Solar Energy

Now is a great time (In Australia) to get your solar energy plant installed. Prices are better than they were a few years ago.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government's rebate for solar energy installations will soon be reduced. Eventually, the rebates will be cut out entirely, so if you're thinking of getting solar energy, it's best to do it very soon. At the moment, the rebate is on a decreasing scale until 2014.

In our state (Victoria, Australia) there is a scheme in place to offer owners of solar energy a payment for any power that they feed back into the grid. The payment is higher than the cost of power, and lasts for five years after installation. This is to encourage the public to install solar systems, and was an additional benefit, which, added to the Federal Government's rebate scheme, made installing solar power reachable for more Australians.

Last week, the State Government announced that it would be changing the scheme in the near future. This is going to result in job losses for the State, as some solar energy companies will just move interstate, due to the loss of business which will follow such a move. One such company was planning to employ more people to keep up with expected demand, and will now move interstate. A loss for Victoria, and for the current employees who will lose their jobs, not to mention the people who now will not get jobs.

Don't Governments realise that solar and wind power are becoming more and more important to us, as oil passes peak production, and is, in any case, a finite resource? It doesn't seem sensible to discourage the installation of solar power, although politicians can sometimes be very short sighted.

It will be interesting to see how this develops, and if the Government will change its collective mind.

Photo courtesy of http://www.publicdomainpictures.net

Driving around our local area, you can see a few more solar energy systems on the roofs. Solar water heaters are much more common, but there are plenty of houses still without them. The cost is probably a big factor in this.

On a recent visit to Greece, we saw hundreds of solar panels on the top of apartment blocks - they really seem to have adopted solar with a vengeance over there!

On some buildings, you could hardly see the roof for the amount of panels on there. It was good to see, as Greece is a poor country, but they do have plenty of sun, so solar energy is one way of saving money on energy.

Until today, I hadn't given much thought to the safety aspect of having a solar system installed in my home. Browsing around on a Government solar energy information site, I came across the topic, and decided to do a little research on it.

"Energy Safe Victoria - Safety of Solar Panel Installations - Report (July 2010) states that out of 81 installation audited, 9 were found to have isolating switches installed which did not comply with regulations. Incorrect isolating switches can be a fire risk.

Solar energy systems should be installed by properly licensed electricians to ensure your safety. Usually, in the state where I live, an inspection is carried out prior to the system being connected to the grid.

If you are in any doubt as to the safety of your installation, get your system checked by a qualified person.

Photo courtesy photos-public-domain.com

The sky above my house looks a little like this today, so not much energy is being generated! Looks like the power bill will be rather large this quarter, but it is winter after all.

This isn't specifically about solar power, but power suppliers in general.There has been a massive increase in complaints to the ombudsman concerning power bills recently.

I'm not surprised! Every account I've received for the past twelve months has been incorrect, allegedly. Each bill has been followed up after a week or so, with a letter apologising for the error, and a correction to the account. Three out of four accounts in the past year have been undercharged, with the last one being overcharged.

Naturally, we, the consumers, have no way of knowing what is right and what is not. All we know is that the cost of utilities is skyrocketing, and is set to get higher and higher.

The problem is supposed to be incorrect meter readings, but how hard is it to read a meter, or plug in an automatic reader to the new smart meters, which I have? They are even supposed to be read remotely.

Who knows what is going on, but I do think things could be better.

Having recently visited Europe, I was surprised to see that even in the UK, there were a few homes using solar power. I'd thought it would have been far too cloudy there. It's good to see that even in cooler climates, solar energy is still being used. There are even large buildings clad in solar panels, and feeding power back into the grid.

While visiting Greece, the amount of solar hot water systems on the roofs, even of apartment buildings, was surprising. Apparently the demand for solar energy has been growing in the past few years.

The image of the Manchester CIS Tower was taken by "User:Pit-yacker (I took it) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons"

It's been several years now, since I installed my 1KW solar energy system. It's still working well, and is definitely cutting the power bill. This is despite the fact that electricity prices have skyrocketed in the past twelve months.

