Solar Power systems

[Dazza]

Have got 9.6kw going on my shed next week. Can't wait.
Went with Trina panels and Fronius inverter.

[Webster]

Anyone with a solar system gone to battery and/or off the grid?

[BrisVegas]

Have got 9.6kw going on my shed next week. Can't wait.
Went with Trina panels and Fronius inverter.

We've got Trina panels and Fronius too. It's been good so far (18 months). Only 6.4kw panels and 5kw inverter, but it makes plenty for our usage. I'd love a 5-10kw battery to cover our evening usage, but the prices are too how at the moment.

[Timbo]

I’ve spoken to a few people with battery systems that are pissed off that their battery is drained back into the grid every night. They weren’t aware of it at the time they signed the contract. I’ve been told there is a “Virtual Power Point (VPP)” part of the contract that if agreed to, gives the ok to drain the battery. By not agreeing to it, you probably get a less attractive feed in tariff or something, but personally I’d rather get up in the morning and use my own (free) power and be as close to off-grid as possible.
Might be something to look out for.

[goughy]

Not that I really know anything, but I'd always heard batteries were about feeding back into the grid when the sun was down, rather than setup for storage for use. And that during outages you still lose your power.
But I can't imagine what some people have paid for their systems! The door knocker that came here a couple of years ago was giving us prices of over 20k for an 8.6kw system. My mates ex farmer PIL's have done nothing but complain about their system considering what they paid for it........

[coalesce]

Not that I really know anything, but I'd always heard batteries were about feeding back into the grid when the sun was down, rather than setup for storage for use. And that during outages you still lose your power.

It depends what you want them to do. Signing up to be part of a VPP plan is optional, and what still works during an outage depends on your requirements when you design your system. You can protect all circuits or only some circuits

I’d suggest readying some of the articles on www.solarquotes.com.au. Have seen the guy who runs that website do a preso in person and there’s a lot of good background info on there about solar, batteries, etc

[AndyP]

I bought my system after doing my research through the Solar Quotes site. No battery though, because at the time the value wasn't returned before the expiry of the 10 year warranty. I did the maths again recently and despite the electricity rates going up, it still wasn't worth getting the battery.

[goughy]

I used solar quotes site too. Even got some quotes through them, and he sent me his book.

[markTHEblake]

despite the electricity rates going up, it still wasn't worth getting the battery.

What about if you factor in the future price of electricity?

[AndyP]

What about if you factor in the future price of electricity?

I can't predict that. Will it follow the price of gold?

[Hatchman]

I can't predict that. Will it follow the price of gold?

You can be assured it will increase, just not what sort of %.
Power and Solar is fast becoming a have and have nots. Those without Solar will pay through the nose for power while the rich providers give back less to those that make it for them to charge high prices.

[markTHEblake]

It aint the providers getting rich, its the greenie climate alarmists getting all the money.

Meanwhile us peasants will have to pay higher prices for electricity because its more expensive to produce and there wont be enough to go around.

[BobsYourUncle]

There's absolutely a death spiral going on with energy market. Usage rates go up, so people who can afford it (and who own their home) buy solar/batteries. So providers have to put usage charges and daily access charges up to cover the reduced revenue (still have to pay for the base load & morning/afternoon peaks). And people who can't afford to offset their usage (low income, renters) get left behind with no way to reduce their usage of increasingly expensive electricity.

[virge666]

We just did ours. 10Kw system

Quotes ranges from $5000-$23,000 all with no battery, all with the rebate included.
In the end.. paid $5K, cause i was just over the bullshit.

Cost me $180 a month over a few years to pay it off, and we currently have 6Kw coming in with a bit of shade at times.
We get 25-30Kwh per day presently and it is getting better and better as the sun gets higher.

[markTHEblake]

For comparison, i got average of 8.6kw a day in August, with a 2Kw panels. Peak per day is 11kw.

[goughy]

We've got the stock standard 6.6/5kw panel/inverter system. I would say it's chewing up about 2/5's of our consumption over the year.
Jan it averaged 31kw/day production and 34kw in feb. It was about 23kw for August.
But we use a lot of electricity! I'm working from home, Rob is home fulltime and Kyan is all the time too. They are both up quite late (3+am for rob), and have tv's, multiple computers etc running. Basically somewhere there is a TV on nearly 24hrs a day. Plus they run aircon a lot - she already has it on cooling in the bedroom, and Kyan has it on cooling as well, even some nights through winter.