Hi All,
Looking for some feedback and real world scenarios
Is it worth getting solar despite myself / partner working full time/6 days a week?
We are purchasing fairly efficient white goods etc
Is it worth getting a 3KW or 6.6KW system for savings in the long run?
EDIT: Haven't moved in yet, don't have current electricity bills to reference
Advise welcomed :)
as well as daily supply charge
You only cover this if you go off-grid?
What I meant is that the amount i earn from FiT will be more than the electricity consumed at night and the daily supply charge.
I wonder if you could make more than the FiT with crypto mining?
Something I have been thinking about. Not sure how to go about it though - posted on another thread around that. Especially with stock and price of GPUs at the moment.
What's your houses energy rating?? Must be at least 8 for that level of usage. Are you using any gas?
No idea about the energy rating. Yes, we use gas for instant water heater and all cooking.
House has lots of natural lighting through skylights; so during the day; there really is nothing being used other than fridge and laptops and the occasional microwave. Central heating/conditioner is electric - but like I said; we havent used them yet at all.
We dont use TVs as kids and us are on our own laptops.
We have consumption monitoring; so I can see the spikes when certain appliances are turned on. The clothes washer is a very small blip - the only big spike is the dishwasher.
We dont have a clothes dryer; so usage there either.
Just to add to above:
Actual data for our system for month of March - not counting today.
Solar consumed on site: 102.7 KWh
Energy imported from grid: 109.7 KWh
Total energy usage: 215.7 KWh (no idea why they don' add up)
Energy exported to grid: 639.7 KWh
Total Savings: $84.75 for March.
We are also in Melbourne and have the same size system as yours. However, where your system seems to have generated about 743 kWh, ours has only generated 435kWh. Our system is relatively new, faces North and there is nothing (trees, etc) to stop the panels getting full sun.
Do you have performance monitoring in place so you check its performance. Happy to compare generation charts for specific dates to see how the generation compares.
Initially, we had a large number of grid overvoltage errors during which the inverter will stop for 10 minutes at a time at peak generation time. We raised a complaint with CitiPower and provided evidence of the issue - they came out; changed the cable to the house and moved the connection to a different cable on the pole and no issues since then.
We are also North facing and have no shadowing.
@Ocker: That does look low. Mine were:
Monday 31420.7672 Wh - https://ibb.co/7S8h6WM
Tuesday 36130.4823 Wh - https://ibb.co/JtF72d8
Today so far 14375.3879
Today figures look comparable for half a day; but would definitely look into why the difference. Check your inverter fault log.
@MrHyde: This some pretty good generation. My Panels are dated ~10yrs old (Bought the house with them) and looking to upgrade the system to a larger capacity. Can you please share either here or via PM the Installer/Brand (Panels+Inverter) you used please? Keen to do some comparisons before buying.
@Drifta: We've got Jinko Panels and Sungrow Inverter.
I was initially looking at Fronius; but reviews said it was noisy due to the cooling fans - so went with Sungrow - which is completely silent. We also went with consumption monitoring through Solar Analytics - they have a lifetime plan with Sungrow; so took advantage of that.
The installer I went with after a lot of reading on SolarQuotes was Target Solar.
Solar is always worthwhile. Best investment you can make. Even if you're never home in the day it is still worth it, just the payback period is a little longer. I would get the biggest you can get - 6.6kw if you have single phase power. You may have kids in the future or want to work from home. Check out solarquotes.com.au and read lots of articles. When you understand better how it all works you'll feel more confident. Best of luck.
Yep it's the payback period that's the key though. If OP is only planning on living in the house for a few years it wouldn't be worth the up front investment.
That's true. @Mortgagetightass are you planning to stay in the house long term?
Second that. Solarquotes will help you avoid the cowboys out there.
Unfortunately learnt this the hard way. stick with the reputed installers from solarquotes!
