Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Mar 21, 2011 12:01 pm I've been reading and reading and reading and it's NOT sinking in ... just so BORING ... so could someone please help me?!? After researching on other sites including Whirlp@@l it's just giving me a headache! ANYWAY ... last couple of electricity bills have been @$600 ... usage was 2665kwH over 92 days ... so 28kw per day. I'm after something that will reduce/eliminate that bill ... but after reading what's available I'm wondering if the costs of solar is worth buying it? At the moment the 1.5kw, possibly 2kw is within our price range but what do we need to expand in the future? I know it has something to do with the inverter but that's about all I think 3kw is what we need to actually get rid of that bill but the more I read and think about it the more overwhelming it all is ... can anyone help?!? Have I already answered my own question??? I need a drink! Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 2Mar 21, 2011 12:30 pm Hey pebbles, I don't know anything about the different solar panel systems available on the market but you are right you are using a fair bit of electrical energy. My last bill I got was for 92 days also and we have only used 600kW h worth of electrical energy. If I was in your shoes, I would try to identify the source of the problem first so that probably you could eliminate the issue rather than masking it. May be you can just do a rough calculation of the major electrical devices that uses a fair bit of electrical energy to see where the problem is coming from and take it from there.... Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 3Mar 21, 2011 1:13 pm I'm pretty sure the problem is coming from our pool ... neighbours around us don't have pools but they do have air-con and their bills are about the same as ours ... so I'm guessing that it's probably right? Other than the pool I think what we use is about average ... 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 fridges (oops), normal appliances, laundry once a day, no dryer, no air con, no heaters (good insulation), computer which is on all day (oops), LCD tv, DD14 laptop (half a day) and that's about it really. We also have a Rheem heat pump for hot water so that's not an issue. Who do I get in touch with to do an electricity check of our home? Is it Energex? Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 4Mar 21, 2011 1:27 pm Unless you have storage batteries to go with the solar its not going to help your problem. A 3kw system only delievers on an average day ~80% of that, but unless you can store the power, its not available when the sun goes down (assumin you work days and use power at night). If you join the network to contribute power be aware that they only give you a fraction of what you pay per kilowatt. Also solar panels degrade with age. Factor this into your whole of life cost and Return on Investment. They still don't stack up unless power companies offer one for one rebates (or near that). Example - Panels last about 20 years. So for 3kw your probably shelling out ~$25k. Thefore without even breathing its costing you $1,250 a year just in replacement costs (panels only). Couple that with dimishing returns every year. Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 5Mar 21, 2011 4:05 pm We use around 16kw hours (kwhr) of electricity per day which is fairly typical, around 1500kwhr per quarter. i would guess you pool makes the difference. I think Eve is being a bit pessimistic. For our system in Victoria the figures I have got indicate for each 1kw of solar panels we can expect to generate around 1300kw hours per year that’s an average around 3.5 kw hours per day and the panels come with a guarantee that the loss will be less than 1% a year. There is an evaluation here for Victoria but you would need to put in the tariff figures for Queensland which aren't as generous as Victoria http://www.homeiown.com/solar-electrici ... orthwhile/ The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 6Mar 22, 2011 5:58 pm Need to address over usage prior to solar PV panels. If the pool is your issue plenty of reading here: http://www.ata.org.au/forums/topic/pool ... am-i-using http://www.ata.org.au/forums/topic/swim ... reen-world Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 7Mar 22, 2011 8:31 pm Quote: I've been reading and reading and reading and it's NOT sinking in ... just so BORING ... so could someone please help me?!? After researching on other sites including Whirlp@@l it's just giving me a headache! There, there, never mind diddums. I cant see whats so hard. That WP forum is full of disaster stories about you-beaut el-cheapo offers, and has many system components described without going into too much technical detail. It took me a month of daily studying before I made my choice. Once I decided on what were reliable, value for money components I then sought out solar companies who used them, and those who had bad reports were deleted -- quite simple really. A 3Kw system on average generates around 4700 Kwhrs/year or around 12.8Kwhrs/day (I'm assuming that's Adelaide figures) so first you must reduce your usage and then buy the biggest system you can possibly afford, because Ive found very few solar installers will come back to expand your system, because its simply not worth their effort as they can make far more money on new installs. Second if you install a larger inverter in the beginning to cater for more panels later, some inverters dont take kindly to running at less than near full capacity and become less efficient. Arfur Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 8Mar 22, 2011 11:25 pm Thanks for the replies! Eve Dweller - I've noticed you know quite a bit about it all so thanks for popping in! I'm waiting for quotes on this at the moment ... 