Worth installing solar panels on a house now? (Qld)

[VladTepes]

As per other thread, we've finally managed to purchase a house !

We intend staying here long term (I hate moving anyway) so I was wondering whether it's worth installing solar panels nowadays?

What's the cost/benefit ? Are there a

Any rebate schemes in place any more? (I know it dropped at one stage and funnily enough so did the cost of systems!).

Obviously the main intention would be to reduce our power bills as much as possible.

[blitz]

hey big fella
I am in the same boat as you (house) :-)

I will get them as they will offset the rising cost of electricity and remember the prices of electricity is yet to really get going

Blythe

[S3ute]

.
Any rebate schemes in place any more? (I know it dropped at one stage and funnily enough so did the cost of systems!).

Obviously the main intention would be to reduce our power bills as much as possible.

Hello from Brisbane.

Despite the claims and testimonials, the benefit/cost ratio on solar panels is now fairly marginal. You need a lot of panels on your roof to be genuinely self-sufficient and the effective payback period takes a good many years to achieve. The rebates don't increase with time and have a fixed life. So, as power prices rise the post-rebate margin shrinks.

The actual rebates which many people are chasing are genuinely unattractive to the power suppliers and the State government is desperately trying to rid itself of the ongoing cost. It can't get out of the buy-back contracts without a big stink so the main avenue it is exploring is increasing the hook-in fees which are argued not to reflect the true cost of connecting to the grid. By raising this hook in fee - which looks more likely by the day - much of the gain is lost.

The other issue to look out for is the quality of the panels you are being sold - chasing fly by night solar company X for warranty repairs on cheap panels or controllers some time down the track could be an interesting exercise.

I installed a fairly expensive system earlier on and, while I don't pay anything for power (in fact, I get paid about double for the amount that I use), the economics etc are still fairly slim. Did it more for the sake of doing my bit for the planet rather than making money.

Anyway, horses for course - do your sums and check the internet for comments on the provider before committing to anything.

Cheers,

[2stroke]

These days the new systems are only sending it back at the rate of 8 cents/KWH. You're paying about 24c/KWH to buy it (for the power tarriff, hot water is about 13c). Systems on the 20 year agreement with the previous govt are on 44c guarantee and mine is on a deal with AGL for 52c. At that rate my 3KW system has a 3.5 year payback, that's if nothing goes wrong. Don't think I'd bother for 8c.
This time of year it's pumping about 1KW at 6.30 am and it's pretty well over by 5.30pm. Averaging about 14 to 16 kwh for a day's work. Doesn't do much good in winter and if a tree shades even a portion of one panel the whole lot does bugger all, then there's clouds!
My power bill is about $1200 in my favour per year, only due to the buyback rate.
Under current circumstances I'd spend the money on the 130 instead.:)

[VladTepes]

Thanks s3ute, 2stroke - you've pretty much confirmed what I thought. The rental I;m in has a 44c or so credit and I'm making money.... be a shame to have to start paying stupid $ again....

[d@rk51d3]

Thanks s3ute, 2stroke - you've pretty much confirmed what I thought. The rental I;m in has a 44c or so credit and I'm making money.... be a shame to have to start paying stupid $ again....

Make sure to read the fine print.

Often, there is a clause that states when the gov't changes or drops its tarrifs, they (your provider) are free to stop paying you anything, leaving you "holding the baby."

The only way I'd be putting solar on, is if if I were to disconnect from the grid.

[superquag]

If you have the patience.... try working out the co$t of power with a several % increase each year. It will be sobering...

Then there are the new fees to be sprung on us, depending on what State and colour of the prevailing government.

Right at this moment I'm not tooooo worried, as I've got a 3.6kW system on the roof, this being the second year of production. ATM, I'm $500 in front, but then again, my 'run for the price of a light - globe' evap a/c is chewing the juice like a Used car yard.... which cuts it back a bit.
Still, not having any power bills for that time is priceless.... Ok, around $100 to $170 per month if you have to be fussy...

I"d still consider adding a third string - Facing more N/W than the other two - or even some of those new-fangled panels with the in-built inverter.

Either way, we stand to have ours paid off in another 5/7 years or so, but it cost us $13k. Today - with smaller rebates - a similar system is selling for $5k to $7k

My solar-generated 2 cents worth.:D

[RisingSun]

An acquaintance had a point added to his meter box, so if a blackout occurs (Cyclone Territory) he is able to shut off connection to the grid, and plug in his bank of batteries, or generator to jump start his panels and provide power to the house and recharge said batteries that jump started his panels.

Obviously precautions need to be made as like most panels, his system runs a surplus and you don't want that surplus cramming itself into somewhere you don't want it. :eek:

[Judo]

I'm another one who has just bought a house and wondering the same thing, so happy to do some calcs as an example.

