Unless your local electricity network provides a local variation to a new Australian Standard that becomes mandatory on Thursday, it may be illegal to install a Powerwall 2 plus solar on a single phase. [Read more…]
Search Results for: queensland
Tindo Solar, Australia’s Only Solar Panel Manufacturer, Bought By SA’s Cool or Cosy
Tindo Solar is now owned by SA company ‘Cool or Cosy’.
Tindo Solar, Australia’s only manufacturer of Solar panels has been bought by South Australia’s insulation, solar installation, and energy efficiency company Cool or Cosy.
The deal was announced on… Well actually, it hasn’t been announced yet1. But since I’m from Queensland, obviously I know Julian Assange, so you can trust me to know all the secrets. [Read more…]
What Everybody Ought to Know About Solar Panels And The Environment
I think fossil fuels are great. [Read more…]
SVTC Solar Scorecard: A Great Idea Badly Executed
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition should be a really useful tool for solar buyers. Unfortunately it isn’t.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, or SVTC to its friends, is an organisation that has been working hard for over 32 years to protect this life encrusted blob of nickel and iron spinning in space that we call Earth.
SVTC campaigns to promote both safe environmental practices and ethical behavior in high tech industries. Each year since 2009 they have released a report called the SVTC Solar Scorecard that ranks solar panel manufacturers on both their environmental sustainability and ethical behavior. [Read more…]
2016 The Good News: CO2 Emissions Level Off, Cost Of Solar Falls
It has become fashionable to refer to 2016 as a horrible year. An annus horribilis.
If your personal annus has been horribilis, then you have my condolences. But I think, for most of the world’s population, it has actually been a pretty good year. An annus prettigoodis if you will. [Read more…]
Should you go off grid with a Powerwall 2?
Thinking of getting a Powerwall 2 and taking yourself off grid? Then you need to read this first.
Note from Finn:
Since this post was published Tesla have canned the DC Powerwall 2 in Australia. We will now only be able to get an AC Powerwall 2. A regular AC coupled battery is no good for off grid because it can’t talk to the solar inverter to balance energy demand and supply. So if you live in Australia and want to go off grid do not use a Powerwall 2.
A long time ago, back in the days before we knew how lame the original Powerwall was compared to its hype or how good the Powerwall 2’s hype is compared to the original Powerwall, I wrote about whether or not my parents in sub-tropical Queensland could save money by going off-grid using lead-acid battery storage.
My conclusion was they could not save money even under almost ideal circumstances. The benefit of staying on-grid and receiving even a low feed-in tariff for surplus solar electricity was too great to make saying sayonara to the grid connection wire worthwhile. [Read more…]
Unwitting Warranties: A Ticking Time Bomb For The Battery Industry
As soon as a battery manufacturer says this, your battery magically gets a 20 year warranty in Australia. No matter what the warranty document says.
The other day a salesperson give me the rundown on a home battery system he had on display. While it wasn’t cheap, it certainly appeared to be a very impressive piece of technology. The salesperson clearly had a lot of confidence in it because, even though its written warranty was only for 10 years, he very generously doubled that to a 20 year warranty without batting an eyelid.
Ben Affleck would bat his eyelids for two hours a day in preparation for this role.
We weren’t related, so nepotism wasn’t the reason for his generosity. And it wasn’t because I saved his life in Nam…bour. (That sugar cane train could be really dangerous.) We weren’t old schoolmates, and as hard as it may be to believe, he wasn’t taken in by my charm and good looks.
No, the reason why he gave me a 20 year warranty was simply because he didn’t realize he was giving one. Or possibly, he did realize he was giving one and really hates his company.
He gave me a 20 year warranty when he told me the battery system had a design life of 20 years. According to Australian Consumer Law, if a salesperson makes a statement that a reasonable person would conclude to mean that a product can be expected to last for 20 years, then that counts as a 20 year warranty. It doesn’t matter that this warranty was given verbally or that it is twice as long as its written warranty, legally it still counts. [Read more…]
Energex Tries To Stop Tide Of Batteries With Bonkers Tariff 31 and 33 Rule
Cnut from Energex1 tries to stop batteries.
Will Trump Take A Dump On Solar?
Will Trump destroy the US clean energy industry?
Donald Trump has won the US Presidential election. The people of the United States of America have spoken. They haven’t spoken very well, but they have done it. And since they will have a guy in charge who never shuts up, they’re not likely to stop now.
Does Battery Storage Help Or Hurt The Environment?
If you want to save the environment and have limited funds, then buying batteries should not be a priority.
Millions of Australians have installed rooftop solar to help the environment and save money.
Many are hoping home battery storage will soon let them do the same.
The cost of home energy storage is falling rapidly and it may not be long before it pays for itself. But at its current price it will not save money, even under favourable circumstances, when used on-grid. Despite this, there have been hundreds, or possibly thousands, of people who have installed home battery systems because they want to help the environment.
Have these people made a horrible mistake? [Read more…]
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