Keen To Learn About The Gtr

[Cowboy1600]

Not at all.

Solar is worth it but you have to be prepared to spend up on a bigger system. 1.5kw systems are useless. When purchasing solar, go the biggest you can possibly afford, and then beg borrow and steal to go a bit larger again.

The average household uses ~20kw/h per day. A 1kw system (in Vic) will generate, on average, 3.5kw/h day. So a ~4kw system will produce around 14kw/h day. That's near enough to 75% of the average daily household, so a 75% cut to CO2 output from home electricity use which is significant.

From a financial perspective, it depends on where you live. In Victoria, you get a premium feed in tariff for every kw/h you export back to the grid. So the inverter on the system is wired into the switchboard which means your home will use the power first, then excess will be exported. This has the extra affect of encouraging households to reduce consumption. So not only does it produce CO2 free power (average 75% of a homes usage) it also encourages households to reduce usage.

As an example, one system I sold went on the roof of a home of four (2 adults, 2 children) which had an average use of 14kw/h day. Since it went in (just over 12 months ago) it's offset their entire electricity and gas bill AND seen them receive around $2,000 in refunds from what they exported. Their system is 4.08kw and cost ~$13000. So return thus far is around $3500-$4000 for the year. That will slowly fall off, but the system will pay for itself in around 4 years. After that it's ~$3,000pa return. Not bad. And CO2 is reduced significantly.

Each state has it's own rebates and tariffs, so this above is for Vic. You're in Shellharbour, is that SA? I believe they have a $0.40 feed in for exported, similar to Vic. NSW had a gross feed in tariff which was just stupid. All generation was paid at 60c for systems up to 10kw. It was unsustainable and did not encourage reduction in usage and resulted in an explosion in installs, many of them dodgy. A 10kw system in the right spot could return you $15,000 pa which was never going to last.

My recommendation for anyone installing solar is the bigger, the better and pay more for a reputable company. Also, German and Aussie made does not mean good, it means expensive. Go with Chinese panels. They are as good as any and half the price. As for inverter? That's tough. Aurora, SMA, CMS, Aerosharpe(if on a tight budget), Xantrex and there are probably one or two other decent ones on the market now, but they are the pick.

EDIT: I see you're in NSW. The Premium feed in tariff is no longer available, so solar is questionable from a financial perspective. Environmentally, yes, financially you're looking at ~10 year pay back, which still isn't terrible, but it's not great.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Cowboy1600

[Ruxis]

Thanks for the info .

Yeah new so I might have to stretch the truth, Base my talk as if it still has the 60c rule. My dad has the 60c rule then got more with the 0c rule hah. All they do is turn back our clock.