Image: Tesla
Long ago, when the internet was made of nothing but stone knives and bearskins, it sounded like this, and looked rubbish: [Read more…]
Energy Australia’s Solar Plus Plan: Free Solar & Battery Comes At A High Cost
Energy Australia will give you a ‘free’ solar power system + Tesla Powerwall. All you have to do is buy your energy from them for 7 years. Is that a good deal?
TLDR: You’ll save more money if you go to the effort of buying your own, bigger solar power system rather than surrendering your roof’s profits to Energy Australia. [Read more…]
Leapton Solar Panels Review: Tier 1 Panels Made In China By Japanese Company
Recently we’ve had a number of calls from Australians who believe Leapton panels are made in Japan. Just to be clear: Leapton solar panels are made in China.
Update August 12, 2022. There has been some confusion regarding Leapton’s Australian presence, support and warranty services. Find out what’s happening here; including new support and warranty contact information.
Update 9th of March 2021: Leapton Solar recently opened an office in Australia and their phone number is 1800 717 636. They told me they can handle warranty claims for all Leapton panels in Australia. (If you you need to make a warranty claim first get in touch with your installer. But if they’re no longer around you can contact Leapton directly.)
This article is about Leapton Solar panels. Because this company is headquartered in Japan I’d like to give them a big…
Konnichiwa!
But since they’re actually made in China, perhaps that should be…
Ni Hao!
You Won’t Believe How Dumb The NSW Government’s New Battery Calculator Is
The new NSW solar & battery calculator is so misleading it’s not funny.
The NSW Government’s Solar Battery Calculator is up and running.Â
This would only be a good thing if it was up and running out the door, never to be seen again.
It had one job to do — inform NSW families if a home battery makes financial sense for them — and it fails miserably. Worse, it fails in exactly the wrong direction. [Read more…]
NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide
A happy family with their 4.8 kWh of Enphase AC batteries. These 4 batteries will cost about $10,000 installed and store about $1.44 of solar electricity.
Guess what! You can now read another tax-payer funded document that does more harm than good.Â
The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020. It’s supposed to help the people of NSW and Australia decide if getting batteries is right for them.
I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. [Read more…]
LeTID Update: Unlikely To Become The Problem Many Feared
LeTID: Limited in new PERC panels from reputable manufacturers and probably not a disaster for old ones.
Fourteen months ago I wrote about a type of solar panel degradation called LeTID. This is short for Light and elevated Temperature Induced Deterioration. It’s also Norwegian for “laugh time” which is what I think they called the Joker movie over there. [Read more…]
My ACCC Submission: The CEC Approved Retailer Scheme Is Not Voluntary & Is Anti-Competitive
If you want to sell residential solar in Victoria or batteries in SA, CEC Approved Solar Retailer membership is de-facto mandatory.
The Australian Competition And Consumer Commission — ACCC for short — is seeking submissions on whether or not the Clean Energy Council’s Approved Solar Retailer scheme should be renewed. [Read more…]
2020 PV Reliability Scorecard: Astronergy, Canadian, Longi & REC Do Well
Astronergy, Canadian, Longi, & REC Do Well but PID Still A Problem
PV Evolution Labs, or PVEL for short, has published their 2020 PV Module Reliability Scorecard. This annual report reveals the Top Performers from their latest round of solar panel testing. The information given is limited. We’re only told which panels suffered little deterioration from testing. PVEL do not reveal which performed poorly.  They do not even reveal all the panels that were tested.  But it’s still useful to know which did well.
If you buy a solar panel that was a Top Performer in all four tests you can be confident it’s going to last for decades. [Read more…]
Why Have Home Battery Forecasts Been Staggeringly Wrong For Years?
Honey, I shrunk the battery market
When I was a kid, the past wrote checks for the future reality couldn’t cash. I never got a flying car, let alone a jetpack, and a picture book I had promised me the 2020 Olympics would be on the moon. Well, it’s 2020 now and we don’t even have an Olympics, let alone a moon colony to hold it in. [Read more…]
Cuts To Electricity Prices And Feed-in Tariffs From July Will Extend Solar Payback
COVID-19 has contributed to wholesale electricity prices cuts, which should be reflected in your power bills from July.
The coronavirus has killed more than 340,000 people worldwide and taken a big bite out of economic activity. Fortunately, Australia’s death toll has been low thanks to the effective response from medical professionals.
While we’ve gotten off lightly with regard to lives lost, there has been a sizable economic downturn. This has caused wholesale electricity prices to drop, which you should see reflected your bills from July. Unless you’re in Western Australia. [Read more…]
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