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

Revealed: Ausgrid’s Devious Strategy To Keep Solar Customers Confused

May 13, 2016 2017-04-18T18:15:09 by 6 Comments
ausgrid complaints

Want to ask Ausgrid what the rules are for connecting solar? Then be prepared to enter their infinite loop of hell.

In order to help out people who are considering installing rooftop solar in Sydney, I took it upon myself to find out what people need to know if they want to install a system in the Ausgrid Electricity Network area. I did it for the benefit of humanity. Well, specifically for the benefit of people in the eastern half of Sydney, but if it results in more clean solar electricity being generated, then it will benefit all humanity. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,

Solar Panel Rebate To Be Phased Out From 1st of January 2017

May 11, 2016 2017-10-19T10:01:44 by 16 Comments
solar rebate ending

The projected solar rebate for a 5kW system in Zone 3 with a $37 STC price.

The solar rebate which currently reduces the cost of rooftop solar in Australia will be phased out with the first reduction starting in less than 8 months on the 1st of January 2017. The rebate will reduce by one fifteenth of its current amount on the first day of each new year until 2030 and will end on the 31st of December that year. At the start of 2017, the rebate of $3,990 that most Australians would receive at the moment for a 5 kilowatt rooftop solar system will fall by around $266 down to $3,724. The phase out encourages Australians to install rooftop solar sooner rather than later. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: , , , ,

Coal Power Eliminated From South Australia With Help From Rooftop Solar

May 9, 2016 2017-04-18T18:17:49 by 22 Comments
coal miners hat

The last coal miners in South Australia have hung up their helmets, and the last coal fired power station has shut its doors.

History has been made with the closure of the Northern Power Station which has eliminated the use of coal in South Australia. And I say good riddance to you, Northern Power Station. I’m sorry you are no longer providing employment for people in Port Augusta or at the Leigh Creek coal mine, but I’m not sorry you are gone because you kill people and I am a firm believer that electricity generation should be death light. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With: , , ,

5 Reasons Why Supply Charges On Electricity Bills Must Go!

May 9, 2016 2016-07-09T16:34:31 by 72 Comments
pylons

Supply charges have no place in a 21st Century electricity network.

Do you know what I hate? What I truly despise? What causes black bile to bubble up from the deepest, darkest depths of my soul? Supply charges on electricity bills. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Policy Tagged With: ,

Trina Breaks Black Silicon Efficiency Record

April 28, 2016 2017-04-19T14:00:25 by 10 Comments
Solar Cell Efficiency

Trina have done it again: a solar cell efficiency of 23.5%.

Trina Solar, one of the largest manufacturers of solar panels in the world, has announced they have achieved a new efficiency record for black silicon solar cells of 23.5% on a large-area, mono-crystalline, square silicon wafer, 156 millimeters across. This beats the previous record of 22.94% Trina achieved in May 2014. The new record was confirmed by the Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technologies Laboratories. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Panels Tagged With: ,

Enphase’s Cunning Plan: Make Micro Inverters Cheaper than String Inverters.

April 14, 2016 2016-05-30T14:05:55 by 17 Comments

enphase costs: half price by 2017When it comes to Australian solar installations, conventional string inverters tower over the competition like a current converting colossus. But microinverters, which are tiny in both physical size and market share, are shaping up to beat string inverters on both price and reliability. Enphase, the world’s largest producer of microinverters, plans to beat conventional inverters on price within two years. If they meet their goal of cutting micro inverter costs in half, it will change the way Australians install solar power. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Inverters Tagged With: , , ,

Does your hybrid solar system really need backup?

July 24, 2015 2023-01-31T11:24:29 by 22 Comments

Did you know that adding batteries to your solar does not automatically mean it is blackout proof?

The holy grail of affordable on-grid energy storage has finally arrived! Well, it’s almost arrived. Actually, it might be a couple of years before it really arrives and most Australians can get their hands on low cost energy storage systems such as the Tesla Powerwall, but they are coming and they will eventually be here. Adding batteries to your home solar (AKA a hybrid solar system) means that you will no longer be forced to sell electricity for 6-8c and buy it back, at night for 30c. Hurrah!

But when the holy grail does arrive you will have a choice, so take care that you do not choose poorly.

While a bad choice is unlikely to cause you to crumble into dust like the Nazi villain at the end of the second worst Indiana Jones movie*, if you what you decide is wrong for your particular circumstances you may live to regret it. Actually, I can almost guarantee that you will live to regret it, as it is really not a life and death decision. Unless you go about it in an astoundingly bad way, such as cutting power cables with an axe and then licking them to see if they are live, I can pretty much guarantee you will still be around to either rue or feel chuffed about your choice. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , , ,

Powerwall Vs. Lead Acid Batteries. Which is best for off grid?

May 15, 2015 2024-10-02T11:16:49 by 26 Comments
powerwall and a lead acid battery

Does the Powerwall make sense for off grid applications?

I recently wrote about how my parents could save money by going off-grid in sub-tropical Queensland under close to best case conditions, and how it made no sense at all for them to do this as the return from having grid connected rooftop solar is so much better.

The recently announced Tesla Powerwall doesn’t change this. However, it will still be a very useful option for people who have no choice other than to live off grid, and for those who want to go off grid for non-economic reasons. It has a number of advantages over currently used lead-acid batteries, and in my opinion, for many applications the Powerwall knocks lead-acid batteries into a cocked hat, which will soon be squashed very flat, as lead-acid batteries are really heavy. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , ,

An Off Grid Solar System Can Pay For Itself But Can’t Beat On Grid Solar

April 23, 2015 2024-01-25T13:23:07 by 22 Comments
Ronald's parents

Lot’s of folks are wondering if it is time to leave the grid.

Home energy storage has gained a lot of attention recently, and many people think making homes independent from the grid by using batteries to store electricity from rooftop solar is an idea whose time has finally come.

So will home energy storage soon be like rooftop solar in that it will pay for itself and be used in homes across the nation, or is it like a porn star?  Always coming, but probably not something you would actually want in your house.

To gauge its prospects I decided to investigate whether or not a household that is well-suited for energy storage could save money right now by installing an off grid solar system.  And entirely through good fortune and not at all because I am too lazy to bother doing real research, my parents just happen to fit into this category.  If they can’t save money by going off grid then probably no one can. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , , , ,

Are millions of solar roofs making solar farms pointless?

October 31, 2014 2023-06-22T14:29:11 by 13 Comments
solar roofs and a solar field

Are solar roofs making solar power stations uneconomic?

Utility scale solar, or solar farms, are fields of PV panels which generate electricity that is fed directly into the grid.  Currently we don’t have much of this in Australia.  Over 99% of our solar capacity is point of use which is mostly on rooftops and the juice it does produce is first used to power the household or business it is on top of and then after that the excess is generally fed into the grid. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Big Solar Tagged With: ,
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