Solar Panel, Power & Battery Discussion

[drron]

RAM turn your attention to the financial support the renewables and gas industries have given to both sides.A lot more as they have been successful.
And look at the ties to the oil industry that past governors of California have.

 

[NM]

Well the days of short payback times are ending.Here in QLD we have just been cutback from feed tariff to 8 cents Kwh.

Shop around. Not all Qld retailers have dropped FIT that low. My retailer dropped FIT significantly earlier in the year, so I walked from them to another that was offering 17c/kwH. And note that many retailers are offering churn incentives of $50 or more, often for on-line sign-ups. While churning can be a little painful from a process perspective, it can be financially beneficial.

South Australia now has the authority to switch of roof top solar if too much generation.

It is my understanding that this capability requires the feature capability on the inverter. So existing systems can't be controlled in that way unless you choose to enable it, and that will only happen if the retailer provides some sort of incentive to active it. New systems will likely be required to have this feature available/enabled in the future.

 

[RB]

This site might be useful for checking on FIT Best Solar Feed-in Tariffs by State and Territory - WATTever.com.au

 

[exceladdict]

Disappointed but hardly surprised by the latest WA changes. Language on the synergy website seems particularly pointed towards people installing west-facing panels for late afternoon generation, or encouraging battery exporting at the same time.
But for batteries such as the LG Chem Resu 10kwh - which is only warranted to 30kwh throughput - the grid would need to be reimbursing at 32c/kwh to break even, at a $9500 purchase price. So the 10c/kwh "peak" rate does not compare.
Looks like self-consumption is still the key. Feed-In Tariff For New Solar Installations Slashed In Western Australia

 

[cove]

We have never used feed in tariffs to work out if a system will pay. Governments can and will make changes.

 

[Daver6]

Disappointed but hardly surprised by the latest WA changes. Language on the synergy website seems particularly pointed towards people installing west-facing panels for late afternoon generation, or encouraging battery exporting at the same time.
But for batteries such as the LG Chem Resu 10kwh - which is only warranted to 30kwh throughput - the grid would need to be reimbursing at 32c/kwh to break even, at a $9500 purchase price. So the 10c/kwh "peak" rate does not compare.
Looks like self-consumption is still the key. Feed-In Tariff For New Solar Installations Slashed In Western Australia

I also don't see how this change actually solves the problem at hand. I don't think the feed in rates will make any difference to battery uptake. They'll still have excess load on the grid during peak production times, just paying people less for that electricity.

 

[exceladdict]

I also don't see how this change actually solves the problem at hand. I don't think the feed in rates will make any difference to battery uptake. They'll still have excess load on the grid during peak production times, just paying people less for that electricity.

Completely agree. By pushing out the payback period by 1-2 years, it may even act to disincentivize solar for some, particularly those with low self consumption.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Interesting. I've always been more of this opinion.

Are your solar panels facing the wrong way?

Facing rooftop solar panels east and west instead of north may save homeowners money and help with electricity grid stability, new research suggests.

www.abc.net.au

 

[moa999]

Interesting. I've always been more of this opinion.

Are your solar panels facing the wrong way?

Facing rooftop solar panels east and west instead of north may save homeowners money and help with electricity grid stability, new research suggests.

www.abc.net.au

The chart on the minimum on a sunny January is quite amazing. A few more years of solar install and it might be near zero.

Definitely some benefit to Western panels for late afternoon power usage.

 

[jb747]

My system has east, north, and west facing panels. When we were looking at the design, it was obvious that the peak production would be much higher with north facing, but, the all important area under the graph (i.e. total production) was better with the mix of panels.

Slight off topic, but we also have a gas boosted solar hot water system. We’ve discovered that the panels are corroding internally (at less than 7 years). It was the wrong call to install it in the first place, as we simply have no need for stored hot water. It will be replaced next week with an instant gas system.

 

[Buzzard]

I might look into solar later this year.
It will interesting to find out the projected pay back time as I suspect that within 5 to 10 years we will be on the move.

