We installed a 3.0Kw solar system in June 2011. Our electric bill each quarter ranged from $ 750 to $ 900 and rising. We
are a household of 4 and run a home office, pool pump and occasionally
air conditioning for heating in winter and cooling in summer. The house had low-voltage downlights throughout.
We live in a subtropical location, as are devices for heating in winter and cooling in summer just days required per year. Our ever increasing electricity bills were becoming a real problem.
The Australian Government offers rebates for the installation of PV (photovoltaic) cells or solar panels for electricity generation. In our case, the discount was worth about $ 4,000.
In suburban areas, the solar panels feed electricity back into the main grid with an inverter that is connected to your electricity meter.
The electricity meter is changed to a "smart meters" that is installed as part of the drive. The "smart meter" measures the amount of electricity you use (bring) and the amount of electricity your solar panels are putting out. How do you use electricity during the day, the meter will make your plates to subtract your current consumption of the electricity.
If you generate more electricity than you use, your excess power will be back to the power company for about twice the amount that you buy it sells for. This system applies in Queensland where you will be paid on the net amount of electricity produced.
It's back by selling your excess electricity to the supplier, that real savings can be made in your electric bill.
We use about 1 to 1.5 kW every hour during the day. So the installation of a 1.5 kW solar system would barely cover our immediate power needs.
Since most of the savings from the sale of electricity to the grid, we are installing a larger system needed again. Our roof size meant that we. Room only for a 1.5 kW system on every roof We opted for 3 kW more than 2 roof surfaces with a special inverter that could install solar power from two different plants.
Some considerations for finding the solar panels:
Direction: roof should north or near the north to get maximum sunlight. Faced in our case every roof northeast and northwest, and seems to work well.
Roof pitch: The plates, in Queensland, should ideally be at about 15 degrees from the horizontal to be collected and the winter sun is not too hot in the summer sun.
Overshadowed: Make sure that the plates are not so overshadowed when a disk overshadowed during their peak generation times of trees, other buildings, TV antennas, even a small amount, the panel will not generate any power.
Peak generation time: usually between 10:00 to about 03.00 clock, the average peak production time for the plates. The times are in the summer of about 08.00 clock increase to about 4:00 depending on roof orientation.
Except for the addition of solar panels, we also undertook some changes in the house:
- The pool pump was wired to save 50% on an off-peak tariff
- The washer, dryer and dishwasher were also the off-peak tariff added save 50%
- The off-peak tariff cuts power these devices from 18:00 bis 21.00 clock every day
We removed all low voltage lights and replaced with energy efficient fluoro downlights. The low-voltage lights depending drew about 50 watts per hour. The new lights draw about 15 watts, saving 70% on any light.
How much does this cost? We invested $ 17,500 for all electrical work including the installation of solar panels, new counters, new wiring for dishwasher, washing machine, dryer and pool pump. As the government discount of $ 4000, total investments amounted to $ 13,500.
How much can we save? We just have our first solar power greater account for the spring. Our bill for this time last year was $ 750, and we used 51.7kWh of electricity.
The current bill is $ 360 for the corresponding period and we used 28.8kWh of power, a 55% savings. Our greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 5 tons to 2.6 tons, a 48% savings.
When will I get my money back? We will at least save $ 1,600 a year off our electricity bills with the addition of solar panels and re-jigging our devices. Most people try to figure out how long it will take to get their money back (8.5 years in our case).
But I think that's the wrong question, a better question is: how much return I'll put my money? I have $ 13,700 invested and a return of at least $ 1,600 per year. This means my investment will put me back 11.7% savings in my power bill. This is about twice my mortgage interest rate, so I'm still making money.
How long did it last? We used a local electrician trained in solar systems, which provided us with all the suggestions for reducing power consumption to install revised rates for our equipment and supply and the solar system. We first had to apply electricity suppliers to ensure they would accept us energy supply them (2 weeks). The installation, rewiring for tariff switching to devices, solar system took 2 days. The smart meters were installed two weeks later.
On a side note, got our first electricity bill without mention of solar and a due amount of $ 950th A quick call to our provider we realized that they have no idea we had installed the solar panels. Your accounts not updated our details. They revised the bill to its current $ 360 (a saving of 62% of the original invoice or $ 590)....