Aside from being green and doing your bit from the environment, it depends on how long you plan on staying at your house. Long term it definitely pays off IMO. I would suggest getting 1 estimate price and doing some rough calculations. There are a few things to consider though:

1. How much power do you use daily? Check your current bill.
2. When you use your power. Do you have a "smart meter"? You might be able to get a breakdown by hour.
3. Cost / credit amounts.

This is my understanding and happy to be corrected.

If you pay 24c/kwh and you get back 8c/kwh for feed in,it's important to note that you don't need to generate 3 times the power you use. The excess power you generate during the day needs to equal 3 times your night time usage. If you have a 3kw system then as long as you're not drawing more than 3kw at any point during the day, your daytime power is all FREE. You receive 8c/kwh for any EXCESS you generate during the day, which is used to offset nightly power COST.

I checked our power bill the other day and on average we use 18kwh per day in a 2BR townhouse.

Let's say you use 36kwh of power a day. (This might be a lot?). You have a system that is effective for 3kw.


Net cost without solar
36kwh x 24c = $8.64 per day. $3,153 per year.

Day
12 hours x 2kw usage = 24kwh = free.
12 hours x 1kw excess = 12kwh @ 8c/kwh credit = 96c
Night
12 hours x 1kw usage = 12kwh @ 24c/kwh cost = 288c

Net cost with solar
288c - 96c = $1.92 per day. $700 per year.

You get the idea... But this could vary greatly based on the 3 points at the start.

Also, based on above if you installed a 5kw system, you would break even at exactly $0 a year. (OK, you would probably pay a few dollars based on peaks, etc). Saving $3,153 a year will pay off some panels pretty quick IMO!

Hopefully all my maths are OK. :)

[isuzurover]

In our case:

We generate ~7 kWh/day annual average.
We feed roughly half of that into the grid and get paid 8.5c/kWh
We use roughly half of that, which offsets the ~25c/kWh we would pay for power.


So that works out as ~$109 from generation and $320 saving on power we would otherwise use.

So overall $430/yr saving. Which would work out as ~5 year payback based on current prices.

We try and set appliances like washing machines and dishwashers to run when we are generating the most power.
Also appliances like slow cookers are good. Turn them on in the morning and they cook during the day while you are generating power, so no oven use after the sun has gone down.

[Judo]

We generate ~7 kWh/day annual average.

What size system do you have for this? (Advertised "size")

[isuzurover]

What size system do you have for this? (Advertised "size")

We have 1.52 kW of panels and a 2(ish) kW inverter.
We are planning to add some more panels.

Bear in mind we are in the middle of zone 3, and you are in the middle of zone 4...

[Judo]

Thanks, although I'm not sure what you mean by zones...?

[isuzurover]

Thanks, although I'm not sure what you mean by zones...?

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/11/1363.jpg

http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/REC-Zones-in-Australia.jpg

[Judo]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/11/1363.jpg

http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/REC-Zones-in-Australia.jpg
What you're saying is, everyone has better weather than me.... :mad:

[sheerluck]

What you're saying is, everyone has better weather than me.... :mad:

You live in Melbourne. In Melbourne you have "seasons". Sometimes 4 in one day. In Queensland we have "Summer" and "might need to stick a jumper on over my t-shirt for 2 weeks and call it winter"

[Vern]

Judo, a rough way of working it out is to divide your average daily kwh by peak sunlight hours (average), which is supposed to be 4.6, but 4.2 is closer.
So 18kwh÷4.2=:) (system size)

[Sue]

Hopefully all my maths are OK. :)[/SIZE][/FONT]

Your maths is good. We have a 5kw system that was installed about a year ago - which means we dipped out on the good buy back scheme so only get 8 cents per Kw. However our intention was never to make money or to even supply all our own power as we knew that was not realistic with the amount of good sunlight we have on our roof daily; instead our 'power bills' are a little under one quarter of what they were before solar and as we were lucky enough to get an interest free payment plan for the solar panels we worked out that once they are paid for our future electricity bills will still be a fraction of what they were and would still be without the solar. In the meantime while we are paying it off the combined bills of the solar payments and the electricity bills are very close to what we were paying for electricity on its own.

[Ralph1Malph]

Don't forget to take best advantage of any off peak tariffs you use or have. My mate (a proper electrician and current solar installer) advised me that it is now legal in QLD to have a GPO specifically for your pool pump or sanitiser. He then came around and installed one. Great if you need to change or repair your pump.

***Diclaimer and Indemnifier***

He led me to believe that some folks ILLEGALLY plug other appliances into this GPO expressly with the objective of using a cheaper tariff for dryers, roasters, outdoor lights, lathes, drills etc.
You have been warned that it's ILLEGAL, but he told me to have at it.
(Not that I would).
Tariff33 in QLD also doesn't count toward feed-in. Only peak does.
Cheers
Ralph