Off Grid Solar Battery Array

[clive milne]

Originally Posted by Tandum

Has anyone setup a solar battery array for home supply?

Yes... so by definition it is possible

Originally Posted by Tandum

There seems to be a bit of movement in this area and we are thinking it's the right move in the next year or two prior to retirement to get rid of the $1K/quarter electricity bills.

fwiw) I worked for a while analysing energy and resource usage of various organisations (and private individuals) and then presenting strategies (to them) for the purpose of reducing costs and environmental impacts.
Which means if nothing else, my opinion is based on a fairly critical review of broad spectrum of examples in the real world.

So, take the following comment as you will....
Don't even think about an off grid battery array until you have analysed where you are using energy and made every attempt to reduce that figure and eliminated all waste.
The good news is that considering the amount of energy you are currently using, it would be a fairly safe statement to make that you have massive opportunities to reduce that figure. You are using double the energy required to run a normal home, and probably close to five times what it would take to run an efficient home.

[clive milne]

Originally Posted by Hagar

To put it simply the energy companies get a bucket full of cash from Government.

I agree with much of what you said in your last post Doug (I trimmed the quote for brevity)

And at the risk of taking this thread OT.... here's a little fun poked at Australia's wealthiest (energy) welfare dependants:

Click here to load the video

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[pmrid (Peter)]

I see here a tendency to demonise the people who spent the money up front to install solar systems and accept the grid-feed rats on offer. I too think that is grossly unfair.

At the time, the various governments and energy suppliers were touting grid-connected systems aggressively. They were offering time-payment plans and other incentives to persuade people to go solar. And they were competing with one-another to attract customers.

We initially signed up at the feed-in rate of 50 cents per KwH and subsequently charged to another supplier who offered us 54 cents. They pursued us. We were happy to accept their offer.

We had spent over $10 grand to establish a small 2.7 KW system. And that included signing over the (forgot what they called them then but then) to the installer. So the actual cost was a few grand higher.

Are we not entitled to insist that the energy companies honor they contracts they went to such lengths to secure? Are we not entitled to see our investment return the promised rate?

Those rates are not indexed. They devalue year-by-year. And they don't affect the daily access charge which, please note this - has quadrupled in the past few years. At about $1.30 per day, it is eroding any nominal advantage we one had.

I refuse to be made guilty for doing what the governments of the day and the energy companies pushed and touted so aggressively.

Peter

[glend (Glen)]

Look Peter we all pay increasing grid connect charges so you need to take that out of the comparative advantage equation. Yes you paid more for your system than the equivalent system today however todays panels in addition to being cheaper are much more efficient at generating electricity. So unless someone can come up with a comparative advantage model it is pointless to compare the business cases for each.
However, the politics of a 'cast system' of preferential rates will always be an annoyance to people regardless of how much less they paid for their system.
If you were a farmer growing wheat, wouldn't you be annoyed that your neighbor who started growing the same wheat earlier than you gets paid more for his wheat than you do?. Sure his startup costs might have been greater but the end product is identical. Photons are photons regardless of whose panels they strike.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Glen, I don't give a rats how unfair others may feel it is. I was pursed and persuaded by government and industry into entering into a contract on the basis of which I forked out $10 grand. It's called equitable estoppel. You offered, I accepted. I spent the money on the basis of the promises made. I expect that contract to be honored. End of story.

Peter

[Hagar (Doug)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

Glen, I don't give a rats how unfair others may feel it is. I was pursed and persuaded by government and industry into entering into a contract on the basis of which I forked out $10 grand. It's called equitable estoppel. You offered, I accepted. I spent the money on the basis of the promises made. I expect that contract to be honored. End of story.

Peter

Great Peter don't feel guilty I doubt any one here is expecting you to but each and every one here has the right to an opinion be it with you or against you.

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

As a latecomer to solar I don't feel any animosity towards Peter for getting in early. I congratulate him. I'm on a lousy 5c FIT, but I crunched the numbers and could still make it work.

When the rebates first came in in 2008 you were paying $35k for a 3.5kw system. In 2014 a 4kw system was $6k.

My $6k outlay still netts me a 15% ROI. Try and get that from a riskless investment.

[glend (Glen)]

Perhaps this thread should return to the original question.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Earlier in the year there was some huge improvements in Lithium technology Batteries developed by an Australian University research group but they have gone very quiet. From memory it was an increase in capacity of something like 5 times for no significant increase in size. It will still depend on discharge capacity and capability.
Research like this may make off the grid a reality. I will see if I can find the article.

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

I think we are only about 5 years from the start of the revolution. Once 20kwh of batteries plus inverter/charger combos are around $10k, we will start seeing the move.

This sort of tech though is really bring investigated by the power companies as well. They want to bring the batteries to your suburb to soak up the your current solar and give it back to you at 6pm

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Returning to the original topic...
This is a recent offer from AGL for "under $10,000"
Edit: price does not include the panels

(sorry the pdf exceeds IIS filesize restrictions, so hope link works)

http://aglsolar.com.au/wp-content/up...ry_Storage.pdf