Solar Quotes Blog

Here comes the sun: Saudi oil minister flags end of fossil fuels

an oil barrel and a solar panel

When the Saudi oil minister says his country will switch to solar you know the jig is up for fossil fuels. Such a defining moment occurred in Paris this week when Reuters, the Financial Times and The Guardian all reported Minister Ali Al-Naimi as admitting the days of oil exports in his country were limited. […]

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Tesla Powerwall vs. AGL’s PowerLegato

a powerwall and a powerlegato

So AGL have thrown their hat into the solar battery storage ring with the AUO PowerLegato manufactured by Taiwanese Solar and Electronic conglomerate, AU Optronics. So how do they compare on specs?

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The cheap & cheerful way to add a Tesla Powerwall to your exisiting solar system?

block diagram

Note: The Tesla Powerwall 1 was released after this post and required a separate Battery Inverter and the existing solar inverter. The Powerwall 1 has since been superseded by the Powerwall 2, which has an integrated Battery Inverter – and AC couples to a solar inverter. —– [Note: This blog post is an educated guess […]

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Did solar energy get a leg up in the budget?

solar panels

The Treasurer’s annual allocating of the shekels has come and gone and renewable energy fans are asking about solar energy in the Budget. How did we fare? Were we the subject of further cutbacks, maulings and downgradings as part of this federal government’s campaign against all things renewable? Well yes and no is the best […]

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

powerwall and a lead acid battery

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. […]

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ARENA funds independent testing for battery storage

battery icons

Just when you thought the news in battery storage was over following Tesla’s launch of the Powerwall, comes this little news gem. Renewable energy consulting firm IT Power have been granted $450,000 from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) — remember them? — to conduct special independent tests to confirm the efficiency of eight different […]

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Tesla’s Powerwall solar battery: Revolutionary? A damp squib? Or somewhere in between?

Well the release of Tesla’s Powerwall solar battery this week really made waves didn’t it? At a glittering announcement, the company launched the much-lauded new generation in clean energy storage with the type of glitz and glamour unseen since Barack and Michelle first pulled on a boot. The battery, which as its name suggests may […]

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Will The Tesla PowerWall let you go off grid for $3500 ?

tesla powerwall

[Update: Since I wrote this post (on the day the Powerwall was announced) Tesla have added some technical details that open up the possibility of installing the Powerwall for a much lower price than this blog post estimates. But – and it’s a big but – the cheaper installation will not allow you to go […]

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Tesla to shake up solar battery storage

Solar energy’s Great Leap Forward in efficiency and viability is about to be joined by its natural twin, solar battery storage. This scenario, which was hinted at by electric car manufacturer Tesla during the week, will reverberate around the energy community and send shudders down the collective spines of fossil fuel providers and their defenders […]

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

Depth of Discharge graph for a lead acid battery

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 […]

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