great form of construction.
invented in seth efrika.
th.

Anthony Holloway wrote:Is that rammed erth Tammy.
Great form of construction.
invented in seth efrika.
th.

Yes Anthony, that IS rammed earth, and I agree it is a great form of construction
We LOVE our Rammed Earth Home...

As for invented in "Seth Efrica" .... it seems China leads the forefront for really old Rammed Earth building remains, followed closely by northern Europe... somehow Africa, even Seth Efrica, is missing, in the scale of permanent building structures to use when dating historical events...

Not discounting the fact that I live in a house built from mud, and a lot of African countries have residents that still live in huts built from mud, and the similarities are probably almost too close to compare...


It is all off topic....

Fact is that today...

We have generated 35.1 Killerwasps...

with a maximum instant reading a few watts short of 4.5kva. The maximum temp reported was 28.5 so it won't get any better than that. One very happy camper as we average around 23 kva usage per day which means Horizon Power will be paying us around $7 bucks a day until 2020 when the guaranteed fit changes back to 20c from 60c.




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Great news Tam and well done to you guys.... been wondering about going solar...got to cost it sometime.

Oy SK...hang in there buddy I'm sure Pinjarra will get 'lectricity soon

Just reached out first megawatt of solar generated power last week

Looking forward to our bill, which will hopefully be a big fat credit in our favour

nice one Tam

Rainbow wrote:Just reached out first megawatt of solar generated power last week

Looking forward to our bill, which will hopefully be a big fat credit in our favour

Don't forget to equasion in the original cost before you start to see a profit .... how many years will it take to cancel that out?

...bit of a let down.

Though there might be naked pics of the summer hols.

Baldy wrote:
Don't forget to equasion in the original cost before you start to see a profit .... how many years will it take to cancel that out?

Baldy...

The initial outlay was $25k.

We are about to receive our REC's and we have organised a sale of them for $21k.

Our local 'Development Commission" is also offering up to 15% of total cost as a rebate incentive too.

Balance/overall cost to us ... $0.00

Our power consumption charged at 20c/Kw ....

Our power input paid back at 60c/Kw
Income/profit from generated power... from now on

sorry dont know what RECS is ..........

My F.I.L went and put on solar panels on his roof ........ his usual power bill was around 40 - 50 dollars ........ the set up cost him $3k with the rebate .... he is 85 years of age ........ i think the elec bills come every 2 months? it's going to take him 8 years to recoup .... i dont think he will see 86 let alone 93 ...... to see any advantage in forking out the $$

I hope it goes well for you and it is a great decision, i'm sure you have worked it all out to your advantage .... many don't.

by the way, we are back, looking after the old man for 10 weeks ..... it's going to kill me i reckon ....... lol

Hi Baldy, Russell here.

A REC is a Renewable Energy Certificate which is similiar to stocks. they don't have a fixed price but are generally around the $30 per certificate depending on the day.

We were very lucky in that we didn't go through a solar company that rips people off. We have a bloke in town that has the largest privately owned solar array in Oz and I know him from when I worked in Customs.

I approached him and we got all the panels and the inverter at wholesale and the rest (fixings and electrical work done locally) I put up the struts and the panels so that saved a couple of grand.

The company that your fil, and all other companys that are similiar, make their money by making you assign the REC's from your own system to them and they pay you a fraction of what they are worth.

As Tam said we generated enough certificates to pay us between 20 and 21K. We generate more certificates per kva than Perth because they also have a multiplier depending on your region based on the amount of sunlight. Carnarvon has the highest multiplier in Oz which means that with our towns Gascoyne Developement Commision paying us 15% of the total cost we will pay nothing for the sytem when we receive all of our recs and the 15%.

The only thing we will have had to pay for is the 2-3 months repayments on the loan that we took out to buy the system to begin with. (we opted for a slightly higher interst rate with no early payout penalty)

It took us a while to get our heads around that it will cost us nothing and our only regret now is not going for a 10kva system so we could maximise on the 60c per kva put back into the grid as it would still of cost us nothing after claiming everything.

The govt can not afford to tax any income generated from the solar panels as this is our primary residence. If they did any expense invloved with running the primary residence would then become a tax write off which would be far more than the money coming in.

Cheers,

Russell

Well explained thanks ...... now i know what RECS are

who do you sell the recs to?
TH

The recs are bought by all sorts of various companies that are looking at when the carbon tax comes in. The recs will be able to be traded off against the companiescarbon footprint. At this stage mostly mining companies are buying them but other companies are realising their true worth if and when the carbon tax is implemented.

We sold ours to the bloke that has the large solar farm but he is only on selling them to a mining company with no extra fees to us for him handling them. Again in this regard we are very lucky as not only isn';t he charging us for the transaction but he has a very good guaranteed price from the mining company and is getting more than the current market spot price.

Rainbow wrote:if and when the carbon tax is implemented.

And thats [with the greatest respect] what I find most difficult to swallow.

Why is carbon bad and why do we need to tax it??

The global warming debate has been proven to be a crock of crap....now the new term is climate change...next year it will be ''climate care'' or some other equally cuddly term.

IMHO, its all a ploy in order to tax people more....and have them feeling good whilst being shafted....sorry. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]