General Chat

I probably need Australians to answer this question. However answers from any part of the globe will be kindly accepted.

I will wait for those residing in the cold, grey, wintry zones of our planet to pick themselves up off the floor and stop hooting with laughter.

My question. Have you installed solar panels for generating electricity? Has it made a difference to your quarterly power bill.

I'm not talking about solar heating for hot water, although for all I know the two could be similar.

Hi AuntySherlock.

Solar power panels for generating electricity are very popular in Australia for the average home owner. Advertising hits our tele's and newspapers everyday regarding buying Solar panels for both Electricity and or Gas hot water.

As far as saving on power bills for the average Aussie, it depends a lot on where and what state, or part of Australia you live in, that calculates just how much you save.
For instance, in Australia solar panels work best when they’re north facing, pointed directly at the sun, at the correct angle and not blocked by trees or shading. The effectiveness of solar panels also depends on where you live and the weather. Of the capital cities, solar panels in Adelaide and Darwin generate the most electricity on average each day, about 30% more than say Hobart and Melbourne.( cooler climates ) These and other factors need to be considered to calculate a system’s payback time and likely energy output.

And yes....we do have solar panels on our house.

If you browze this link it might explain a bit further as far as savings.

Solar saving Calculator

http://www.solarshop.com.au/


Tony..:>)) ( Australia )

I would love to install photo-voltaic panels as our orientation is most suitable, but the capital outlay of £10,000+ is off-putting as the payback period would be in the 15 year range at best.

Hi Tony and Brian, Thank you for your responses. I have spent the evening downloading information on the topic for the other half.

Missed the link you sent Tony, that was handy because it contained a calculator to give one an idea of what the figures work out to be.

We are in one of the sunnier places on the planet so the system should work OK for us. Early days yet still doing our research. Have heard some amazing savings can be made. Always sceptical about the advertisements, so am asking those who have taken the plunge their experiences.

I understand the cost upfront and long term benefits won't enter into the equation. This will be an enhancement which hopefully adds value to our home and therefore to our kids inheritance. Short term it might reduce our day to day living expenses.


I'm not covered in good green thoughts so perhaps this might balance my unenvironmentalistic habits to some degree.

There are huge government rebates and incentives for Aussies that turn to Solar energy. Homes, Businesses, ect...

Aussie Schools get up to $50,000 grants for turning to solar.

Yes, I've read about that. Must ask. Does the householder decide the size of the panel combination, or is that governed by regulations, situation and climate considerations.

Everything I've read seems to talk in terms of a 1.3 -1.5 kw system, however we have been advised to go for a 2kw system.

Mmmmmm..well i'm not really technical minded...lol but it was explanined to us, to calculate how many square inches of solar panel you need for a house, you need to know basically how much power the house consumes on average. Where the house is located (so you can calculate mean solar days, average rainfall, etc.) ......Systems range from 1 kw to 5 kw pending on all these things. We needed 6 panels on our roof, and this was calculated by usage.

I think if you overproduce you can sell your spare power back to a company which helps offset the cost. I would have loved to have solar panels on my roof at my own house but I think the minimum cost is £3000 or more so out of the question unless I could get a grant for it. I will look into it more when I get other works done to move back but have to clear all my things first.

Lizx

Hey. Watch it.

We have a roof perfectly oriented for solar, south and slightly west, barn-style so we could even adjust for high summer sun and low winter sun I suppose. We mumble about it.

No.1 was just reading the bumph that came with the latest hydro bills. Apparently we buy hydro for something less than $0.08 per kwh (we're going to time-of-day billing soon which we will win at hugely) -- and the local utility is offering to buy hydro from us, if we go solar and want to feed excess back into the grid -- at $0.80 per kwh.

Go figure. We could cover our roof in solar panels, buy our own power from the grid, and sell everything we generate to it, and live on the profits!

The capital outlay is still a little high to be thinking about it now, but the roof itself (although only 15 years old - pigeons and weather) is in much need of replacing, actually just the particular plane where panels would go, so that might be the time.

Hey Cuz,
Sounds as if you should find yourself a little field, cover it in panels and retire to the Bahamas.

I know! It sounds ridiculous but that seems to be how it is! I have a feeling there's a limit on how much they'll buy. ;)

We have electric heating here (back in 1984 I got govt grants to switch from oil ...). It works for us because we spot-heat rooms in use and turn down / close off those that aren't.

Was just prompted by this thread and No.1's recent reports to do some browsing, and it seems we average 4 hrs of sunlight a day here and so would likely need that acreage just for our own otherwise very modest use.

You just want rellies in the Bahamas to impose on, I know. ;)

not Quite the same, but I came across a house in a small village near me that had solar heating panels( not cells)on their triple garage roof, to heat the swimming pool.
Bob

My husband has been muttering for ages about installing a little wind turbine at the end of our (fairly large) garden in the Kent/Sussex countryside: apparently people can do this here and we certainly get lots of windy weather!

He says the initial outlay will be offset in about 15 years and you can sell back to the `grid what is over produced. I haven't made up my mind on this yet

Morning. Thanks for responses. I agree with the initial outlay being steeper than a roof gradient, and until we obtain an assessment we won't know how much. It is not like every person in our street has their roofs covered in panels. I had a quick look yesterday around my neighbourhood and the very average Australian chooses air conditioning over electricity generation. Wonder why.

Yes you are able to sell your power back to the grid. There was some kerfuffle here not long ago when they cut the rebate, dim recesses of memory, but it has now been restored to 44c kwh.

We have gas and electricity. Gas for cooking and water heating. Electricity for running the computer. There might be a few other things we use electrics for but I don't notice them much. OH was highly amused when I asked him if solar power generation would cause my computer to run more slowly. Well a woman has to have all the facts before she makes these decisions.

Hi Helen, Our utility providers are all on the alternative energy bandwagon here. The options are solar, wind, and geothermal, and a couple of others outside of my knowledge base. We have wind farms "springing" up in our country areas, and I know there has been some research done on the "hot rocks" power generation.

Just looking at the blades on the "windmills" you would most definitely need quite an acreage to have one in your back garden. Could imagine one in my small yard, I'd have to duck and run everytime I hung out the washing.

Lol, Aunty Sherlock!

We lived on160 acres of bush in Canada and it would have cost us $42,000 40 years ago to have access to mains electricity. We used a generator for many years but finally went solar about 20 years ago. We started with a few panels. When we sold up a year ago we had 8 panels and 12 batteries but had intended to add 4 more panels and 6 more batteries. You not only need panels and batteries (that start to deteriorate after 10 years even when cared for properly). You also need an invertor and a proper switch panel and wiring. Batteries have to have a 6 hour regeneration once a month and be kept topped up with sterile water. On days without sun it was necessary to top up with a generator. Worked fine for us and ran washing machine, dryer, built in vac., all small appliances, computer and lighting for an 83 x 33 log house. It infuriarates me to see huge buildings faced with glass, lights burning all night long, that could have been faced with solar panels. I know lots of people who have gone solar - especially as the panels are now cheaper, larger and more efficient. I believe there is a whole village being built in Alberta that is based on nothing but geothermal and solar.

Hi Joan. Thank you so much for that info. Although we are in different countries what you have said gives us an idea of what "things" we need to ask about when talking to the experts.

We are now at the stage where we can ask our energy provider to give us some in depth informaiton about how this will work for us and more importantly, if I am going to be eating canned beans for a few years.