Eels Blogs

Replies

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  Michael Picklum January 11, 2015 at 9:30pm

  If u expect big savings on your power bill, IMO u will be very disappointed. I put in a 3kw Euro Solar System that cost $4700 & I did not notice any apparent meaningful reduction in our power bills.

  I think that u will find that people who experienced apparent savings r those who installed their systems when the Government had heavy subsidies in place, e.g. being charged 0.26 cents per kw for power used & receiving heavily subsided rebates of approx. 0.70 per kw for power generated. The current rebate is approx. 0.06 per kw.

  If u want to make the commitment to feel good knowing that u r helping the Global Warming problem, then that is another qualitative perspective.
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  Tentonz January 12, 2015 at 1:01am

  I install solar and if you use your generated power as you are generating it, you will find it makes a difference. Use the washing machine, cooktop, oven, aircon, iron, and heater while the sun is out and you will save money.
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    Yobz > Tentonz January 12, 2015 at 3:51am

    Exactly
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    FME > Tentonz January 12, 2015 at 4:10am

    Ye I found the same thing. Noticeable reduction in my power bills using it this way.
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    fishbulb > Tentonz January 12, 2015 at 9:19am

    Absolutely right - to save money you've got to use the solar power as you generate it. Feed in tariff's only about 8 cents per kilowatt hour now, whereas you get charged 27 cents per kilowatt hour to use the power company's electricity.

    We're at home during the day, so it makes a difference for us because we're able to take advantage of this. We also  have a ducted a/c system which uses 5 kW/h, so on hot days it means with our 4.75 kW/h solar system we can pretty much cool the house for close to zero cost. Difference on that alone is about $600/ quarter (as we found out).

    Solar's not a panacea - but if you think about how and when you use your power you can save money. The days of making money from a solar system are pretty much done though, as the overly generous FIT's have ended.

    On the upside, it won't be long before you'll be able to connect storage batteries to your solar system for a reasonable cost, which will improve the usefulness of solar systems immensely as it will allow use of solar generated power at night..... 
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    Yobz > Tentonz January 12, 2015 at 11:05am

    Yes. Batteries are available now, but are still quite expensive.
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  Hugh January 12, 2015 at 6:38am

  Hi Yobz,

  im in Melbourne. had a 3kw system installed 4 months ago. we have a north facing roof with no trees shading any part of the  and pitch of the roof is a little higher then normal for a single storey building. we are only receiving 6 cents per kilowatt for feed in tariff. our energy bill  was cut by 54%, for the quater just gone we saved ourselves roughly $340.

  we paid roughly $4000 inc gst for inverter, 16 panels & installation.
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  speedy2460 January 12, 2015 at 8:48am

  Total waste of time and money. The only benefit is the "feel good" feeling that your helping the environment. I run the pool and most of the house during the daylight and it makes no difference to the power bill.
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  Prof. Daz January 12, 2015 at 10:09am

  Forget trying to calculate possible savings from feed in tariffs. In VIC the FIT is now 0.8c/KwH for most, so you're playing a losing game trying to eek savings out of FIT's given the supply and variable tariff costs of electricity are totalling in the .25 to .35 c/KwH range. Even if your FIT is higher, off-peak (for solar) consumption can wipe out your savings.
  
  Instead, start by looking at your total Kw consumption and the peak, mid and low times of that consumption. Next, increase the the thermal efficiency of your house. Then, set your solar to supply your electricity needs first before it ships power to the grid. Then calculate savings. Nimwits who throw solar panels on their roof without attending to insulation and thermal breaks and time-of-use issues probably don't detect savings measured as a function of reduction in power bill plus distributed (over time) costs of solar install. Moreover, serious savings from solar add up if the heating and cooling options are married to the power source. For instance, in slab heating or evap cooling with solar or some incorporation of passive heating and cooling or roof fans and so forth.
  
  My only point is that solar can dramatically reduce your power bill if you also make some other, some relatively inexpensive, changes. But without them, that is, if you just blindly consume power and don't attend to efficiency effects, well no fancy power source will help you.
  
  There is smart green and dumb green!!!
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    Yobz > Prof. Daz January 12, 2015 at 11:09am

    Correct. From what I have seen on other forums it seems people are more likely to try energy saving devices/practices when they can see the actual figures it saves them. The meters attached to solar systems generally indicate energy in/out and it seems to spur people on in terms of being more efficient. Eg PVOutput website graphs.