About Anthony BennettAnthony joined the SolarQuotes team in 2022. He’s a licensed electrician, builder, roofer and solar installer who for 14 years did jobs all over SA - residential, commercial, on-grid and off-grid. A true enthusiast with a skillset the typical solar installer might not have, his blogs are typically deep dives that draw on his decades of experience in the industry to educate and entertain. Read Anthony's full bio.
You have to hand it to the fossil fuel disinformation machine; they’ve done an amazing job of keeping people poor in many senses of the word. Driving through Adelaide recently, I caught sight of another mind-boggling example and thought I’d capture it for posterity – Australians stuck in a huge queue for discounted fuel.
Customers buying home batteries are often going for “whole home” backup on the assurance that going forward, everything will be solar powered.
People are however alarmed when bills lob in the letterbox with hundreds of dollars consumption charged out. How is that even possible?
A recent solar social post made a vivid point about the economic cost and outright danger posed by bad workmanship and ignorance.
So I thought it would be worth examining here to explain why we have standards and why, in a first-world society, you have to be prepared to employ people who know what they’re doing.
[Read more…]
I’m pretty sure that date is accurate, and nearly 3kW of solar was horrendously expensive.
Back when I had long hair, solar was pretty basic, and so were the electricity supply, metering, and billing.
It’s wistful thinking to imagine we’re going back to simpler times. But today, it makes sense to streamline and rein in your bills equally.
Neovolt have been threatened with de-listing because their CEC approval paperwork isn’t in order.
I find this curious because when I’ve asked about similar approval paperwork in the past concerning Growatt products, they weren’t de-listed. And the CEC refused to answer our questions.
We’ve seen a big change in the solar industry recently. With batteries becoming standard, everyone is getting backup.
The problem is that poor design and sales misunderstandings are leaving people, especially three-phase customers, with a total oxymoron: unreliable backup power.
Parallel supply to the house on the left – Series connection on the right
Everyone buying solar wants lower bills, but adding expensive batteries should be more about a reliable supply than straight-up bean-counting.
The solar industry has, for a long time, glossed over a pretty basic point in battery-backed systems, so strap in while we explain the difference between series and parallel-connected supplies, and why it matters.
At least 11 circuits share 8 available positions in the brass neutral bar
Solar and in particular battery installation often dictates you must have a switchboard update.
Can this expose otherwise hidden issues in your house? Not always, but as night follows day, one thing can lead to another. [Read more…]
There’s never a dull moment in the solarcoaster, but a GroWatt manager took things up a notch last week by getting themselves arrested after a dalliance with the Clean Energy Council (CEC).
With the recent rises in fixed daily charges, the retail price of electricity means a lot of people are going off.
I understand the anger – I’m paying it too – but I have to reiterate the answer isn’t going off grid.
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