Solar Quotes Blog

The Economics Of Solar Power in Australia [infographic]

solar infographic

I put this together to try and get across just how economically compelling solar power is if you look at the cost of electricity over 20 years instead of simply focussing on the up front cost. If you can get good financing, solar power is an economic no-brainer for most households.

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Solar Inverter Sizing: Don’t violate the new CEC guidelines!

solar inverter and panels

It is common practice, when designing a solar system, to ‘undersize’ the solar inverter, by connecting more panels than the inverter appears to be rated for. This can freak out some solar customers when they see, for example 3.25kW of panels proposed to be connected to a 3kW inverter in their solar quote. Confused? Let […]

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Royal nod of approval as solar energy shines at Chelsea Flower Show

As regular readers would know, it is this column’s opinion that nothing beats a win over the Brits in an international comp. Now things haven’t gone so well in recent years with proud Aussies being forced to surrender the Ashes and we don’t want to talk about the Olympics!

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Solar and the dreaded budget (Part 2)

All solar fans’ eyes were turned to the budget this week as Treasurer Wayne “The Knife” Swan brought down his sixth budget (gee doesn’t time fly Swanny?). So how did solar energy (and renewables in general) fare in the Budget? Did we do OK ? Or was it a case of solar energy being once […]

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The dreaded Budget: How to avoid solar energy cuts

utility scale solar

As the Federal Budget approaches, renewable energy supporters — including solar power fans — tend to get a bit twitchy. You know the deal folks, Julia “The Ranga Boss Lady” Gillard tells Wayne “The Knife” Swan that we’re not getting enough revenue from the carbon tax and to go find some more. The Knife then […]

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Think tank: Solar is Australia’s energy future

Yet another report released this week backing solar energy as the future for Australian energy needs. The Centre for Policy Development (CPD) released a landmark study (yes how many times have you heard reports described as “landmark”?) which, on the surface, appears to state the bleedin’ obvious points — at least to SolarQuotes readers anyway […]

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Solar energy: has the smart money seen the light?

cash and solar panels

The big news in solar energy this week was the acquisition of Power-One — manufacturers of the fable Aurora Inverters — by the Swiss energy giant the ABB Group for one billion dollars. For those among us who will never see $1,000,000,000, to give you an idea of its worth, its about half of what […]

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Aurora Inverters sold to Swiss giant for a cool $1Billion. SMA should be worried…

an aurora inverter surrounded by cash

I’m a big fan of Aurora inverters. These thoroughbred Italian inverters are manufactured by a company called Power-One and are the second best selling inverters on the planet. (The best selling are SMA in case you didn’t know) So news of Power-One being sold, lock, stock and barrel to Swiss engineering conglomerate ABB, made me […]

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Retro solar tax: it couldn’t happen here…could it?

a tax sign and 2 solar panels

  Know how you wake up in a cold sweat after a particularly bad nightmare readers? And I mean really bad dream (no not the one about NSW premier big, bad Barry “Bumper” O’Farrell and the three feed-in tariffs — that’s another story). Sitting bolt upright as your eyes slam awake you look around and […]

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From ‘Frack Off’ to ‘Hello Sun’?

anti fracking protestors

photo credit: flickr – kateausburn Unless you’ve been living a hermit’s existence with no access to news outlets, the Internet or NSW premier Barry “Bumper” O’Farrell’s rants you’ll have heard the constant chorus “Frack Off!” being directed at the (not-so-green) gas industry led by AGL. The choice insult refers of course to the gas industry’s latest controversial […]

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