I had my 6.5kw system with 5kw inverter installed last July and it has saved me heaps. It really depends on how much you are paying for the system and how much FiT you will be earning. For us, even if we don't use any of the generated power, our system (~$6000) will pay for itself in about 6-7 years assuming no significant drop in FiT. But we do use a fair bit of it which makes the payback a lot quicker. It's an investment that's safe and guaranteed to generate money, but probably not as big of a return when you compare to others like property or stocks.
Oh also even though you work out of the house there's plenty of easy ways to try to use some electricity during the day. For example:
Very good suggestions! The hotwater tip will save heaps. Also can setup timer for electric heaters and coolers to come on before you get home.
How do you do that with a hot water system that has a dedicated control load?
You can't. The HWS meter will charge all consumption at the off-peak tariff rate irrespective of production.
Doesn't it have to be drawn at certain hours of the day to get the controlled load rate?
@Quantumcat: HWS is hard wired to controlled load and only has power when the tariff is active. This doesn't matter provided your tank is big enough and you don't run out of hot water while the tariff is not on.
I remember the days before electricity was PRIVATISED, you didn’t have to worry about doing any of that crap.
They sold the story that electricity would even be cheaper due to competition.lol
Great advice.
That's what we do, and our solar installer suggested running the air-conditioning to keep house cool in hot weather, to keep overall temperature lower. Another tip was to switch to an induction cook top. So quick, and easy to clean, too.
The only gas we have is for instant hot water. It's expensive because of the supply charge, but it's practical.
Re costs, got 4.5kw on a town house, paid $5100, and my last summer quarterly bill was $45.00, including supply charge. Happy days.
We mostly work out of home, so any unused electricity goes back into the grid.
With the changes they're taking about to limit grid input, I'm looking into a battery.
Is it worth getting solar despite myself / partner working full time/6 days a week?
Most weekdays I am not home during business hours. About 3.5 years ago I installed a 5.5kw system with the electric hot water controlled by the inverter so that when solar is generating power the hot water starts heating. The installers removed the off-peak meter when installing the system.
The result was essentially that about 40% of all power generated by the system was used internally, even while I am out of the house most weekdays.
I use about 1,000kWh per month of power (so quite a heavy user). My system paid for itself in about 3.5 years. I'm in Queensland.
found the cryptominer
Small 17sq Home
I read it as 17 square meters… Is this some caravan? 🤔
1 house square is equal to 9.290304 square meters.
Thanks - a 17Sq house, does this look like the same size? https://www.homestolove.com.au/tiny-house-a-17-square-metre-…
That's 17 square metres, not 17 "squares". I agree it's silly and confusing.
This is 17 squares… https://www.homeshelf.com.au/new-home-designs/oslo-by-sherri…
Do your research first. I know in Melbourne some Power distributors are declining feed in from solar.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/power-failure-ho…
You might even be charged for it soon too!
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/612878
Good luck
Have you bought your appliances yet?
Solar can be a great money saver, but the most important component is the bit between your ears. 😊
If you can organise to get your key appliances to work during the day using remote switching you can really get value from a non battery system. Washing, dishwasher, even running heating or cooling when sun shines in some situations is cost effective.
If you buy relying on feed in only you may end up disappointed as the scumbag system operators will slowly apply the death of a thousand cuts over the next 10 years or so.
Also, don’t buy a cheap system. The panels and inverter may not be wonderful and their ‘amazing’ warranty predicated on a regular paid inspection. Solar quotes have been really useful to us.
Depends heavily on your feed-in tariff.
Solar cells are not recyclable, and will most likely contribute to landfill in 10 years, so you should make the decision for purely monetary, not environmental reasons. You are swapping coal emissions for landfill.
If you do go solar, get a big system. Why? Because your supply charge (around $1 per day) is the first thing you are paying each day. A small system will spend most of its time paying that ripoff charge.
Then, you need to consider the feed-in tariff, and thats the biggest factor. In Wide Bay, Qld - the government owns the only supplier and we have no choice. They pay only 7-8c/kWhr and have been reducing it annually. Had I known this, I would NOT have installed solar at all. Even with a 6 KW system, we spend half the day feeding in enough to pay the supply charge.
