It has become fashionable to refer to 2016 as a horrible year. An annus horribilis.
If your personal annus has been horribilis, then you have my condolences. But I think, for most of the world’s population, it has actually been a pretty good year. An annus prettigoodis if you will. [Read more…]
Thinking of getting a Powerwall 2 and taking yourself off grid? Then you need to read this first.
Note from Finn:
Since this post was published Tesla have canned the DC Powerwall 2 in Australia. We will now only be able to get an AC Powerwall 2. A regular AC coupled battery is no good for off grid because it can’t talk to the solar inverter to balance energy demand and supply. So if you live in Australia and want to go off grid do not use a Powerwall 2.
A long time ago, back in the days before we knew how lame the original Powerwall was compared to its hype or how good the Powerwall 2’s hype is compared to the original Powerwall, I wrote about whether or not my parents in sub-tropical Queensland could save money by going off-grid using lead-acid battery storage.
My conclusion was they could not save money even under almost ideal circumstances. The benefit of staying on-grid and receiving even a low feed-in tariff for surplus solar electricity was too great to make saying sayonara to the grid connection wire worthwhile. [Read more…]
As soon as a battery manufacturer says this, your battery magically gets a 20 year warranty in Australia. No matter what the warranty document says.
The other day a salesperson give me the rundown on a home battery system he had on display. While it wasn’t cheap, it certainly appeared to be a very impressive piece of technology. The salesperson clearly had a lot of confidence in it because, even though its written warranty was only for 10 years, he very generously doubled that to a 20 year warranty without batting an eyelid.
Ben Affleck would bat his eyelids for two hours a day in preparation for this role.
We weren’t related, so nepotism wasn’t the reason for his generosity. And it wasn’t because I saved his life in Nam…bour. (That sugar cane train could be really dangerous.) We weren’t old schoolmates, and as hard as it may be to believe, he wasn’t taken in by my charm and good looks.
No, the reason why he gave me a 20 year warranty was simply because he didn’t realize he was giving one. Or possibly, he did realize he was giving one and really hates his company.
He gave me a 20 year warranty when he told me the battery system had a design life of 20 years. According to Australian Consumer Law, if a salesperson makes a statement that a reasonable person would conclude to mean that a product can be expected to last for 20 years, then that counts as a 20 year warranty. It doesn’t matter that this warranty was given verbally or that it is twice as long as its written warranty, legally it still counts. [Read more…]
Cnut from Energex1 tries to stop batteries.
Will Trump destroy the US clean energy industry?
Donald Trump has won the US Presidential election. The people of the United States of America have spoken. They haven’t spoken very well, but they have done it. And since they will have a guy in charge who never shuts up, they’re not likely to stop now.
If you want to save the environment and have limited funds, then buying batteries should not be a priority.
Millions of Australians have installed rooftop solar to help the environment and save money.
Many are hoping home battery storage will soon let them do the same.
The cost of home energy storage is falling rapidly and it may not be long before it pays for itself. But at its current price it will not save money, even under favourable circumstances, when used on-grid. Despite this, there have been hundreds, or possibly thousands, of people who have installed home battery systems because they want to help the environment.
Have these people made a horrible mistake? [Read more…]
Did you know you can add panels up to 133% of your inverter capacity? Read on to discover why oversizing solar is a smart move (as long as your roof is big enough – unlike this guy’s).
Installing rooftop solar systems with a total panel capacity greater than the inverter capacity is usually a very good idea. It will certainly save you money, but it can also help get around the restrictions many Australians face on the size of inverter they can connect to the grid. [Read more…]
There are 2 subsidies for solar under 100kW: STCs (AKA the ‘solar rebate’) and the lesser known LGCs. Which one will give you the better return?
Update 23rd Feb 2018: Solar installations of 100 kilowatts or less now only receive STCs. However, applications made before March 31st 2018 for systems of 10 to 100 kilowatts may be accepted under the old rules and permitted to receive LGCs.
Many people are aware the Renewable Energy Target, or RET, lowers the cost of rooftop solar. This is often called the solar rebate, even though that term is not entirely accurate.
But what few people know is, provided their system is large enough, they have a choice in the type of assistance they receive. A household with a 10 kilowatt rooftop solar system can either accept Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) or Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs).
Almost all solar systems 100kW and smaller, currently being installed use STCs because they are all deemed immediately after the installation whereas LGCs are deemed annually over 15 years.
At the time of writing (July 2016) STCs are $38 each whereas LGCs are at a sky high $82. This has made some savvy solar installers wonder if using LGCs instead of STCs might create a better return for patient solar owners. [Read more…]
What will give you the lowest bill, a standard or time of use tariff? What if you add solar? What about batteries?
Australians pay for grid electricity in two ways. The most common way is a standard tariff. But you can also choose a time-of-use tariff.
This is where you pay a fixed rate for each kilowatt-hour used, plus a hefty supply charge. Australians have been paying for electricity this way since the the electricity meter, invented in 1888, was developed into the ‘spinning dial’ type in 1914. So Australians have been using standard tariffs for over a century. [Read more…]
A response to Keith De Lacey’s article in the Australian last week.
The Australian recently published an opinion piece by the Director of an oil shale company and former Chairman of Macarthur Coal, entitled, “Solar And Wind Power Simply Don’t Work – Not Here, Not Anywhere“.
This was surprising because the solar panels above my head are producing electricity right now. And since I know exactly how much I paid for them I know they are definitely economically worthwhile. Also, because I know exactly how much the STCs I received as part of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target were worth I know the rooftop solar system would still pay for itself even without subsidy. [Read more…]
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