Hey all, Im looking to buy some solar panels for my house, preferably between 6-10kW. My energy bill has been over the roof over the last few years ranging between 1000-2000 dollars. This year I definitely need Solar panels installed onto my roof but don't know what company to go for since there is so many of them. I am looking at a mix between price and quality, as well as having an inverter/battery installed. Any recommendations? cheers
Recommended Solar Panel Quote for Residential Home in NSW
freebiemaster1902 on 10/01/2022 - 13:22
Comments
thanks
This ^
Read lots of articles on the site so you understand how it all works. You will then have a better idea of what is best for your situation.
Then ask for quotes.
^ this
There is lots of info on the solarquotes website too, that will prevent you getting ripped off.
thanks
This year I definitely need Solar panels installed
There is a lot more to it than just adding solar panels to reduce your bills.
FIT's are now so low that if your not home using the power as it is generated then the payback time can be a decade away.
Do the maths before you waste more time and money. Solar panels are not always the magic answer.
FIT are not an incentive anymore, and shouldn't be considered so. Solar is a fantastic option for offsetting your power bill throughout the day, and should still be considered irregardless of getting money back. Yes, the payback will be longer, but it's still the right option. We have a sun producing energy, let's use it.
*regardless
if youre a pensioner in a low income household in NSW, get it for free
really ? what about if your an old age pensioner in a government housing place or you have to own the house ? asking for my mum
You should figure out why is your bill so high first. See if you could move your power usage to off peak times to save money.
Solar subsidy has gone down a lot and the FIT is pretty darn low now. I feel if you can break even in 4-5 years that is already a pretty good outcome. But gone are they days where people says they can get back their investment in 2 years.
And when those solar guys do some calculations for your on your ROI, take 20% off and that is probably what you might realistically get. Most of them will give you best case scenario which is unrealistic.
Agree. Cutting power consumption is a lot cheaper than putting solar on, plus if you do get solar it’ll have even more benefit.
my family won't stand a chance cutting power consumption considering they have a bad habit of consuming too much electricity
I will try that
Are you talking annual bill, quarterly or monthly?
Why so high? AC running flat or 24/7 or is it just a hydro setup? Cut your power consumption first, then think about solar.
I have a bitcoin machine running 24/7. jk. my family uses the ac a lot , nearing 24/7
Step one: cut AC usage.
Step 2: get used to using power during the day when sun is up. Avoid use at peak hour
Step iii: get solar.
Funny how you managed to use three different ways to say ordinal numbers lol.
I think solar should be step 1, as assuming you get a good inverter that has the ability to track usage on a Web page or app, you can get immediate feedback on what you're doing instead of guessing. (You can see the spike from your dryer or oven, if it is during a peak period and you've input your rates it will tell you how much that is costing, vs in the middle of the day when it is completely covered by the solar curve).
If you could get immediate feedback on your chemical energy input and expenditure as you ate and moved around, dieting and working out would be much easier and many more people would have success immediately.
sounds good!
Apart from the good suggestions above also consider whether time of use billing would help you. I have solar but no battery, so for most of the year my power usage during the day is provided by the solar and the vast majority of the grid usage (75%+) is at off peak (night) and shoulder times. As such I pay substantially less for off peak power on a time of use tariff vs single price tariff.
how do you know if plan offer time of use tariff?
because for example below, most just say
https://www.originenergy.com.au/electricity-gas/plans.html?p…
Supply Charge
Daily Supply Charge
72.56 c/dayUsage Charges
Peak Usage
22.50 c/kWhIf you click on basic plan information it will.show you all the tariffs available. For my address there's about 4 including 'Tariff: Time of use'. I think it varies based on the distributor.
Thanks
Just wondering what was your rough saving switching from general usage tariff charge to time of use tariff usage? ( i noticed on the time of usage tariff that the supply charge is alot higher)
also do you know what are the time frame for peak, off peak , shoulder?
also how do you know what amount of electricity you use for peak, off peak and shoulder if you are on a general usage plan? can you request it from the energy retailer some how?
@ATTS: From my calcs it's about $250p.a. I could see my usage pattern on my solar inverter app (SolarEdge) before I switched tariffs. THey do need to reconfigure the meter for TOU.
My bills now list the usage by each of the 3 time periods. My usage is ~60% off peak, ~20% shoulder & ~20% peak. I have a 5.2kW solar system with 60% panels facing north and 40% facing west.
@knasty: thanks
so if you are currently on a general usage plan you have to check it manually on the solar inverter app?
But once you go on a TOU tariff, that it automatically catergorise/calculate the usage for peak, off peak and shoulder and lists it in the bill?
@ATTS: Hey I just got my latest bill. Yes it summarises the usage by each of the 3 categories. For this bill it was ~100kWh peak, 120 shoulder and 400 off peak as an example.
If you use a fair bit of energy during the day such as AC then definitely get it.