When I can afford it, the next improvement to my home will be a solar hot water heater, perhaps with a gas booster for the cooler weather. There is also the option of a heat pump, but I have to do more research on that one.

Have you got solar hot water or a solar energy system? It's really worth looking into. It will save money and help the environment, and will pay for itself in time.

The solar power system is still working well, and I'm very happy with it. Unfortunately, the cost of power has risen so much that my power bills don't seem to be any less than they were before. Imagine what they'd be like if I didn't have solar energy!

There are several things you can do to reduce your winter power bill:-

1. Switch off everything at the wall when it's not in use - standby uses power.
2. Don't leave the lights on in unused rooms.
3. Close doors to the rooms you are using to keep the heat in.
4. Put on an extral jumper instead of turning the heater up.

Doing these things is making a difference - the heater now turns itself down in the evening and I'm much warmer!

You'd think with solar energy supplying some of my power needs, that my power bill would have gone down. Not at all - imagine my horror to receive an account for over $800.

To say I was surprised is an understatement, and I was somewhat angry as well. Wouldn't you be, if you had decided to do something for the environment, spent a fortune on solar energy, then get a bill for more electricity than you've ever used before?

Fortunately, I was able to go through my accounts, talk to the power company, and get the account reduced by about $600, which was a far more realistic figure for the 4 months period involved.

From now on, I will hopefully see some more reasonable electricity accounts, especially as I'm trying to cut down on usage. We shall find out when the next bill comes.

It is twelve months since my 1kv solar energy system was installed. I'm really happy with the savings on my electricity account, although it will take a while to recover the costs of the system. Not to worry, as it's helping the environment anyway.

The Government have been promising a payment to us for any excess electricity that we feed into the grid, and this is why I had the Smart Meter installed a while back. Finally, on 1st November, it will start, although it won't be retro-active.

It will be interesting to see just how much per KWH we will be paid, and I'll certainly be looking into changing my power company for a better deal if I'm not happy with what's offered. One has to take every cent one can get, especially in these times of financial difficulties.

While browsing the relevant sites to find out more information about feed-in tarriffs, I was surprised to learn that in April 2009, there were only about 6200 solar power systems connected to the grid. I would have expected this figure to be higher, particularly with the rebates on offer.

It's mid-Winter here in Melbourne, Australia, and the solar energy system isn't getting that much sun. One odd little fact is that even if the sun isn't shining, as long as there is a certain amount of light, it still functions. Solar energy panels actually work better when it's cold.

At present, just about all the power I'm producing goes into my own use, but that's fine - at least it's doing something for the environment, and it's going to be better in Spring. The two way meter tells me that a very small amount of power is actually going back into the grid, so savings are happening.

Well, it took over six months after the installation of the solar energy system, but finally, the power people have installed my new smart meter!

This meter not only shows what power I use from the grid, but it measures what power I put back into the grid.

Not that I have that much at the moment, as it's winter, and I'm using everything I produce for myself, and then some. In Spring and Autumn, of course, that will change. Summer I'll use all my production for air conditioning.

Got to admit that I really like having a much smaller power bill, even if my system is only a 1KW size - it still makes a difference!

Have you installed solar energy yet? If so, let us know what you think.

A few months ago, I was actually looking for a solar hot water service. The company I chose to come and give me a quote never actually managed to ring me and arrange a time, so they lost me. After this, I discovered there was such a thing as home solar power generation.

After some research, and discussion with an electrician friend, I decided to go ahead with the project.

The information given here is Australian, and will most likely differ in your country.

Of course, the first thing to do when looking at a new project for you home is to find out if you can actually afford it!

At first, I was shocked by the costs involved with installing a solar power generator. Things would be different in the USA and the UK, but here in Australia, I discovered that a certain amount of households can get a rebate on the costs from the Federal Government, to encourage people to go solar.

This was very acceptable, and brought the costs within my limits, so further research was done.

There were a few suppliers with websites, so of course they were the people I got my information from. There was a difference of several thousand dollars in price between them, but most assisted with the paper work, or actually did it for you.

