Solar Power

[Kimberley Scott]

They are a hell of a lot cheaper than they used to be.

6500 k

What savings do you expect to make on a lifetime. It's hard to model return on investment. But they have come down a hell if a lot since I last looked.

[Bulletime]

My uncle works in a power station and he said its a waste of government money, for the cost it's such an inefficient way to generate power. If the money was put in to the power plants we have or towards building new ones you would have way more power per dollar and hence better for the environment overall.

Nsw will be up sh!t creek as they haven't built a power station for decades and all the current ones are past their intended life, hence inefficient coal power, and lack of power. New coal power stations are way more efficient, and dont require ridiculous amounts of maintenance for being well past their designed operating lifespan.

Greenies should do nuclear that's the truest efficient power but ppl don't want glowing green babies.

There's the warm fuzzy feeling but it's been a waste of government money, particularly when the solar cells are very inefficient, should have waited till more efficient technology was developed.

Last thing is... God the panels are fugly! Really spoil some really nice looking houses.

/rant

[matsfgxr6turbo]

I've got a 5kw system with 22 panels and it saves us heaps even in winter when we are using heaters flat out our bill is heaps less than what we were paying we are saving 300 to 400 a bill every 2 months so its definently worth it.It cost $8500 all up and it was on 3 years interest free and will pay for itself in 3.5 years how can you go wrong?

[Blue Oval]

Solar works and yes types of brands of panels helps a lot. But forget the 1.5 KWT of 2.0KWT you need at least 4.0KWT and 14 or more panels for it to put you power bill to credit.

I started with a 3.0KWT and 8 panels and also changed to solar hot water and still had a bill of around $250.00.

I upgraded and put in another 2.0KWT and 9 panels so 17 panels all up with a now 5.0KWT system and I get a credit of $150.00 with the new pricing system.

As the home can only run up to a 5.0KWT system. If you fit it to your business or commercial property the sky the limit to how many panels and size converter.

I run LED bulbs through the hole house and LED TV which makes a bit of difference if you run the old LCD tv get rid of it its a power chewer.

[Blue Oval]

  On 10/07/2013 at 8:44 AM, Bulletime said:

My uncle works in a power station and he said its a waste of government money, for the cost it's such an inefficient way to generate power. If the money was put in to the power plants we have or towards building new ones you would have way more power per dollar and hence better for the environment overall.

Nsw will be up sh!t creek as they haven't built a power station for decades and all the current ones are past their intended life, hence inefficient coal power, and lack of power. New coal power stations are way more efficient, and dont require ridiculous amounts of maintenance for being well past their designed operating lifespan.

Greenies should do nuclear that's the truest efficient power but ppl don't want glowing green babies.

There's the warm fuzzy feeling but it's been a waste of government money, particularly when the solar cells are very inefficient, should have waited till more efficient technology was developed.

Last thing is... God the panels are fugly! Really spoil some really nice looking houses.

/rant

There is also if you have the cash BLUE GEN technology its like a small power station for your own home I think it needs to be connected to gas and has some fancy panels in the machine box that need replacing after so many years but you can run a house off it cut off from the main power supply and have no power bill. But the cost of it is very expensive I think around the $25,000 mark and then its how long to these converting panels last for and how much do you pay to replace them.

[masda74]

Well I would say that I am one of the early pioneers that bought their solar system 2 years ago.

Back then the cost of my system was 18k and it has been well worth it due to the REBS and FIT in WA.

That being said, I have not paid a single bill since april 2011. I have received credit every single billing cycle.

I do have a 5KW SMA inverter with 32 Suntech 190w panels.

It was worth it at the time, because of the government rebate. during the day we try not to use much power. We do all our power usage at night

For those looking at getting solar now, since there is no REBS or the Fit, you will need to check and see how much power your consume during daylight hours.

If you use more power at night, then it is not worth getting a big system.

If you are able to move most of your power usage to daylight hours, for example set the dish washer, the washing machine, the pool pump and things of the sort to run during the day, then you would need to look at a system to cover that usage.

If you go with a big system now, you ROI would be more than 7 to 10 years and it is not worth it.

If you want to see what sort of figures you might get, this website(www.pvoutput.org) can be helpful to search of similar systems in your area and how much they are producing.

Just do a search by your post code.

This is my system

http://www.pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=1660&sid=1268

Systems similar to mine, will cost about 8-10k depending on where you shop.

There is no warm fuzzy feeling about saving the environment if you go solar.

There is a warm fuzzy feeling when you have no bills to pay and you get credit to pay off your loan.

[Paulie2256]

^^^^^^^^^^ exactly what this guy said.

With the finance available and the price of the systems, you could have a system installed and keep paying what you are paying for electricity. You just need to manage your usage a bit better but its all transparent these days.

Edited 12/07/13 02:14 AM by Paulie2256

[sexual harrassment panda]

Once you're wired up to export power get a big diesel gen set and run off that. It's worth it in Qld, you can make money by buying diesel and selling power to the grid.

One of the reasons power is expensive here is you are subsidising anyone who exports to the grid.