Posts By SolarQuotes Founder Finn Peacock

Off-Site Solar Scheme: Don’t Buy AGL’s Golden Handcuffs

March 25, 2019 2019-03-26T08:41:15 by 11 Comments
AGL Offsite Solar - Solar Power For Renters

Tenants who ‘invest’ in AGL’s Offsite Solar are emotionally handcuffed to their tariffs for 7 years

If you are lucky enough to own an unshaded roof over your head, solar power is a no brainer.

Millions of homeowners have realised this and, for those who have done it right, they are living a life free of energy bill worries for the foreseeable future.

But what about the 30% of Australians who rent? They are seemingly stuck having to pay electricity retailers for overpriced, dirty grid electricity. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Innovations

SolarQuotes Vodcast Episode 8: Ronald On Drugs & Chocolate

March 18, 2019 2019-03-18T15:21:18 by Leave a Comment

In the 8th instalment of the SolarQuotes Vodcast, Ronald and Finn discuss taking drugs, eating chocolate and of course solar power stuff. Click on the timestamp to go to that part of the video. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Solar & Storage News

SolarQuotes Vodcast #7 : Finn Gets In Trouble With The Police

March 12, 2019 2019-03-12T11:26:25 by 1 Comment

In this episode:

0:17 We discuss why the CEC Approved Solar Retailer Scheme might be about to enter a dangerous new phase.

0:17 Ronald dobs me in for getting a police caution on the streets of Adelaide.

And then we go through the last 7 days of solar news on the blog. [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Solar & Storage News

Making Approved Solar Retailer Status Mandatory in Victoria Would Be Disastrous

March 12, 2019 2024-12-10T09:26:50 by 20 Comments

Approved Solar Retailers In Victoria

In Orwell’s Animal Farm, animals were told that doing extra work was voluntary, yet those who didn’t volunteer got their rations reduced.

In November 2013 the Clean Energy Council told solar companies that becoming an Approved Solar Retailer (ASR), which requires extra work, was voluntary. But in 2018  solar companies that had not signed up started to lose their opportunity to benefit from participation in state government solar rebate and zero interest loan schemes.

Beware of schemes that claim to be voluntary but force you into applying by other means. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy

SolarQuotes Vodcast Episode #6

March 6, 2019 2019-03-06T18:43:36 by Leave a Comment

Join Ronald and I from the SolarQuotes office in Adelaide CBD where we discuss the previous week’s happenings on the blog: [Read more…]

Filed Under: General Solar & Storage News

SolarQuotes Vodcast Episode #5

February 25, 2019 2019-02-25T16:50:43 by 2 Comments

Last Friday Ronald and I sat down in SQHQ to discuss the previous 7 days on the blog. Here are the posts we discussed, along with links to the relevant place in the video. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage

A Solar Installer Questioned SolarEdge’s Reliability And SolarEdge Is Furious

February 5, 2019 2019-02-07T15:58:51 by
angry man pointing at review

Spat over inverter review intensifies as SolarEdge go legal.

At 3:15pm on Christmas Eve, when most Australian families were kicking back with a drink and looking forward to at least 2 days with family, friends and no work worries, Mark Cavanagh1, owner of the highly regarded solar installation company, MC Electrical2 received a five page letter from lawyers acting for $1.6 billion Israeli inverter manufacturer, SolarEdge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Inverters

How To Power Through A Heatwave – In Comfort – On 100% Solar Energy

February 1, 2019 2019-02-02T09:50:04 by 58 Comments
solar power and heatwaves

Is it possible to keep a family home comfortable in an extreme heatwave using only solar energy? Yes.

Last week I received a phone call from an ABC journalist. Unfortunately he didn’t want to invite me on Gruen to talk about the joys of solar advertising, or book Ronald & Tonto23 to perform on Mad As Hell. Rather, he’d been told that solar panels lose efficiency when it gets hot, and was keen to learn more. Specifically, he wondered how much solar panel efficiency would be lost if the temperature hit 45º during the heatwave – as forecast for the following day. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels

How To Use Solcast To Check Your Solar Panels’ Performance

December 4, 2018 2018-12-06T10:32:59 by 44 Comments
Solcast API - solar panel performance checking tool

By Dr. Nick Engerer

Note from Finn: This is a guest post by Dr Nick Engerer – Solcast is a super handy, free, quick and accurate way to check what your solar power system should have produced in the last 7 days. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels

Help! I Bought Solar But My Bills Are Still High

November 22, 2018 2024-10-01T14:57:31 by 28 Comments
Solar power and electricity bills

If you bought a solar power system and your bills are still high, then either your system is not working or you haven’t considered the big picture of energy-efficiency, hot water heating and system size.

In this post you will discover:

  • Why – if you want tiny bills – buying a solar power system is about more than buying a good system from a reputable installer.
  • How to quickly estimate if any solar panel array is working well in 3 minutes, with or without monitoring.
  • How to work out if your electricity retailer is billing you correctly or ripping you off.
  • Just how hard-to-use most inverter manufacturer monitoring software is – and why you should always buy a good third party monitoring system such as Solar Analytics to go over the top.
  • How following the 7 steps in my book – The Good Solar Guide – virtually guarantees tiny bills and no surprises.
  • And how to read The Good Solar Guide for free.

So let’s get started shall we… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels
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