The big news in Australian politics during the week was of course the return of the Queensland kid, aka The Ruddster, The Nerdy One etc. The Machiavellian machinations of the Australian Labor Party which allowed the regurgitation of Kevin Rudd has done wonders to kick start a moribund election campaign, but what effect will this have on the party’s solar power policy?
At the time of writing Heavy Kevvy had just announced his new front bench. [Read more…]
“Me Barnaby – Me like fire and coal. Grunt Grunt”
As the country is dragged reluctantly — like a kid from a lolly shop — into election mode following the Prime Minister’s Jan. 30 early announcement, it is instructive to see where the mainstream media turned much of its attention. To which party is best suited to handle the economy? The environment? Climate change? Energy policy? No. Much of the media’s focus has been on the significance of the PM’s new glasses.
Will the new glasses signify a new 20/20 “vision splendid” for the nation’s energy policy? A policy of engaging with renewables (particularly solar power)? Or do they signify a myopic energy policy dedicated to continuing support of fossil fuel subsidies? [Read more…]
Hint: It’s a bit more complicated than you might think!
By my reckoning 25% of people buying solar power systems want to save the planet as a priority. The other 75% want to save their bottom line and saving the planet is a nice side-effect.
I get a lot of emails saying: “Help! My bills are [insert large number here] dolars a quarter – what size solar system do I need?”
The answer to this question is quite longwinded – but if you want to understand whether a solar system is worthwhile for you financially – you need to understand this stuff! So I made a video to help explain. If you are considering buying a solar system I strongly recommend watching this:
[Note: Since I made this video the Victorian and QLD Feed In tariffs are no longer more generous than the rest of the country – they are both 8c per kWh at time of writing!]
Did you hear about the Queensland proposal a couple of weeks ago that proposed an 8c per kWh GROSS Feed In Tariff? That would mean Queenslanders would have to sell ALL their solar power to the retailers for 8c (yes – ALL of it – even the stuff that they used in their home). And then buy it back for about 30c.
Yup – that would be called institutionalised theft.
Stories like that make most people want to get off the grid altogether.
So I get quite a few quote requests these days for “Off Grid” solar power systems. However most people don’t fully realise what a big and expensive step it is to cut the wires to the grid.
So I made this video to explain what it really means to go off grid in 2012. I hope you enjoy it:
I’ve been busy making videos that answer some common solar questions. Here I talk about Feed In Tariffs and what to do if your nasty energy retailer wants to punish you for going solar…
Transcription below for those who prefer to read: [Read more…]
Juat add 1,000,000 solar panels!
Nice to report on a good news story in renewable energy. News this week from ABC Broken Hill of negotiations which will see up to a third of a 600 hectare station to the west of Broken Hill covered in around one million (count ‘em) photovoltaic (PV) solar panels by 2015.
Geoff Luke, the owner of the station, told the ABC the finalised project was the result of protracted negotiations with energy company AGL.
“It would be close to two years now that we’ve been chatting about it and finally it looks like it’s come to fruition,” he said.
The partnership with AGL has been made possible by the opportunities provided by the often much maligned (by solar narks) Federal Government’s Solar Flagships Program. Mr Luke confirmed that the project had been accepted into the Flagship’s program and was ready to er…sail. [Read more…]
Bluescope want your taxes!
A news item caught your correspondent’s eye last week. According to an ABC local news report of 4 July, the government is set to shell out half of the required funding for a project which will allow solar panels to be integrated into metal roofing. Due to one of Australia’s most polluting companies being on its knees due to the carbon tax (inserts <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags here) we, the taxpayer, are to contribute $2.3 million of this $5 million solar power project for Bluescope Steel. [Read more…]
PAYG Solar Too?
Have you considered installing a domestic solar system but have been put off by the initial cost? Then the recently-announced unveiling of a radical new pay-as-you-go plan in Australia may be for you.
According to an April 21 report in the Sydney Morning Herald, an American company, Sungevity Inc., has teamed up with Lismore-based solar installer Nickel Energy to set up an Australian subsidiary, Sungevity Australia, which offers free solar panel installation. [Read more…]
Hybrid Solar Too?
Please note: this post was written in 2012 and is way out of date.
>>> Please visit this page on solar batteries, which is constantly updated. <<<
In my previous blog post on hybrid solar systems (aka grid connect with battery backup) I promised to follow up with a post that went into more detail on the costs and give examples of inverter hardware that can be used to make such a beast.
I’ve realised that if I go into the costs and paybacks then this blog post may be longer than War and Peace. So in this post I’ll cover the hardware and I’ll save the financials for next time.
As I said in the previous post, your motivation for spending more on a hybrid solar system will likely be either: [Read more…]
Well done Dubbo solar power installers!
Sunny in Dubbo
If you read the mainstream press in Australia, you’d think the towns and suburbs with the biggest average take up of solar panels would be the well-to-do inner city suburbs of our major cities. Perhaps Vaucluse, Toorak or the leafy eastern suburbs of Adelaide?
Obviously they’d be more likely where wealth is concentrated right?
Wrong (as you may have guessed by the headline!). In a sign that solar energy is becoming more accessible to mainstream Aussie folk, a recent survey by the Clean Energy Council (CEC) found the central-west NSW city of Dubbo to have the highest average percentage of houses with solar panels.
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