If you use it off peak then it's a bit 50/50.I have a 6.6kw system and use it minimally during the day as everyone is at work.
The payback has been less than expected due to WA pulling back the credits to 2.75c/kwh off peak and 10c/kwh peak. Still, the initial cost was $2,199 so not really complaining, just likely to pay off over 5 years than the initial 3 years that i was expecting.
(would pay off far faster if we ran aircon/had a household at home all day).Bit rough when you import at 20+c/kwh and export at 2.75c/kwh. My system last quarter generated something like 2,000 kwh and imported 270 kwh and we still had to pay $80.
6.6Kw is a common system, I might go for that since my family uses a lot during peak
Have you researched whether your roof is suitable for solar? Roof orientation, shading?
yes its suitable, tile roof
The material doesn't matter it's estimating how much you output you can reasonably get from your system.
last few years ranging between 1000-2000 dollar
A month, a quarter, a year???
a quarter
Had the same issue.
Changed energy provider and the bills dropped to around $600.
As everyone has mentioned, another vote for Solar Quotes.
We're getting ours installed in a couple of weeks (7.8KW Q CELL panels)What state/area do you live in?
liverpool NSW
You should also review your energy provider, to make sure that you’re on the best possible plan for yourself.
Regarding the system, make sure your installer is good. Having good hardware and poor installation can result in fires or your system not performing it’s best.
I’d also recommend going the largest system you can afford. Not only does this allow for future proofing. But since systems last 10+ years. You can get more recovery back from it.
No point getting 6kw If you outgrow it within a few years. Especially as batteries and EV become more affordable.
How do you accurately project the system size you need?
say the current usage is 17kwH per day ( no heating and cooling used)
would a 6.6kw system be enough or should one go for a 10kw system?
I can’t comment on how to recommend the system you need. Because it depends on price/roof size and how much you want to reduce your bill by.
You won’t product the rated figure your system, even in peak condition. Normally, it will be 80% of its rated max figure. Add in cloudy days, winter etc. Add in that you will probably have your electricity co symptom will mostly grow with time.
This is why I feel that it’s best to go the largest system you can afford/roof will fit.
Remember, a good system will last 12+ years. Some can even be warrantied up to 20+ years. Go for good hardware and a good installer. Once you pay the unit off, the rest is pure profit.
I like the fact, in the peak of summer I can have my system cover most of my air con cost and keep my bill low. A bigger system will also export more and help recover some cost.
thanks for the insight
forgot to ask
you said
" Normally, it will be 80% of its rated max figure"
do you mean for eg that a 6.6kw will only product 80% ie 5.28kw at the best of conditions?
@ATTS: @triton - General rule of thumb yes.
Most people don’t get 100% of available sunlight, you’ll have some loss in just running the system, the inverter consumes some of the power, pitch of your roof can impact it, panel orientation etc.
North facing is good, but I’d also recommend putting some panels facing East. If your budget allows, you can also do West. I accidentally had some placed North East and it was a blessing in disguise.
Reason being, my 660w of East panels get sun from sunrise and cover my houses electricity from this time. Till about 10:00am, when the sun moves more north. As the sun moves the north panels all kick on, till power drops around 3:00pm. Since I don’t have West facing panels.
As a result, on a good sunny day. My house isn’t drawing from the grid till around 5:00pm. On good spring and summer days. The system can keep my house off the grid till 6. Before the panels stop producing around 8.
So having East, North and west panels allows full sun utilisation and if you run your air con, means you can power it off the grid till late in the day.
having East, North and west panels allows full sun utilisation
Not sure there's any inverters with three mppt inputs, so 3 directions requires either a microinverter setup, or a matched east/west panel layout (and knowing you'll be sacrificing total output potential of each direction by averaging across both directions at the same time)
@SBOB: SBOB - I am not too sure to be honest. The OP would need to speak to an installer. This is where a good installer will guide them.
I personally have North East/East and North facing and it’s great. But I do sacrifice that higher output in the afternoon. Which I’m happy with.
@StonedWizard: i see thanks
also do i need to upgrade from single phase to 3 phase if im going to be installing air con?
and how much does upgrading to 3 phase cost and can the solar installer do it?
@ATTS: 3 phase allows a bigger system for solar and air con from memory. Some electricity providers have caps on how much you can export. Having 3 phase allows you to export more.
I don’t know how much it will cost, best speak to an electrician.
Solar saves me about 2000 per year since I turned off my gas. I used Captain Green which was relatively cheap. Was great service and very happy for over a year now. I saved about 2500 first year but getting slightly worse deal this year. For a 6kw install I was just impressed. Discussion considering I'm in Tasmania and my panels all face west.
Our summer days are long and I get loads of credit, in winter hardly collect 3kw per day yet use about 35, so battery would be of no use to me at all. The feed in tariff adds up in summer and I have a healthy credit for winter!
W
Solarquotes.com.au
Yes it’s a legit website/service to get you lined up with decent equipment and installers