A.R.S.E.

pixelboy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 27, 2023 1:40 pmBattery...!

Yeah, will never pay for itself, but at least I get to use my power generated, and not sell it for fuck all.

Might be a smallish (10kwh) battery and an EV that cant be used for supplying the house for the short term until it all becomes more mainstream.

That does look quite annoying norbs, but if it makes you feel any better my current bill for energy is $404 AUD per month.

That has come down a chunk since it peaked a few months back, and we've also reduced our usage by 25-30%. We could easily be paying $500 per month right now.

Yeah, I get it, but it still grinds my gears.

I am finally going to bite the bullet on this... (I think).

What a minefield.. how do I know what installer is dodgy and what panels are good (other than Choice).

Current plan is to get Jinko panels and Sungrow inverter plus optimisers..

pixelboy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:51 pm I am finally going to bite the bullet on this... (I think).

What a minefield.. how do I know what installer is dodgy and what panels are good (other than Choice).

Current plan is to get Jinko panels and Sungrow inverter plus optimisers..

Definitely worth doing Pix, but it is a minefield. I used a company that I do work for, plus I had them install a ducted AC system plus replace all the underfloor gas central heating ductwork (bloody cold down here).

If you manage the systems with the Solar it works really well, I'd hate to think of the power bill without it. I have a 6.6kW system on east / west side of the gable. On a sunny day at the moment we generally draw less than 5kW/hrs per day from the grid with 2 people working from home& feed back about 25 to 35.

pixelboy wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:51 pm I am finally going to bite the bullet on this... (I think).

What a minefield.. how do I know what installer is dodgy and what panels are good (other than Choice).

Current plan is to get Jinko panels and Sungrow inverter plus optimisers..

I would put https://www.solarquotes.com.au/ in front of Choice every time.

Finn Peacock the guy that runs it has been great to me the few times I have asked him questions. The site has peoples reviews as well.

If you can get an inverter with good software to monitor things in real time it is helpful, but not crucial.

Get the best inverter you can.

Yeah I have worked with him at Weatherzone before. We did co-sponsorship for a while, he is good. I have read reviews there.

Thanks

norbs wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 9:32 pm Get the best inverter you can.

What is the logic here? I went the best panels I could but my inverter is some china brand. it was $1500 vs 3k for a fronius, but its speced right for my panels, I still pull through as much as I did if i spent double, and replacing an interverter is trival and any sparky could do it in under an hour.. thers no ROI for spending double from what I can see..

nutty wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 7:57 am

norbs wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 9:32 pm Get the best inverter you can.

What is the logic here? I went the best panels I could but my inverter is some china brand. it was $1500 vs 3k for a fronius, but its speced right for my panels, I still pull through as much as I did if i spent double, and replacing an interverter is trival and any sparky could do it in under an hour.. thers no ROI for spending double from what I can see..

Warranty and efficiency from my experience. And virtually everyone I have known to go for a cheap inverter has had issues. Im not saying the one you have is crap, but I know of 4 different ones that have failed. All well within warranty, and yet one took 8 weeks to replace. Also, with some of the real cheap ones, there is fuck all monitoring available.

YMMV.

Ugh, currently with Powershop and got a notification they are increasing prices in 1 week, increase of 15% and they cut the FIT in half (12c to 6c)- off to a new provider then

Signed up with Red energy on better rates but still taking a hit on FIT (7c) - now that we have two EV's there's not much going into the grid anymore

Got an email from Red detailing my 'offer' which is a variable rate (not the singe rate I requested) and 50% higher than I'm paying right now

Rang em up to confirm and they said the 'supplier' gets last say on the plan and they have put us on the variable rate instead of the fixed one

If I want to change over to the fixed rate I have to accept the variable rate and then request to go onto the fixed rate after 1 quarter

Thanks but no thanks, I asked them to cancel the contract...

What the F is going on man! How is this even legal

Yep, there is a lot of shitfuckery going on lately. The FIT is just going to keep dropping.

AGL was the next best option and I just received their 'offer' which was what I signed up for - going with them now

FIT will probably go negative at some point - in the next year or two we'll look into a battery

Out of interest, what is the situation with energy generation in Australia these days?

We've gone pretty heavily for wind power so that makes up most of the 25-30% we're getting from renewables nowadays. It always seemed like getting away from fossil fuels wouldn't be difficult for you guys (other than the politics) given the amount of sun you get, and space you have.

Some good stats here Durbs...

https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-data/a ... generation

Bottom graph shows the growth in solar and wind.

Consumption side here

https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-data/a ... onsumption

One of the biggest issues for solar is that it is decentralised. So c**t* like the oil companies cant get a slice of that action. The more people that put solar on their roof and get EVs, the less profit they make.

So they way I'm reading everything now is, especially if you're doing a new build, there's no reason to not have solar/wind and a battery, with a majority of solar? Keep the energy for yourself and everybody else can bicker amongst themselves?

Scottie wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 9:44 pm So they way I'm reading everything now is, especially if you're doing a new build, there's no reason to not have solar/wind and a battery, with a majority of solar? Keep the energy for yourself and everybody else can bicker amongst themselves?

Seems about right. The economies of solar and batteries are quite different in that batteries dont have the same ROI as solar. But it is becoming more and more feasible to get batteries now.

Had 20 panels installed in August 2022. 7.4kw on the roof . 6kW inverter.

First 12 months we saved round $1800 on our bill.. ROI is around 4-5 years. .a good investment if you ain't moving..