3.15 kW of ET panels and a Xantrex GT2.8 inverter ... similar systems sell between $8-$10k ... not sure if that's right or not but I'm not to keen on paying $25k for one Our neighbours have a 1.5 kw system with about 12 panels, their electricity bills are less than a quarter of ours without the storage batteries ... so I'm trying to work out what we need based on what they're using ... as much as I can. Bashworth - thanks for the link, I did have a quick read of it Eccles - very helpful info there ... thanks Uncle Arfur There, there, never mind diddums. I cant see whats so hard. Uncle Arfur and those who had bad reports were deleted -- quite simple really. Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 9Mar 23, 2011 8:46 am Eve Dweller U Example - Panels last about 20 years. So for 3kw your probably shelling out ~$25k. Thefore without even breathing its costing you $1,250 a year just in replacement costs (panels only). Couple that with dimishing returns every year. I think you are a little out on your pricing. Before recs payback our system was priced at a bit over $19K. for the most expensive panels around (Schott) a not well known German manufacturer for 2.96 of panels with a SMA 4 KW invertor. After recs it will cost us around $13k. Suntech pv panels and the same inverter would have been about $600 less where we were quoted. I've noted someone else had a price of around $9.000 . sadly our Suntech prices here in the sticks were more than $12,000 anyway. This was what we were originally going to go with so we got a few quotes with suntech panels. As we found it difficult to find anyone to do the aurora <?> panels. Cheque was sent off to our supplier/installer yesterday for $13.020 Recs payment will be transferred to him to cover the difference when it comes. If the sale price of the recs has gone up( and it has) we get to keep the difference. 16 panels for us. Ours are on the front of the house. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 10Mar 23, 2011 9:04 am You best bet is to reduce your usage, and get your pool pump onto an off-peak tariff. Have the climate smart people come around- http://www.climatesmart.qld.gov.au/ Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 11Mar 23, 2011 9:30 am kexkez I think you are a little out on your pricing. TinaG You best bet is to reduce your usage, and get your pool pump onto an off-peak tariff. Have the climate smart people come around- http://www.climatesmart.qld.gov.au/ Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 12Mar 23, 2011 12:48 pm Quote: If you join the network to contribute power be aware that they only give you a fraction of what you pay per kilowatt Feeding power back into the grid here in SA we are paid 52c/Kwhr (and it is rumoured to go up to 60c soon) and when we buy power (import) we are charged at around 20c/Kwhr. Consequently people are advised to use their power-sucking appliances mainly at night and let power generated throughout the day earn you more $$$ Quote: Panels last about 20 years. I assume you are referring to the standard performance guarantee of around 90% efficiency for 25yrs and 80% efficiency after that? Quote: So for 3kw your probably shelling out ~$25k. BS -- for my 3.04Kw system will cost me $9600 out of pocket Arfur Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 14Mar 23, 2011 8:39 pm Pebbles Who do I get in touch with to do an electricity check of our home? Is it Energex? Before you go out finding people to sort the high bill, read through this link from PowerWater: http://www.powerwater.com.au/__data/*** ... y_2010.pdf Read it, go for a walk around and make sure you do the things on the first page. Then sit down and using the figures on the second page work out your energy usage. Give it a shot, see how you go. Another thing to try is weekly meter readings. Read your meter each Sunday morning and work out how much power you have used for the week. Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 15Mar 24, 2011 7:40 am Be guided by what you learn from the Whirlpool site, same as we all have done -- its all there if you take the time. Arfur Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 16Mar 24, 2011 8:28 am No need for name calling guys. Keep it friendly Cheers Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 18Mar 25, 2011 8:57 am Thanks Redman - even I can understand that! WOW 6kw ... ouch! Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 19Mar 25, 2011 9:57 pm Hi Pebbles By your description of the system, sounds like you are getting quotes from a certain well known hippie? I have that system in northside Brisbane and can highly recommend him and the system (it's my pretty blue roof on his home page LOL but other than that I'm not related or employed by him or anything). I don't have kw figures to hand but have generated $284 and $200 in credit accounts for last two quarters; previously $400 plus bills. So nice to get a cheque from AGL instead of paying them My house is 2 years old, so reasonably energy efficient. Don't have a pool but use air con, split systems, if needed - i.e. at night to sleep and those really hot humid days we had; gas hot water. Ceiling fans are on constantly. I also don't keep a track on daily usage any more (did to start with!) but today it generated 18.74 kw if that helps at all. Anything else you need to know for local info? Re: SOLAR HELP PLEASE!!! 20Mar 26, 2011 10:02 am Hey Jan ... yep, just waiting on a quote from hippie at the moment, sent an email last week but thinking that maybe I should send another one? Your figures sound pretty good to me Looking at getting the pool changed to another tarriff so hopefully that will help. Had a couple of quotes back ... one from Infin!ty Solar and one from True Value ... after what I've read of TV I'm not to sure I want to go with them. DH reckons it'll be fine but then he hasn't read the negative feedback about them. :/ I looked into it a few years ago and my conclusion was to just build a carport that will support panels and get a system installed separately. The company I looked at had… 1 6485 Thankyou so much 😀 I've decided on White on white for doors and trims, White on white 50% on ceiling and Mt buller for walls. Fingers crossed it will look OK 😀 2 7172 i had the my concreters concrete right up to the fence. I have pits all along my path, so the water tends to drain away from the house and into the pits. There's only one… 7 12796 |