Posts By Ronald Brakels, Author & Fact-Checker At SolarQuotes

What Is A Cast Monosilicon Solar Panel?

what is a cast mono solar panel?

You’ve probably heard of mono and poly panels. Now there’s a third type: ‘cast-mono’. But what the hell is it?

Silicon is the Queen of solar power.  Some people say Coal is King, but I say our Queen can kick your King’s arse. [Read more…]

6th Canberra Battery Test Centre Report — 61% Of Tested Batteries Faulty

Battery Test Centre June 2019 update

The Canberra Battery Test Centre has released their latest six monthly report.  It took them 9 months to get it out, but I’m glad they took their time, as it’s a beauty. [Read more…]

New Solar Panel Reliability Scorecard For 2019 — GCL, JA, And Longi Do Well

PVEL solar panel scorecard - June 2019

A new Module Reliability Scorecard was published earlier this month.  It reveals the sadistic practices of a standards organization that subjected solar panels to torturous tests so they could announce which ones came out on top. [Read more…]

SCOOP! — Canadian Solar Product Warranty: Now 12 Years

Canadian solar product warranty increased

Today I spoke with Michael Rush, the head of Sales and Marketing for Canadian Solar in Australia.  Well, I say I spoke to him today, but you’re actually reading this during my tomorrow — so my today is now your yesterday.  I guess time really is a wibbly wobbly thing.

He told me some interesting things.  They included: [Read more…]

Simple Payback Time For 6.5 kW Of Rooftop Solar By Australian Capital — June 2019

solar panel payback

Discover typical solar payback in 2019 for each of Australia’s state capitals.

One year and one month ago I wrote about the simple payback time of rooftop solar, which is how long it takes the savings from solar power to equal the cost of a system.  In most Australian capitals it took around 5 years or less, which meant rooftop PV was one of the best investments households could make.

I have done the same thing again — except differently [Read more…]

6.6 kW Solar System: How Many Solar Panels?

Solar panels - 6.66kW system

6.66 kW is the largest solar system most people are allowed (without resorting to export limiters). How many panels do you need to reach the magic number?

If someone casually asks me how much solar they should install, I may simply tell them they should fill their roof with as much capacity as they reasonably can.  But after learning the details, I often recommend installing as close to 6.66 kilowatts as possible. [Read more…]

Green Power Vs. Rooftop Solar: Solar Easily Wins But Having Both Is Greenest

GreenPower vs. solar power - which is greenest?

A while back a reader asked me for a post on rooftop solar vs. Green Power.  Or, if you spell as badly as a government national program — GreenPower.  So here it is: [Read more…]

Delta and Huawei Commercial Inverters Beat Fronius & SMA In PVEL Testing

PVEL testing - top performing solar inverters

And you thought the election was a shock result…

I have good news.  PVEL —  a standards testing company — has released a solar inverter scorecard.  It describes how a dozen different tests were performed on a variety of inverters and which were the top performers [Read more…]

The New Energy Tech Consumer Code — I Submit!

 New Energy Tech Consumer Code submission

On Friday I wrote about how the New Energy Tech Consumer Code was seeking submissions.  Given its current state I said it could definitely do with some, so I’ve typed up mine and and put it below. [Read more…]

On Saturday I Voted For The Planet — But It Didn’t Work!

Australian election 2019 - climate change

“The planet’s burning you idiots!’. But hey, at least your negative gearing and franking credits are safe. (Image: HBO)

On Saturday morning I wandered down to my local polling booth to exercise my voting power.  I have more of this than the average Australian because South Australia has a low population, yet the same number of senators as other states. [Read more…]

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