Power prices, gas prices- ouch or Solar perhaps?

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Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

When the time comes, you might want to consider an electric car, which is basically a battery on wheels as the new ones have software to talk to the grid. Saul Griffith of Rewiring Australia reckons if all our cars were electric they'd be 5-6 times the size of Snowy 2.0 in battery capacity. Interestingly he says "going green" is not a gloom and doom scenario of smaller cars, higher energy prices, etc. as we have an energy abundance in solar, wind, etc. There are a lot of losses in our current systems mostly in heat, when burning fuel in cars, boiling a kettle on gas, etc. not to mention transmission losses in power lines. According to Saul the green hardware like solar panels, ev's, seem to get cheaper at a rate of 20% per doubling of units produced, so your extra panels and batteries plans look better and better each year.

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Our 15 year old solar array was 'middle-to top' of the wazza back then, and split into 2 strings pushing out most of rated inverter on best days. Adding a third string years - less optimum siting - hinted at efficiency-drop of originals . The idea was to spread the input over whole day instead of sunrise to 2 pm. Couple of years later 3-S inverter becomes wall decoration.... and replaced with 2-string Sunnyboy.

Repairable? - couple of obvious dry joints on grid-connect pcb relays but new one is hummming away nicely, so couldn't be bothered going back. Sunny despite his name, likes a good look at SOL before getting going whereas the Dearly Departed was awake at Piccaninny Dawn.
Every mW helps !

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Originally Posted by superquag

Our 15 year old solar array was 'middle-to top' of the wazza back then, and split into 2 strings pushing out most of rated inverter on best days. Adding a third string years - less optimum siting - hinted at efficiency-drop of originals . The idea was to spread the input over whole day instead of sunrise to 2 pm. Couple of years later 3-S inverter becomes wall decoration.... and replaced with 2-string Sunnyboy.

Repairable? - couple of obvious dry joints on grid-connect pcb relays but new one is hummming away nicely, so couldn't be bothered going back. Sunny despite his name, likes a good look at SOL before getting going whereas the Dearly Departed was awake at Piccaninny Dawn.
Every mW helps !

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Get the software, and log on in.... be careful, but you can change threshold settings [biggrin] (do so completely at your own risk, I wont be responsible for your actions)

Also, its not so much when it turns on either, theres efficiencies to be considered.

I just had solar put in.
Rec Alpha Pure series 400 X 14, supposedly good for 5.600kW of power.
Now just waiting on Tas networks to come put a new meter in,then I can turn it on.[biggrin]

DG

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Originally Posted by Tombie

Get the software, and log on in.... be careful, but you can change threshold settings [biggrin] (do so completely at your own risk, I wont be responsible for your actions)

Also, its not so much when it turns on either, theres efficiencies to be considered.

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Agree. Anecdotally, the Sunny, despite it's perceived 'good' repute does not strike me as being notably better than it's predecessor. Not much worse, but nowt better, - 'nuff 't write 'ome aboot...

'One Day', when I find the Giant soldering Smelter, spare relays, AND some space in the shed...I MIGHT replace them.- Just for the heck of it.

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Originally Posted by superquag

Both India and China have lotsa COAL fired power, and both planning on building MORE.
That's ok, we're flogging COAL to anyone with money.

Australia is saving the planet by shutting down our last half a dozen.... Ours in WA have been starved of maintainance for Years... so the timing of 'Shut Down' will be up to "Time & Chance"

Caught a story about BHP wanting zillions of panels over our useless desert areas... That should solve running reverse cycle A/c's
- And charge your battery car while working. [bigsad]

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Both are building more nuclear plants much faster than many can right now. The change is easy to see with Small modular reactors (SMRs) very happily I think- not for nuclear phobic [thumbsupbig]

Will be worth keeeping a weather-eye on the vaccillating fortunes of 'Thorium Reactors'..... - Don't need such highly refined fuel as does u235.

