Posts By Ronald Brakels, Author & Fact-Checker At SolarQuotes

Charging Your EV From The Grid Is Cheaper & Greener Than Charging From A Home Battery

July 17, 2019 2024-07-05T13:27:10 by 51 Comments
Charging electric car from a solar battery

Solar & EV owners: don’t stress about charging your car directly from the grid when the sun isn’t shining.

The first thing I’ll do in this article is point out it’s difficult to fit caveats into a headline.  The second thing I’ll do now I’m writing the article and have the space to explain is state there are exceptions to the two main points I am about to make, which are:

  1. It doesn’t make economic sense to charge an electric car with a home battery.
  2. Charging an electric car with a grid-connected solar-battery is worse for the environment than simply charging it from the grid.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: EV Chargers

Solar Panel Backsheet Defects Rising Says DuPont PV Reliability Report

July 10, 2019 2019-07-10T23:27:57 by 11 Comments
solar panel back sheet failure

Backsheet failures from the field. Images: Crap Solar FB Page

On the 19th of June DuPont, the world’s largest chemical company, released their Global PV Reliability 2019 Field Analysis report.  It contains disturbing news on the reliability of plastic backsheets used for solar panels. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels

Sunrise TV Gets It Wrong: Installing Batteries Will Lose Most Households Money

July 4, 2019 2019-07-04T16:27:39 by 122 Comments
CH7 Sunrise Solar Power And Battery Segment

Mainstream media gets it wrong on batteries. In other shock news Pope declares he’s a Catholic.

If you told me two years ago you spent $46,000 on a solar and battery system and it saved you $4,000 a year, my reaction would be, “I’m sorry.  I’m so, so sorry.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage

What Is A Cast Monosilicon Solar Panel?

July 1, 2019 2019-07-01T21:38:23 by 5 Comments
what is a cast mono solar panel?

You’ve probably heard of mono and poly panels. Now there’s a third type: ‘cast-mono’. But what the hell is it?

Silicon is the Queen of solar power.  Some people say Coal is King, but I say our Queen can kick your King’s arse. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Innovations

6th Canberra Battery Test Centre Report — 61% Of Tested Batteries Faulty

June 26, 2019 2019-06-26T17:38:10 by 61 Comments

Battery Test Centre June 2019 update

The Canberra Battery Test Centre has released their latest six monthly report.  It took them 9 months to get it out, but I’m glad they took their time, as it’s a beauty. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage

New Solar Panel Reliability Scorecard For 2019 — GCL, JA, And Longi Do Well

June 19, 2019 2019-06-23T18:20:27 by 21 Comments

PVEL solar panel scorecard - June 2019

A new Module Reliability Scorecard was published earlier this month.  It reveals the sadistic practices of a standards organization that subjected solar panels to torturous tests so they could announce which ones came out on top. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels

SCOOP! — Canadian Solar Product Warranty: Now 12 Years

June 13, 2019 2021-02-10T11:37:07 by 8 Comments

Canadian solar product warranty increased

Today I spoke with Michael Rush, the head of Sales and Marketing for Canadian Solar in Australia.  Well, I say I spoke to him today, but you’re actually reading this during my tomorrow — so my today is now your yesterday.  I guess time really is a wibbly wobbly thing.

He told me some interesting things.  They included: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels

Simple Payback Time For 6.5 kW Of Rooftop Solar By Australian Capital — June 2019

June 13, 2019 2019-06-13T16:11:11 by 41 Comments
solar panel payback

Discover typical solar payback in 2019 for each of Australia’s state capitals.

One year and one month ago I wrote about the simple payback time of rooftop solar, which is how long it takes the savings from solar power to equal the cost of a system.  In most Australian capitals it took around 5 years or less, which meant rooftop PV was one of the best investments households could make.

I have done the same thing again — except differently [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels

6.6 kW Solar System: How Many Solar Panels?

June 6, 2019 2019-06-06T11:35:23 by 50 Comments
Solar panels - 6.66kW system

6.66 kW is the largest solar system most people are allowed (without resorting to export limiters). How many panels do you need to reach the magic number?

If someone casually asks me how much solar they should install, I may simply tell them they should fill their roof with as much capacity as they reasonably can.  But after learning the details, I often recommend installing as close to 6.66 kilowatts as possible. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Installation

Green Power Vs. Rooftop Solar: Solar Easily Wins But Having Both Is Greenest

June 3, 2019 2019-06-03T14:42:45 by 14 Comments

GreenPower vs. solar power - which is greenest?

A while back a reader asked me for a post on rooftop solar vs. Green Power.  Or, if you spell as badly as a government national program — GreenPower.  So here it is: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar and the Environment
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