Further, since the usage charge is 3 to 4 times the feed-in tariff, you better be generating a) enough to pay the supply charge and b) 3-4 times what you use at night.
I am assuming you are both out working during the day. We are luckily without jobs, and can use most of our power (cooking, hot water, laundry) during the day, but people with jobs likely use most of their power at night when the sun isnt shining.
Also, be aware that you are paying the money upfront, for a payoff over the next 10+ years, so you need to discount for inflation (not much at the moment, but….) and consider the feed-in benefit may never pay your cells off. Do a discounted cash flow analysis to verify this.
Also, check your home insurance covers the cells, and make sure you can claim on warranty if your installer/supplier disappears. A lot of them do disappear.
And finally, if you need any work done inside the roof cavity, tradies may not be able to pull up roof tiles or colourbond because your cells are on top. So installing extra power points, antennas, or any maintenance may not be possible near external walls.
Bottom line, I wouldn't bother. But that's primarily because I am forced to accept a lower-than-market feed-in, pay a flat service fee, and the panels are not recyclable (not widely published).
sounds like your next logical step is to invest in batteries- dont go lead acid
Yes, you should put in the largest system you can, If you use gas some suppliers will put the bills together so the solar will help pay your gas bill as well.
We only have a very small system but we get $0.70 feed in as we were on the $0.60 deal but moved to a supplier with a better rate and better daily charge, its worth looking around. I use GloBird.
Premium Solar Feed in GLOSAVE 22-Feb - 21-Mar 94.82 KWh x -0.70200 $66.56 cr $66.56 cr
How much electricity do you use daily and how much will the system generate daily?
Your electricity bill will tell you how much you currently use. A good solar supplier will be able to estimate how much you can generate daily.
Compare the two numbers. Many suppliers don’t pay much for feed in tariff, and the future isn’t looking bright for it either. Aim for a system that will supply your own needs and be configurable for battery as well.
You are going to spend thousands thinking you could make a profit by selling back into the grid… but now the Govt are switching off your panels, and considering charging you for "over supply".
The coal industry scare tactics are obviously working if you think this is definitely happening.
It's literally supply and demand mate, there is a huge abundance of solar supply during the day and funnily enough, none at night. Untill energy storage gets a hell of a lot cheaper this problem isn't going away.
You can see it here in just about every reply from someone with solar, they export about 3 to 6x what they use in their house… Simple maths shows this was always going to lead to a supply glut during the daytime, so to those whinging… Yes it is completely "fair" that you only get your 6c feed in tarrif during the day whilst you buy it back for 22c at night time.
As for the "Coal industry" scare tactics… I really doubt they care too much about domestic coal usage for energy, it would be a rather small line on their books I would imagine and it's only getting smaller… Tell them that china and the rest of the world is going to stop building new coal power stations and burning their coal… Then they might panic! 😅
Great question.
In tossing up if it's worth it, you'll undoubtedly want an idea about what you could save with solar.
There's a free online calculator which can provide you with your estimated savings. The calculator bases its answer on your individual circumstances, such as your typical quarterly electricity bill. That way, you can get a tailored estimate,
Check it out on our Shoalhaven Solar website.
https://www.shoalhavensolar.com.au/calculate-solar-savings/
Hope this helps.
Depends on the cost of the system, how much it will save you on bills and the period you are calculating it over…. Oh sorry… You wanted us to calculate this based on no information… My bad 😂
We recently got a 6.6 KW system with 5 KW inverter put into a 4 bedroom house.
Wife stays home all day. The house has very good insulation - such that even the hottest day in Melbourne, we did not require air conditioning.
Our usage per day barely hits 2 KW at any point of the day and that is also due to the dishwasher. Without that, we dont even hit 0.5 KW at any point; so our system is way oversized. Whether it is worth it then becomes a factor of whether you get any FiT rates. At our size, we will easily cover our non solar usage as well as daily supply charge.