If your down in the 4-5ish kw hour/day, he is correct, I've knocked back numerous people for the same reasonQuote:
Originally Posted by Graeme
Printable View
If your down in the 4-5ish kw hour/day, he is correct, I've knocked back numerous people for the same reasonQuote:
Originally Posted by Graeme
7-9 kw total for peak and shoulder but I wouldn't bother with a 1.5 kw system anyway. Not worth fitting solar hot water with the current unit only 10 years old along with 13 cents a kw for off-peak rate.
[QUOTE=bacicat;1879910]A quick question - is there a lot of Solar already in your street? If so, I would chack your voltage one day - mid morning during a sunny weekday. If you have a lot of solor already in the street, the voltage may be very high when no one is home - and everyones panels are trying to make them money. They push the voltage up in a localised area, and can affect how well other systems in the area run. Stick a multi meter in a power point - if it is up around 255 volts at the times stated, I would do some more research.
I'm curious as to where you got this info from...?
We had a 5kw system installed last year. Young growing family, and all we wanted was to eliminate our power bill if we could. We were not doing it to get a rebate and earn money but as it turns out, we have, who knew? We were fortunate to get 44 cents per KWH. We also changed the Sewage treatment plant, solar hw booster, washing machine and dryer to off peak. We also changed out a lot of 50w halogen down lights to led which are surprisingly good.
We did choose our system on price, BUT I wanted an SMA inverter and 250 watt panels (less panels on roof, space and orientation issues) so we went with a company that could supply this.
Can say that I did not pay attention to the panels they supplied though, was too focused /hung up on the inverter. I cannot find much info on them or where they might stand in the comparison stakes to more mainstream brands etc. Most probably at or near the bottom of the pile. The panels are Amerisolar, obviously made in China somewhere.
Time will tell how the system performs in the longer term and if we will have any failures. At least we seem to have a decent quality inverter as per Rovercare's post.
I would only install a system that is big enough to negate your actual usage throughout the year, allowing, within reason for variables such as prolonged low production due to weather etc. This will insulate you somewhat from power price rises that will come. This was our prime motivation for installing solar.
I would not be doing it to earn 8 cents per KWH!
Cheers,
Mikey
Are the panels with their own inverter better or worse than a string connected to a single inverter? I was told that if 1 panel in a string gets shaded then the whole string's output is affected, unlike panels with their own inverter where only the shaded panel's output is reduced.
Just looking at VENERGY now. Work is having a 15kw system fitted as part of upgrades, and may become an agent. I've been led to believe that the max any one home can have is a 5kw system, but... if you have two meters, (1 on house and 1 on workshop) you can have a 10kw system... VENERGY use Simax (Suzhou) panels which of course are Chinese... (Seems everything sadly is nowadays!!:(). Anyone know anything about these? I've also been told that the max you will be paid for in any one day is 30kw.. so with a 5kw system, 6 hrs of sunlight and you're done for the day! Too many 'buts' and 'maybe's' for my liking!!
For any one interested, some real world numbers.
I've got a 3kw system installed.
I only see 3kw being generated around 1 PM.
Our average output per day is around 11-12kwH
I've attached a snip of the spreadsheet we use to keep track
- is what goes back to the grid
+ is what the house uses
ETOT is the total energy generated from the panels since installation
KW/H Today is the amount of energy generated from sun up 'til 2.30 pm when SWMBO reads the meters.
We make a profit on this, but this is QLD and we get $0.44 +$0.06 per KWH
Better screenshot.