 

[cove]

Yes moving out of your home is a major consideration as it will most likely make the property easier to sell but may not increase the value. We are now about 5 years since we put in solar and we have our money back from installing a 15kW system. We have put in a lift so we won’t have to move out of our 3 level residence. There is three of us at home now as Mrscove’s mother is here almost full time.

 

[Quickstatus]

My system has east, north, and west facing panels

Just laid the ground slab for the NW facing panels. the NW roof gets shaded by 11am in the winter
Again not about getting the most kWh per day but trying to match the demand to supply.

Will have 25kW worth of panels installed but the NE and NW orientation basically mean I am effectively 20kW
Theoretically I could put more panels on each string but Im also close to maxing out the 600v limit per string.

I suspect the FiT will keep reducing over time, and some areas are prohibited by the Grid operator from exporting due to overvoltage and if you are close to a street transformer, the street voltage may be too high to export as there are upper limits to the street voltage.
The time for solar panels is basically now.

 

[RAM]

Just laid the ground slab for the NW facing panels. the NW roof gets shaded by 11am in the winter
Again not about getting the most kWh per day but trying to match the demand to supply.

Will have 25kW worth of panels installed but the NE and NW orientation basically mean I am effectively 20kW
Theoretically I could put more panels on each string but Im also close to maxing out the 600v limit per string.

I suspect the FiT will keep reducing over time, and some areas are prohibited by the Grid operator from exporting due to overvoltage and if you are close to a street transformer, the street voltage may be too high to export as there are upper limits to the street voltage.
The time for solar panels is basically now.

No doubt you've looked into it & possibly too late now - but would single axis tracking be financially viable for you? That way for a large proportion of the day you receive close to max output.

 

[Quickstatus]

It would not work on the roof.
Would work on the ground but expensive - basically would have doubled the cost - cheaper to put in more panels.
Economies of scale make it viable for large solar farms.

And the other point I made earlier about matching kWh to demand really applies here. Its no point getting max production when most of it is going into FiT at 10.5c/kWh. I would rather more panels orientating toward when i really need the production

 

[tgh]

I am installing in a generator input (big wet coming) , new sparkie so a million questions.
Him : Why don't we hook up all the 3 phase mains.. they are all there.. easy as...
Me.. because that will give them an excuse to dump us off the 26c fit…
Him..Oh…..

 

[Quickstatus]

generator input

What do you mean?

This is important:

Solar feed-in tariffs 2020/21 | IPART

www.ipart.nsw.gov.au

FiT are dropping...soon will fall below 10c/kWh

 

[NM]

I keep detailed records of daily generation and usage, into which I can apply rates for various suppliers/plans. Yesterday I changed my plan (same supplier). I have previously always sought a plan with a high FIT, but now the higher FIT plans also have higher usage and daily supply charges.

The biggest change for me is my consumption. As summer hit and we had some new/additional AC units installed, the consumption has gone up quite a bit and the feed-in has reduced. So testing my actual usage numbers (both before and after the new AC installs and considering the different seasons, I found a plan with lower FIT (8c/kWH vs 17c/kWH) actually saves me money when the lower associated usage tariff and daily supply charged are considered.

The plan chanage was very easy to make on-line as I was not changing supplier. I check at least every few months as there is no cost to change plans. I can go for a higher FIT during times of lower consumption, and lower usage/supply tariff using high consumption seasons.

 

[Quickstatus]

Yes the combination of kWH pricing + FiT + other charges should be taken into account. Not just a high headline FiT

 

[tgh]

messed up my last post..
Fit is 50c this year , not sure where I got 26c from..
We are installing a generator input on the switchboard so we can live a half normal existence when a big cyclone wipes out the mains supply.
I will get about 32 amps which will run one air con and most of the other stuff with a bit of switching stuff about.
It's a lot of messing about and I guess I have now guaranteed no power outages here for the foreseeable future.