On Monday John Inglis from Positronic1 Solar had a guest post published on our blog where he called for 100% of new rooftop solar installations to be inspected by the state or territory’s electrical regulator. [Read more…]
How To End Dodgy Solar For Good? 100% Inspections By State Electrical Bodies
This is a guest post by John Inglis, owner of Positronic Solar. John is a veteran of the solar industry. Rumour has it that his involvement predates the invention of the sun dial. Take it away John… [Read more…]
Why Solar Analytics Is Better Than The Fronius Smart Meter
If you want consumption monitoring you should buy Solar Analytics instead of a Fronius Smart Meter. If you need Fronius export limiting you should buy both. Here’s why…
I love Fronius. The last solar power system I bought came with a Fronius Primo inverter. 1
I also love Solar Analytics. It is the best monitoring system I’ve ever used. I love the way it proactively tells you if there is a problem with your PV system. I love the number showing you how well your solar installation is performing from 0-100%. [Read more…]
Solar Installation Audit: 20% Of Installs Sub-Standard – More Than 2% Dangerous
CER Audit: Over 20% Of Solar Installations Are Sub-Standard And More Than 2% Are Dangerous. 0% of installers suspended by CER.
Australia’s Renewable Energy Target or RET was audited last year and a report released last month. It’s a 25,000 word report so I’m not going into everything it covers. There’s way too much detail for that. It’s enormous. If you wanted me to write that many words it would take me all day. Even longer if you wanted them in coherent sentences. [Read more…]
Poor Solar Panel Performance? Be Sure To Check Both Energy and Power.
If you suspect your solar power system has poor performance – here’s what you need to check.
Although I personally can’t think of anything in life more exciting than getting a new solar power system installed, I sincerely hope you can – otherwise you’d be as weird as me. Having said that, even those who score 10 out of 10 on the Voight-Kampff normal human test should feel excited when they get their first solar system. Unfortunately, this excitement sometimes gives way to confusion and heartbreak if they erroneously come to the conclusion that their new solar panels are not performing as well as they should. [Read more…]
The Good Solar Guide: 7 Steps To Tiny Bills For Australian Homeowners
Almost 10 years ago, I sat down for 2 weeks in Brighton Public Library and put everything I knew about residential solar power systems into my battered old laptop. I used the free Wi-Fi to upload that information to a home-brewed website called SolarQuotes. The knowledge was picked up from working for the Energy Transformed Flagship at CSIRO combined with my broader background in electrical engineering.
Since then, millions of people have visited the site; which has been continuously improved over the years. [Read more…]
Am I Breaking The Law If My Electricity Meter Runs Backwards?
Are you allowed to use newly installed solar to run your meter backwards?
If you have a very old electricity meter, a new rooftop solar installation can make that meter run backwards. But only if the solar power system is switched on before a new compatible meter is installed. [Read more…]
Asking Origin How Long It Takes Them To Change An Electricity Meter: An 11 Step Process
Electricity meters are low cost, reliable devices that measure how much grid your home uses. Traditional meters need someone to come around and read them, but all new meter installations now have to be smart meters that transmit information wirelessly, making your human meter reader redundant. [Read more…]
Ronald’s Hints, Tips, And Tricks For Commercial Solar
Here at SolarQuotes we’ve put together a resource on commercial solar power called:
If you have a business but no solar panels, it’s made for you. Or if you work at a business without solar and want some cred for suggesting a money saving idea you may want to run your eyeballs over it for that reason. It’s full of solid advice and I highly recommend it. The only way I could recommend it more is if I wrote it myself. And I didn’t do that because I actually had no involvement with it at all. [Read more…]
Rooftop Solar And Exclusion Zones: Where Solar Panels Dare Not Go
How close to the edge of the roof should your solar panels go?
In the past I’ve written about solar panel clamping zones which determine where, on a solar panel’s edge, you can place the clamps that attach the modules to their mounting rails. What I didn’t do was go into just where on a roof solar panels can and can’t be installed. [Read more…]
Currently Raging Debates: