Gone solar

[tlgerdes]

They just finished 4Kw of panels on my roof.

16x 250W Trina panels with a 4.2Kw Aurora inverter.

All done in a day with only 2 broken tiles :lol:

[DJT]

Awesome, good for you
Looking at this as well. How much of your own needs are covered by the 4 panels?

[casstony]

In the photo I see a tree which needs pruning - shading of just one panel kills generation for the whole system.

Our 3.5Kw system generates about the same as we use, though it cuts our consumption from the grid by about half since it can't cover night time usage. Affordable batteries are what we need next.

[acropolite]

2 broken tiles is good, the guys that did mine broke around a dozen. We have 5KW which generates around $1800 per year at our current 28c feed in tarriff.

[tlgerdes]

The 4Kw system will cover all daytime use with plenty to spare, unless we are using the A/C. Will post more real info in the coming weeks.



Unfortunately the tree is out on the street in front of the neighbours house. We have had them run 2 strings of panels so those 6 that get shaded from around 3pm stop being useful after that. Others keep going to around 4:30pm. On the up side, the sun hits all from around 8am.



Would love to have a 28c FIT, we can only get 8c now. Still the system price has probably halved since your has gone in. $6k installed for mine.

[clive milne]

depending on the panels and how they are wired, shading one cell can effectively kill the output of all cells in series with it. Keeping the panels clean becomes a priority when you realise that one splat of bird extract can easily reduce the system output by a significant margin.

[acropolite]

A good FIT is important down here, we don't get long sunshine hours in winter, summer on the other hand is surplus, 36KwH in midsummer is usual on a good day, midwinter ranges from 13kwh down to under 2kwh. Unfortunately the FIT is only locked in for 5 years so in the future our summer surplus will be almost worthless. I know people are hanging out for cheaper storage options but at least for my situation storage will never be an option, my winter usage is too high. If they would bill annually the variations would iron out and fairness would prevail, but that's never likely to happen.

[tlgerdes]

"Good" panels these days have at least 3 bypass diodes per panel. The panels are 6 rows of 10 cells, with bypass diode for every 2 rows. So can each 3rd of a panel and keep producing.

We cranked out 8kw/hrs today in Sydney's gloomy overcast weather.

[tlgerdes]

When I first wanted to go solar 5 years ago when the NSW Gov announced 60c FIT, a 3KW system was going to cost $35k. Now it is only $6K for a 4KW system at 8c FIT, roughly the same $/KW/FIT :shrug:

[JB80]

I thought about going solar on our next house here but in Spain they have issues. If I fit panels to my house the energy company has the right to come and fit a radio controlled meter to monitor your consumption and charge you accordingly. for that usage
On top of that there is another tariff you can be charged to compensate the energy company for a loss of income.

Failure to register with the proper authorities and comply will result in large fines and possibly prison.

So yeah, thanks Spain for showing your green credentials.
Thieving barstewards!

[Kal]

My god that is horrible Jarrod. From an outside view that looks purely like a corrupted government taking too many cash handouts from the electricity companies, implementing policies to prevent solar uptake and protect their income. It's the only plausible explanation for such laws!

[AndrewJ]

Gday Andrew

There was a good debate on something similar here ( a few tyears ago ) for rainwater, ie if it falls on your roof, who owns it?
I just refound this
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6112&page=1
but there was a better analysis out there.
Wouldnt take em long to declare sunlight in a similar vein when the money really starts to dry up.
ie the only way we can let you have a cheaper system is to charge you more for it :-)

Andrew

[Kal]

Thanks for that link Andrew, all I can do is shake my head in disbleief.