Good topic..... heating is a no brainer. if your plumbed for natural gas ..... its infinitly better for heating. A big central heating furnace is has wwwaaaayyyyyy more capacity that heat pumps. If its down around zero outside ... and 8degrees in your house of a morning. Your central heating (gas) will have you nice and warm in minutes. The heat pumps will take hours .... the colder it is outside the longer they will take.

For heating, you will find in the middle of winter you will generate bugger all power. Especially if you live somewhere overcast like ballarat.

Attachment 179689

I'm not sure if this includes the power we use that is generated.... but see how much we use in winter heating with heat pumps (and heat pump hot water service). There is 8 heat pumps here if you include the two on the HWS. So summer, we generate more power than we use, in winter we generate bugger all of the used power and have HUGE bills. Ask your neighbours what sort of power they generate in a miserable dark. rainy winter before you go replacing heating with heat pumps for savings.

Our power bills are still ~ $250 a month in winter. We do have 3 kids home on holidays and have dishwasher/electric cloths driers being used heavily as well as the heat pumps.

seeya,
Shane L.

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Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Good topic..... heating is a no brainer. if your plumbed for natural gas ..... its infinitly better for heating. A big central heating furnace is has wwwaaaayyyyyy more capacity that heat pumps. If its down around zero outside ... and 8degrees in your house of a morning. Your central heating (gas) will have you nice and warm in minutes. The heat pumps will take hours .... the colder it is outside the longer they will take.

For heating, you will find in the middle of winter you will generate bugger all power. Especially if you live somewhere overcast like ballarat.

Attachment 179689

I'm not sure if this includes the power we use that is generated.... but see how much we use in winter heating with heat pumps (and heat pump hot water service). There is 8 heat pumps here if you include the two on the HWS. So summer, we generate more power than we use, in winter we generate bugger all of the used power and have HUGE bills. Ask your neighbours what sort of power they generate in a miserable dark. rainy winter before you go replacing heating with heat pumps for savings.

Our power bills are still ~ $250 a month in winter. We do have 3 kids home on holidays and have dishwasher/electric cloths driers being used heavily as well as the heat pumps.

seeya,
Shane L.

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Gas works great but the price has gone up to the point its uneconomical to run since you are using 2 fuels to run it, 2 years ago our combined bill was 300-350/month in winter and now its almost double - the gas portion has tripled.

In the east coast there has been a lot of media coverage about electricity prices going through the roof due to issues with the old coal fired power stations and coal/gas price increases.

A couple of years back the ACT Government changed ACT power to solely renewable power supplies - I have always been a skeptic of this as to me even now is it not really possible to power a moderately sized city just on renewables without thing like batteries and hydro. The ACT only has one power supplier which is ACTEWAGL - so AGL. It wholesales and retails and also sells to resellers like Origin.

My house power is supplied by ACTEWAGL and I received a letter from them last week saying that from 1 Jul this year my power usage charges will be reducing by 1.5%. [thumbsupbig].

Interesting a friend who gets his power from a reseller was advised that his power will be going up by 10% so a bit of price gouging going on their.

Was good to get a price reduction when the rest of the east coast prices are going up, so their might be something to the renewable story afterall.

Garry

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Originally Posted by 101RRS

In the east coast there has been a lot of media coverage about electricity prices going through the roof due to issues with the old coal fired power stations and coal/gas price increases.

A couple of years back the ACT Government changed ACT power to solely renewable power supplies - I have always been a skeptic of this as to me even now is it not really possible to power a moderately sized city just on renewables without thing like batteries and hydro. The ACT only has one power supplier which is ACTEWAGL - so AGL. It wholesales and retails and also sells to resellers like Origin.

My house power is supplied by ACTEWAGL and I received a letter from them last week saying that from 1 Jul this year my power usage charges will be reducing by 1.5%. [thumbsupbig].

Interesting a friend who gets his power from a reseller was advised that his power will be going up by 10% so a bit of price gouging going on their.

Was good to get a price reduction when the rest of the east coast prices are going up, so their might be something to the renewable story afterall.

Garry

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Maybe they are using all that hot gas from the pollies to power the generators.