Potential pumped hydro sites | Image: Australian National University
Researchers at ANU say 22,000+ potential pumped hydro sites they have identified across Australia represent storage capacity of 67,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh), far more than the nation requires to support a reliable 100% renewable energy based electricity system.
Heat Pump Hot Water. Power it with Solar PV and its efficiency cannot be beaten by solar thermal. Bloody expensive though.
If you are looking for the most efficient solar hot water system then solar PV panels powering a heat pump are hard to beat.
While both the panels and heat pump will need to be proficient performers, it is possible for the combination to beat solar thermal hot water which is widely considered the most efficient method. [Read more…]
August saw a significant increase in the proportion of Australians wanting to install battery-ready PV systems according to the latest SolarQuotes Australian Solar System Interest Index (auSSII) report.
Update: since publishing this article commenters have made us aware of 3 other hot water diverters on the Australian market, the ‘Dimplex Free-E’ and, The Fronius OhmPilot and a unit from SolarEdge. We’ll add these to the comparison table as soon as we have enough info. If you know of any others let us know.
I recently wrote about solar hot water diverters. These devices use your surplus solar electricity to power your hot water cylinder.
They can cut your electricity bills provided your solar feed-in tariff is less than the cost of the grid electricity used to heat your water — which is not always the case.
I am going to assume you’ve read my earlier article, done your research, and decided a solar hot water diverter is for you. You’ve either determined it will save you money or it was love at first comprehension of the concept and you’ve realized you can’t live without one. So the question becomes, which diverter should you choose? [Read more…]
Australia’s states and territories are lifters and the Federal Government continues to be a leaner on renewable energy and emissions reduction.
For more than 4 years, Citizens Own Renewable Energy Network Australia (CORENA) has been utilising people power to help community groups install solar.
If you want to store your solar energy, should you put it in a battery or in your hot water cylinder?
Update: Compare all the hot water diverters available in Australia here.
How A Diverter Can Give You Solar Hot Water And Store Energy At A Lower Cost Than Batteries
A solar hot water diverter is an electronic device that sends surplus electricity from your rooftop solar to your electric hot water cylinder. This reduces, or even eliminates, the need to use grid electricity to heat water. Under the right circumstances diverters can save you money and allow you to store energy at a cost lower than batteries.
STC prices dropping means solar prices have risen. What has that done to solar payback times?
We were warned.
We all knew this was coming.
But who among us was prepared for the recent tumble in the price of STCs that lower the cost of rooftop solar?
Well, I was. [Read more…]
Solar panel image: B137, CC BY-SA 4.0
Other electricity retailers have announced solar feed in tariff increases since AGL’s recent announcement – find out how much you could be getting for your solar power from July 2017.
Electricity companies to count even more of Australians’ money | Image: Public Domain
Rising energy costs appear to be the third thing you can be assured of in life in Australia these days. Here’s a look at the looming impacts in each state in relation to major electricity retailers.
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