Solcast Has A New Free Tool For Rooftop Solar Owners

TLDR: The tool is here

Hey SolarQuotes crowd! Remember me? I’m the bloke who made you all sign up for the Solcast API service in order to check in on the performance of your home solar PV system.  [Read more…]

Who The Hell Are Tongwei Solar?  The Good, The Bad, And The Weird.

Tongwei Solar is not well known in Australia.  While it’s possible goldfish fans are aware Tongwei Group is the world’s largest producer of fish food, their solar subsidiary is very low key.  This is despite it being one of the world’s largest producers of solar cells (if not the largest) with a production capacity of 12 gigawatts.  [Read more…]

Is it possible to keep a family home comfortable in an extreme heatwave using only solar energy? Yes.

Last week I received a phone call from an ABC journalist. Unfortunately he didn’t want to invite me on Gruen to talk about the joys of solar advertising, or book Ronald & Tonto23 to perform on Mad As Hell. Rather, he’d been told that solar panels lose efficiency when it gets hot, and was keen to learn more. Specifically, he wondered how much solar panel efficiency would be lost if the temperature hit 45º during the heatwave – as forecast for the following day. [Read more…]

Solar panels are amazing things.  They cut pollution, save planets, and — by draining its power — move us closer to humanity’s ancient dream of destroying the sun.  But they’re not quite perfect.  If you happen to buy the cheapest panels you can get your hands on I’m sure you’ll soon find they can be very far from perfect.  So bloody far you’ll need a goddamn spaceship to get there. [Read more…]

By Dr. Nick Engerer

Note from Finn: This is a guest post by Dr Nick Engerer – Solcast is a super handy, free, quick and accurate way to check what your solar power system should have produced in the last 7 days. [Read more…]

If you bought a solar power system and your bills are still high, then either your system is not working or you haven’t considered the big picture of energy-efficiency, hot water heating and system size.

In this post you will discover:

• Why – if you want tiny bills – buying a solar power system is about more than buying a good system from a reputable installer.
• How to quickly estimate if any solar panel array is working well in 3 minutes, with or without monitoring.
• How to work out if your electricity retailer is billing you correctly or ripping you off.
• Just how hard-to-use most inverter manufacturer monitoring software is – and why you should always buy a good third party monitoring system such as Solar Analytics to go over the top.
• How following the 7 steps in my book – The Good Solar Guide – virtually guarantees tiny bills and no surprises.
• And how to read The Good Solar Guide for free.

So let’s get started shall we… [Read more…]

South Australia’s Rooftop Solar Now Meets Over 60% Of Electricity Demand At Times

On Sunday, rooftop solar provided 60% of all South Australian electricity demand in the middle of the day.  This makes SA the most solar powered state by far and puts it well past the point where we were told solar power would destroy the grid, cause your lamb roast to cost $100, and make your cows spin backwards.  It’s a big increase from last year when the highest figure I heard was 48%.  Sunday’s percentage was so high it was off the chart.  [Read more…]

Sick of unwanted solar phone calls? Then read our handy guide to dealing with this scourge of modern Australia.

Have you ever settled down to enjoy a particularly intense episode of My Little Pony¹ when you were rudely interrupted by a cold-hearted cold caller trying to sell you a potentially shoddy and possibly overpriced solar power system?  If so, you are not alone.  Lots of grown men watch My Little Pony.  Also, plenty of people get called by dodgy solar marketers. [Read more…]

Is cracked silicon a defect that should be covered under the Product Warranty? Or is a crack only a defect if if affects performance?

When it comes to solar panel manufacturers, SunPower is basically royalty.  At 33 years old I can’t think of any solar panel focused company that’s survived longer.  It was founded in 1985 by Richard Swanson who is a solar panel genius.  By that I mean he’s been an important figure in field of solar photovoltaics and not that he’s a talking solar panel or something. [Read more…]

Lots Of Good News About Tindo Solar – Including An Annual Failure Rate As Low As 1 In 200,000 Panels

If you are in the market for some Australian made solar panels then I have great news for you.  It involves Tindo Solar as they are the only Australian manufacturer of panels.  If someone selling any other brand of panels says or suggests they were made in Australia, be super suspicious about that. [Read more…]