The hardest thing about getting the rebate, for me at least, was the time involved; approximately two months. I'm the impatient type!

There are several different sizes of solar energy systems available, varying from .5 KwH to 4 Kwh. There may be more, but that's all I've read about.

A 1 Kw system may produce around 4.5 Kws per day, depending on the angle or the panels, the weather, and the temperature. A 1.5 Kw system produces approximately 6.75 kw of energy daily.

For a small house using about 17 kwH of energy per day, you will most likely save about 30% of your power bill.

The saving of greenhouse gas emissions is also a big factor - the average home will save about 2000 tonnes by using solar power generation.

Water can also be saved, as it takes 2.5 litres of water to produce every KwH of energy.

After lots of time online, researching, it was finally time to choose a company and a system to install. Since solar power is comparatively new, I didn't know anyone who had it, so there were no recommendations of companies available.

Although I didn't choose the most inexpensive installation, the company was Australia wide, and I couldn't find any record of complaints online.
Solargen were most helpful, and ready to answer all my questions, either on the phone or by email. Filling in the forms was the hardest part of the exercise. :-)

My system is a 1 Kw system, 6 solar panels connecting to an inverter to convert DC to AC. It's connected to the grid, which acts as a storage area for any extra energy I produce.

Of course, this system doesn't produce enough for all my needs, but on occasions, my old meter does run backwards! :-) The one thing left to do is get the power company to install a new "Smart Meter", which will show what I've used, and also what I've put into the grid.

The picture shows my house from the back garden, with most of the solar panels visible. And even though it's cloudy, the system is still working, although at less than 25% capacity!

The first really sunny day since the solar generator was installed last Friday.......it's now working at well over 50% capacity, although the 100% will probably not happen until the really hot days.

My electricity bill should be somewhat smaller this quarter, although it will be some time until the cost of the system is covered. Not to worry, I like having it, and am happy to do my bit for the environment. :-)

Well, although we haven't hit the really sunny days for a while, the solar power system is going quite well. On several occasions it has worked at over 75% capacity, and even had to run the inverter's cooling fan on one occasion.

Certainly looks promising for the summer months, and it's good to see the meter running backwards.

Still waiting for the new "Smartmeter" to be installed, which will show details of how much power I actually feed into the grid.

It's a good feeling, to know that you're doing your bit for the environment.

Since having the solar generating system installed, of course I've become very power conscious, and often check the meter to see how I'm doing.

We've just had a couple of sunny days, where I haven't needed any heating or cooling, and over those days, I've actually produced 1 kwh of power more than I've needed.

Self-sufficiency, even for just a short space of time, feels good. Perhaps I should have installed a larger system?..........

Of course, saving money is a consideration, but you have to take into account how much it will cost you to install your solar energy system. It may take a while to pay for itself.

The benefit to the environment is a major one - if nothing else, it makes you feel good about having solar energy!

Did you know that by saving electricity, you'll also be saving water? It takes a lot of water to make 1 kw of electrical power, so the more your solar system supplies, the more water you'll save.

A 1kw system will reduce your power bill by between 30 - 40%. That can really build up over time.

Since getting my system, I've also become far more energy conscious, so that's a fringe benefit too! Things now get switched of rather than being left on standby, and do we really need the microwave to be on all the time just for a clock?

If you think about it, there are plenty of benefits associated with using solar energy, and let's not forget the carbon emission problem. the less power we use, the cleaner the atmosphere will become.

Do some research, and I'm sure you'll come up with even more benefits for yourself.

Did you know that they even use solar panels to make energy in Antarctica? The only problem they have, is keeping the snow off the panels!

The photo is by A. Guichard

So far, my little solar energy system has produced over 600 KWH of power, which is over 30% of my needs. Of course, this has been over summer, but we get quite a lot of sun in the other seasons here in Melbourne, and the system works even if it's a cloudy day.

For some strange reason, solar panels work better when the temperature is reasonably cool, and when we get our 40C days, they slow down. Guess they're like us, and don't like the high temperatures that much.

I'm trying to find out why this is, and will add more information when I can