Many Australian homes are not allowed to export more than 5 kW to the grid. If they want a big solar system with an inverter larger than 5 kW, they must ‘export limit’ the inverter. Here’s what that means. [Read more…]
Renewables Now 60% Of South Australian Electricity Generation
The 21st century has brought radical change to South Australian electricity generation. Eighteen years ago SA had the least renewable energy in the country thanks to hydroelectricity being a tough sell in a location as dry as a Sao biscuit and twice as flat. [Read more…]
LAVO’s Australian Made Hydrogen Battery: Incredible Engineering. Tough Sell.
The LAVO hydrogen battery is a feat of engineering -but who will buy it?
If all you’ve ever wanted out of life is to own an Australian made, hydrogen-powered, fuel cell, energy storage system then I have some really good news for you. In October, Australian company LAVO launched a hydrogen energy storage system for homes and businesses. While it’s mainly a fuel cell, they refer to it as a hydrogen battery, so if you want to call it a battery knock yourself out. [Read more…]
Why Your Solar Feed-In Tariff Is Lower Than Your Electricity Usage Tariff
To understand why solar feed-in tariffs are comparatively low, you need to understand how your electricity bill sausage is made. Image credit
In this article, I am going to take a typical electricity bill and break it down into its components.
I told Finn I was doing this for two sensible reasons:
- To let people know where their electricity dollar goes.
- To show where solar feed-in tariffs come from and why they are significantly less than electricity’s retail price.
But the main reason is I hate electricity bills and enjoy breaking them into pieces. [Read more…]
Click Energy: Best Feed-in Tariffs But Not Always Best Deal
Click Energy provides high feed-in tariffs — If your inverter is 5kW or less.
If you:
- want a high solar feed-in tariff.
- have a solar inverter 5 kilowatts or less.
- have low grid electricity consumption
…then Click Energy may be the best choice of electricity retailer to minimize your electricity bills (or maximize credit received). [Read more…]
Dan Andrews Doesn’t Understand How Victoria’s ‘Solar Homes’ Program Works
Dan Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, has been a busy man. For four long months, Melbourne was locked in a desperate, life or death struggle with the coronavirus and only recently emerged victorious. It’s well past time he stopped to pat himself on the back and take a well-earned rest, as he has clearly been doing everything by himself. This was made apparent by a tweet he sent out yesterday showing he doesn’t understand how his own state’s Solar Homes Program works. [Read more…]
Tesla Increases Powerwall Price $800 After Announcing They’ll Halve Battery Prices By 2025
Despite promising to reduce energy storage costs, Tesla keeps increasing the price of its Powerwall home battery.
On September the 23rd I woke up at 5:00 am to listen to Elon Musk’s Battery Day announcement where the world was told Tesla would cut the cost of batteries in half by 2025. We were told they would:
- Lower the cost of battery cells.
- Lower the cost of battery factories.
- Reduce the cost of raw materials required.
The Electric Mini In Australia — Awesome Performance, Lousy Warranty
This is the third electric Mini Cooper SE to be sold in Australia and the first in Adelaide. Ronald spent the weekend with it. Here’s what he thought.
For two days last week, I managed to get my hands on an Electric Mini Cooper SE. I tried to take it for a spin, but its traction control wouldn’t let me, so the good news is it’s safe to drive. It was also a lot of fun. [Read more…]
Pensioners Can Save Up To $2,500 With ACT Solar For Low Income Households Program
This article would have a lot more detail if I could have actually spoken to someone in the ACT government about it. It wasn’t for lack of trying. I called them 4 times, was on hold for 53 minutes, to no avail.
Do you have a Pensioner Concession Card?
Do you own a home in the ACT?
Does the roof of that home lack solar panels? [Read more…]
SMA Inverters Will Meet SA’s Remote Disconnection Rules At No Extra Cost
If SA needs to hit the big red button and shut down rooftop solar installed after 28 September 2020, SMA inverters can comply – at no extra cost to the owner.
On Thursday I was invited to a webinar on SMA’s response to South Australia’s new solar inverter requirements. It seems that SMA — the maker of Sunny Boy inverters — was on the ball as all their residential inverters are on SA’s approved installation list. [Read more…]
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