Grid Connected Solar Panels with Battery Backup (aka Hybrid Solar)

A solar panel charging a battery

Batteries + Solar?

Note: This post was written in 2012 and is way out of date.

>>> Please read this post on solar batteries for the latest information. <<<


A few weeks ago I blogged about my mate who really hates his electricity company. In fact he hates them so much he wanted his new house to have an expensive off grid solar system with battery backup, diesel genset, the works.

I blogged how the cost of going off grid with solar would be over $50,000 compared to about $12,000 for a standard, grid connect 5kW system and that it would be economically barmy to go completely off grid if your home already has a connection to the grid which you can use.

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kW, kWh and kilowatt/hour : What do they stand for?

An electricity meter reading kWh

Don’t confuse kW and kWh. It matters!

One of the most common sources of confusion I encounter when talking to non-electrical people about solar power is related to the terms kW and kWh. What do they stand for? What do they mean? And what’s the difference between the two? Watch the video, or read below to find out…

Folks who are really confused also throw the term “kilowatt/hour” into the mix. I’ll deal with that doozy in this footnote1.

Starting with the absolute basics

Please excuse this post if you think I am explaining the bleeding obvious! But I think it is vital to write a post that describes these key units of electricity in a way that requires zero prior knowledge of anything electricity-related.

So here is my humble attempt to answer the question:

What is the difference between a kW and kWh?

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Old School Solar Sales Tactics That You Should Not Tolerate

Solar Power is a very new and very fast growing industry. That makes it an exciting thing to be part of, and attracts a lot of interesting, enthusiastic and hard working people, most of whom believe passionately in what they are selling.

Unfortunately it also attracts people and companies that appear to have no other motive than to make as much cash as possible in as short a period of time as possible. Now there is nothing at all wrong with trying to maximise the profitability of your business. That’s just good business. But if you are maximising your short term profits by throwing your ethics out of the window, then that is wrong, dumb and short sighted. In the 21st century your actions will catch up with you.

That is one of the main reasons I started collecting Solar Installer Reviews.

Over the past 4 years, I’ve found that the common theme amongst the bad ‘uns in the Solar Power game seems to be their old school, hard sell, sales tactics. If you’ve ever been cold called by a solar power company knocking on your door, you’ll probably recognise some of these tactics. I personally believe these tactics are wrong, counter productive, insulting to the customer and have no place in this industry. See if you agree:

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Interview with Paul O’Reilly of the Rainbow Power Company

Rainbow Power Company Logo

Rainbow Power Company – one of Australia’s oldest solar companies

In this, the first in what we hope will be a number of interviews with solar opinion leaders, business people and experts in the solar industry we chat with Paul O’Reilly, director of the Nimbin-based Rainbow Power Company. Sit back and enjoy as Paul talks feed-in tariffs, the almost constant boom and bust cycles in the Australian solar industry and his optimism for the future.

The solar industry must have changed a lot since Rainbow Power Company first set up? Do you think this has been for better or worse?

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8 Reasons To Get A Site Inspection Before Buying Solar Power

a solar inspection

If you are considering putting some solar panels on your roof, then I strongly recommend that you have a physical site inspection before getting firm quotes.

Since I started SolarQuotes many years ago, we’ve handled hundreds of thousands of quote requests and over those years the most frequent complaint I’ve had from people looking for quotes is:

“This solar installer won’t even give me a ballpark price for a solar system! He’s insisting on coming round to my house first!”

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Rubbishing the idea that solar power is not commercially viable

Bin with solar panels

Australian waste management group Veolia Environment Services are very proud of themselves this week as they prepare to celebrate the installing of their brand-new, state-of-the-art solar powered energy source at its Arndell Park facility in NSW.

On Feb.23, the company will be hosting a knees-up to mark the recent installation of the 50 kW solar panel system, which has been added as part of the company’s drive towards boosting its renewable energy source. The project — in collaboration with BP Solar and installed by Solar Technology — is a key part of the Blacktown Solar City project, described, a little breathlessly in a company press release of Feb. 14, as being derived from “…a $94 million Australian Government initiative to help lay the foundations of a sustainable energy future.”

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The STC Price: Is Your Solar Installer Ripping You Off?

A solar crook

Short Answer: Probably Not.

Longer Answer:

Ah, the joys of STC prices! Every so often I get an email from someone who is desperately worried that their solar installer is using the STC price to rip them off.

The suspicion is usually kicked off by one of two things: [Read more…]

Solar Panels On Roofs Facing Different Directions? Then You Need To Do This.

Here is a photo I took of a house around the corner from me.

A House With Solar Panels Facing Different Directions

As you can see, it has solar panels on 2 separate roof areas. In solar jargon, you would say there are 2 “strings” of solar panels.

The main string is facing North, which is the best roof orientation for solar panels. These panels should get the optimum amount of sun throughout the day.

The smaller string is facing East. These panels will get 15-20% less sunlight than the panels facing North.

Obviously the installer could not fit all the panels on the North facing roof. Fair enough.

If your home will require solar panels on multiple roof areas, which face different directions, then you should use a special type of inverter to ensure that you still get good system performance. [Read more…]

How NOT to save $1,000 on your solar system

I got this email today:

“Hi Finn,

I’ve got a quote for a 1.5kW solar system for $2500 and a 3kW system for  $6000. I want 3kW. Why don’t I just buy 2 x 1.5kW systems???

Cheers, Bob”

Bloody good question Sir!

In fact I can’t believe more people don’t ask this question. But, as always, if something seems too good to be true…

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How you can save $2,000 when going Solar

Thinking of buying a solar power system to kill your electricity bill?

Then this one simple action could shave a whole kW off the size of solar system that you need to buy to get that magical zero dollar electricity bill.

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