Solar panels.

[norbs]

Fair enough. They are crammed in I take it. Must be a fair roof to get 10kW on it.

Anyways, dont see this as a criticism, I think it is awesome you have a system.

Pretty much, they used all the available space - there might be a small amount of shade with 3 panels near the end of the day but that's about it.

Will have to see how summer goes.

It is pretty good to not use any power during the day. Looking forward to getting something back (albeit a fraction of what you pay) from the system.

I'm hating on the clouds now

Just out of curiosity, what is your peak output and for how long? Do you manage to hit the 10kw?

[pixelboy]

I have a 300w system on my campervan, they work really well. You need to be very wary of eBay sellers, as most of them vastly overrate the performance of their panels.

Despite the low quality of the site, lowenergydevelopments.com.au are fantastic and pretty honest dealers from my experience

Thanks GT, thats what I was looking for. Ebay is very tempting but lots of cowboys. Will look at those guys.

[Brett_S]

Just out of curiosity, what is your peak output and for how long? Do you manage to hit the 10kw?

Haven't hit 10kW, starting to suspect it won't get that high - peak so far is 8.22kW for about an hour between 2-3pm

[norbs]

Yeah ok. I might be because they are flat, or it could be throttling due to high grid voltages.

Does your monitoring show you the phase voltages of the grid?

[Brett_S]

Yeah ok. I might be because they are flat, or it could be throttling due to high grid voltages.

Does your monitoring show you the phase voltages of the grid?

Doesn't look like it - I can get the inverter voltage and the import/export voltages but not per phase

I'm asking the installer for feedback on how it's performing. Will see what they say.

[nutty]

Finally got mine done today, been in the house about two years but seeing we where out most days I couldnt really justify it.. With Covid and now a baby, the wife has the aircon running 24/7 I decided to bite the bullet.

Soo cheap these days, ended up getting 9.8kw of panels on a 10kw inverter.. cost me less than $5k.. all china quality but whatever.

[Brett_S]

Soo cheap these days, ended up getting 9.8kw of panels on a 10kw inverter.. cost me less than $5k.. all china quality but whatever.

Bargain!

Looking to be a good investment so far

Screenshot_20201221-132123.png

[nutty]

thats good! my inverter being a cheaper one doesnt tell me what I consume vs send back, so at this stage no idea about the profit! I did generate 57kw yesterday tho

[Brett_S]

thats good! my inverter being a cheaper one doesnt tell me what I consume vs send back, so at this stage no idea about the profit! I did generate 57kw yesterday tho

Oh that's off the AGL (electricity provider) app - but we have the monitoring as well

[norbs]

[norbs]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-25/ ... c_news_web


fuck me. Countries in Europe have managed these issues.

[smithcorp]

I came here to post that too - infuriating. These bloody inefficient, protected industries. These sorts of kite-flying things make me want to invest in a battery for home so I can keep from getting screwed by stupid decisions.

[norbs]

I came here to post that too - infuriating. These bloody inefficient, protected industries. These sorts of kite-flying things make me want to invest in a battery for home so I can keep from getting screwed by stupid decisions.

My understanding is power plants dont get charged to export. Why should houses?

Batteries are still not economically viable, well, not from my viewpoint.

I have had a look at Amber https://amberelectric.com.au/hello I'm not convinced yet, but it might be a start.

My FIT has gone from 21c to 17c to 10c. All the while the cost of buying has increased, and the charge to just be connected has gone up 30%. Origin changed my plan without telling me (they are allowed to in the T&Cs apparently). So all calculations for the time my panels would pay for themselves are out the window. Luckily, I paid about half the total cost for them (long long story), so I am already in front, but for those people new to solar, any projected calculations will be wrong.

[norbs]

My understanding is power plants dont get charged to export. Why should houses?

Confirmed.

[smithcorp]

Yes, its their job! So why would we be charged for supplying a good that is being accepted by an organisation that can conceivably onsell my product?

[DarrenM]

From the look of it, wholesale prices have just about halved in the last 2 years. That's got to be a factor in the big drop in FIT.

Might need something like Victoria's minimum.

https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable ... -in-tariff


Current suggested benchmark rate for NSW is 6-7c

https://energysaver.nsw.gov.au/househol ... riff-rates

[norbs]

From the look of it, wholesale prices have just about halved in the last 2 years. That's got to be a factor in the big drop in FIT.

Might need something like Victoria's minimum.

https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable ... -in-tariff


Current suggested benchmark rate for NSW is 6-7c

https://energysaver.nsw.gov.au/househol ... riff-rates

And yet my retail price has gone up 8%

[norbs]

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/cons ... mers-grid/

More hurt. Batteries cant come quick enough

[durbster]

What's the story here then? Is it the energy companies getting worried about their profits, so leaning on their Government friends to protect them?

Or is it a fairly expected reclaiming of tax revenue lost as a result of the move to solar? (I expect that to happen here with cars when the petrol tax income disappears).

[norbs]

I am giving Amber Energy a try to see if what they claim is true.

Probably started with them at the worst time of the year though. Yesterday, my power cost me $13 for the day!



You are basically using TOU, and that can get tricky. Having the oven on (4kW at max) when you get a text saying high prices, is anxiety I dont need

[pixelboy]

This article explains the problem in Australia at the moment.

Massive input from residential PV during sunny days and unmet demand in the nights and little the regulators can do to manage the network.

With no government input of funds or regulations it's quite a pickle.

https://hackaday.com/2021/05/10/south-a ... ome-solar/

Norbs, you are game shifting to market rates.. It's going negative regularly these days.

[norbs]

This article explains the problem in Australia at the moment.

Massive input from residential PV during sunny days and unmet demand in the nights and little the regulators can do to manage the network.

With no government input of funds or regulations it's quite a pickle.

https://hackaday.com/2021/05/10/south-a ... ome-solar/

Norbs, you are game shifting to market rates.. It's going negative regularly these days.

Looking at NEM website, it isnt very often, and mainly summer time.

Working at home full time means I can keep an eye on things. If it drops or goes negative, i can just fire up a few more GPUs

What I really want to know is if I get a battery of some sort, if I can sell to the grid at times it spike. $11/kwh for 40 minutes yesterday. If I could shove 2kW out for that time, happy days.

[pixelboy]

You should definitely get a battery. Even if you just fire the GPUs at night

[norbs]

You should definitely get a battery. Even if you just fire the GPUs at night

Rich mans game right now. Virtually no chance of ROI.

[norbs]