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

The ‘SA Energy Crisis’ Is A Myth Peddled By Liars

April 26, 2017 2017-04-27T15:07:59 by 14 Comments
protesting crowd

If you repeat a message long and loud enough many people will accept it as true.

At the start of the month I wrote that South Australia’s grid was in disarray.  I warned that more blackouts were inevitable as soon as summer rolled around again or adverse weather struck.

With my warning I wanted to give people a sense of perilous urgency on the need to do something about the dilapidated state of the grid that we depend upon for our jobs, our well being, and civilization itself.

But that was on April Fools Day.

I wasn’t serious. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

DCS Batteries Make Wild Payback Claims

April 20, 2017 2024-06-05T11:24:13 by 56 Comments
DCS battery and Croc Dundee

Australian battery company DCS are making wild claims about their battery.

Power is boring.

But the struggle to obtain it?  That is interesting.

In 10 year’s time powering homes with batteries may be so commonplace it will be boring.

But at the moment it’s not so dull. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , ,

Don’t Buy Second Hand Solar For Your Home

April 13, 2017 2024-10-03T09:51:24 by 41 Comments
second hand solar shop

You’ll Pay A High Price For Second Hand Solar Equipment

“Psssssst!  Wanna buy some slightly used solar panels?  They fell off the back of a truck.  Or possibly off the back of a roof.  Maybe they even fell off the back of a roof of a truck.  We just don’t know.  But what I do know is they are tier one panels in great condition – they didn’t fall far – and they’re cheap, so if you are looking to install rooftop solar you’d be a fool not to buy them, right?”

Wrong. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,

Scheme To Donate Solar To The Sydney Opera House Is A Boondoggle

April 6, 2017 2024-01-25T15:35:21 by 8 Comments
sydney opera house

Sydney Opera House In Sustainability Scam Shocker! Photo Credit: Finn

This morning the Australian Financial Review reported on how the Sydney Opera House and Energy Australia, and apparently even the CSIRO, are teaming up to create a solar energy trading scheme that, on the face of it, is completely useless.  But, once you think it through, it clearly makes the world a worse place. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With:

Solar Air Conditioning Vs. Heat Reflective Paint

April 5, 2017 2024-01-25T10:36:50 by 32 Comments
heat reflective paint vs solar

If your house is getting too hot should you invest in heat reflective paint or solar panels?

It can get bloody hot in summer thanks to the sun blazing down on our roofs and making them hot enough to not only fry an egg, but some bacon as well.

This post is about stopping the summer sun heating your roof, turning your home into a metaphorical oven. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With:

Australian Company To Elon Musk: We’ll Supply Twice The Storage in 100 Days For Half The Price

April 1, 2017 2017-04-18T14:24:21 by 36 Comments
wetwatts tower

Aggregated, wireless power transfer can enable massive storage to be rolled out very quickly and very cheaply.

These are, quite literally, dark days for national energy security.

The South Australian grid is in disarray and blackouts threaten to engulf other states as soon as summer rolls around again or adverse weather conditions strike. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage

How GST On Solar Is Calculated

March 31, 2017 2025-01-01T13:08:28 by 8 Comments
get on solar

How to charge GST on solar is not obvious. Read on to discover why…

Let’s say you have just been quoted a nice round $7,000 for a brand spanking new rooftop solar system with 5 kilowatts of panels.  With Australia’s 10% Goods and Services Tax, you might expect the GST portion of that quote to come to $700.

Or, if you didn’t go to school in Toowoomba like I did, you might actually think GST would be $636.36 because that would be 10% of $6,363.64 which would then add up to a nice round $7,000.  (Remember kids, always pay attention in math class if you don’t want to end up as a lowly solar blogger.) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With: ,

BYD Brings B-Box To Battery Battleground

March 28, 2017 2024-01-25T09:06:28 by 22 Comments
BYD B-Box

The BYD B-Box Battery. Is it the perfect B-Boy Beat-Box Battery?

BYD is the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries  Those three letters stand for Build Your Dreams and apparently their dream was to build a battery box and sell it in Australia because that’s exactly what they’re doing with their B-box battery systems. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With:

Tindo Solar, Australia’s Only Solar Panel Manufacturer, Bought By SA’s Cool or Cosy

March 23, 2017 2017-04-25T12:06:30 by 24 Comments
tindo solar

Tindo Solar is now owned by SA company ‘Cool or Cosy’.

Tindo Solar, Australia’s only manufacturer of Solar panels has been bought by South Australia’s insulation, solar installation, and energy efficiency company Cool or Cosy.

The deal was announced on… Well actually, it hasn’t been announced yet1.  But since I’m from Queensland, obviously I know Julian Assange, so you can trust me to know all the secrets. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,

A Reader’s Frustrations With The Enphase Enlighten Monitoring System

March 21, 2017 2017-04-18T14:34:57 by 204 Comments
enphase enlighten monitoring

Enphase panel monitoring is a great feature. But some Enphase installers flat out refuse to enable it.

There are many people in this world who enjoy monitoring the output of their rooftop solar systems.

But other people – not so much.  For example, I don’t think my parents have checked the output of their system since they got it.  My father just looks at the electricity bill every three months and grunts, “Power bill low.  Is good.” And then goes back to making stone tools.

But for those who enjoy the heady pleasures of solar system monitoring, modern technology can provide the fix you’re looking for. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Inverters Tagged With: , ,
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