DITCH YOUR DIRTY ENERGY COMPANY

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Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

Maybe it's a scam to get you to fit solar panels to your house and ditch the dirty power companies by making your own.

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Im not sure if its the same everywhere, but we recently fitted out our house with panels , and I was amazed that there was a limit to how much I was allowed to have. We got the maximum allowable in the Northern Territory which I think, but could be wrong was 4.8kw. That system has covered about 1/3 of our roof , and before they fitted the smart meter you could watch the old style meter run backwards.


My point is , if the authorities were serious they would let me install whatever size system I wanted and the more power I generated the better. I would be more than happy to fit the same size system on the other side of our house.

Cheers Ean

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Originally Posted by Ean Austral

Im not sure if its the same everywhere, but we recently fitted out our house with panels , and I was amazed that there was a limit to how much I was allowed to have. We got the maximum allowable in the Northern Territory which I think, but could be wrong was 4.8kw. That system has covered about 1/3 of our roof , and before they fitted the smart meter you could watch the old style meter run backwards.


My point is , if the authorities were serious they would let me install whatever size system I wanted and the more power I generated the better. I would be more than happy to fit the same size system on the other side of our house.

Cheers Ean

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i think its 4.8kw on a single phase.

but your point is a good one.

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Originally Posted by Eevo

i think its 4.8kw on a single phase.

but your point is a good one.

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We only have single phase here , it was bigger if we had 3 phase . At the end of the day what is the difference. If I can pump 10kw back into the grid then I should have the option, surely its not going to cause a melt down on the system. Sure I could buy a battery storage set up and go that way but why shouldn't I have the option to pump it straight into the grid.

Just tells me power companies are in bed with all sides of government and don't want the people affecting thier margins anymore than the minimum so it can look like fair trading.


Cheers Ean

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Originally Posted by Ean Austral

We only have single phase here , it was bigger if we had 3 phase . At the end of the day what is the difference. If I can pump 10kw back into the grid then I should have the option, surely its not going to cause a melt down on the system. Sure I could buy a battery storage set up and go that way but why shouldn't I have the option to pump it straight into the grid.

Just tells me power companies are in bed with all sides of government and don't want the people affecting thier margins anymore than the minimum so it can look far trading.


Cheers Ean

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thats depends.
if the street/area has 3 phase. and your dumping 10kw on phase 1, and zero kw into phase 2 & 3. thats unbalanced and if that gets enough out of wack, it can damage equipment.

the power companies are in it for themselves.

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Originally Posted by Eevo

thats depends.
if the street/area has 3 phase. and your dumping 10kw on phase 1, and zero kw into phase 2 & 3. thats unbalanced and if that gets enough out of wack, it can damage equipment.

the power companies are in it for themselves.

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My simple brain tells me that if as a country we are serious about having clean energy , then the power companies shouldn't be able to use what you say as a reason to stop people putting back into the grid. If they have the ability to supply it , then they should have the ability to receive it if that's what people want to do.

I do understand what you are saying, I worked with power generation for 30 yrs albeit on a smallish scale.

Cheers Ean

Eevo has, I think, the reason. The network is not designed to have large power inputs from residential blocks - it was designed to supply power to them.

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Originally Posted by JDNSW

Eevo has, I think, the reason. The network is not designed to have large power inputs from residential blocks - it was designed to supply power to them.

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yep - and as long as we are prepared to accept that and not insist on a change then renewable energy will remain a non serious alternative.

just my simplistic view of course.

cheers Ean

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Originally Posted by Ean Austral

yep - and as long as we are prepared to accept that and not insist on a change then renewable energy will remain a non serious alternative.

just my simplistic view of course.

cheers Ean

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the cost to rewire the network to allow would be huge.
the grid is designed to be one way.

solar, wind, etc. all require changes to the grid. which cost money. need to look at the big picture.
your asking the power company to spend money changing the grid, so they can you buy less and spend less money with them. companies are here to make a profit and rip us off.

Its about imbalance, if there are too many houses in the street on solar the network goes out of whack.

I learned the other day that your Inverter sets itself to the network frequency & runs 2volt higher . When the grid goes down your inverter senses the loss of 50hz so stops producing power. If you disconnect your main fuse & run a small generator back fed into your house the inverter will see 50hz & start producing power for your own consumption. Illegal but handy to know. just throw all the breakers except what you actually need to get by with.

The three big power companies rank first, second and fourth on the list of the highest emitters of harmful emissions in this country because most of their power comes from burning coal.

When you sign up with a renewable energy company it boosts the viability of that business, which bills you directly.

The renewable company sells it's power into the continuous 24/7 spot market operated by the Australian National Energy Market Operator (ANEMO).
Solar and wind power bids are usually cheaper than coal power bids because, once constructed, solar and wind stations have low operating costs because sunshine and wind are free inputs. Once the loans are paid off, renewable power operating costs are even cheaper.

Coal generators, in contrast, have much higher operating costs because they have to pay to mine, buy, transport and burn the coal. Those costs rise every year. So, over time, renewable production costs fall while coal generation costs rise.
Every day, renewable power is offered to the market cheaper than coal power when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining. Coal is only competitive when the wind and sunshine stop. So the coal companies inflate their prices then to recoup the income lost when they are undercut by renewables.
Adding batteries to solar and wind stations will mean they are the cheapest for even longer periods. This is how the market actually operates.

This is why the financiers are refusing to fund new coal power stations - they are becoming more uncompetitive every day.

This has been discussed more fully in Current Affairs, where political comment is allowed, so why not check that out?