Solar... who's clued in?

gippyz

Likes Dirt
Bought new place in the Dandenongs (Vic), called up lots of installers, no one wants to do the job for us. They all said it is not going to be worthwhile as you won't get much back because of the tree cover. Anyone knows a reputable installer in Vic who will just give us a quote on the job rather than advising us whether it is worthwhile or not? We have 2 EVs in the house and very high electric bill (household of 2 with bill equivalent of 6!). Even a smidgen of sun will help.
 

BKMad

Likes Dirt
Bought new place in the Dandenongs (Vic), called up lots of installers, no one wants to do the job for us. They all said it is not going to be worthwhile as you won't get much back because of the tree cover. Anyone knows a reputable installer in Vic who will just give us a quote on the job rather than advising us whether it is worthwhile or not? We have 2 EVs in the house and very high electric bill (household of 2 with bill equivalent of 6!). Even a smidgen of sun will help.
Can you get sun in any direction? It is surprising how much you can get from panels not facing north. I have 8 panels facing NW and 12 facing SE with lots of close trees on the NW side. It comes on strong early and only really drops off around 2pm in winter. In summer, the SW panels are still working right up to about 5pm. If you are surrounded by trees on all sides, then you will obviously have a shorter window of time when its working for you.
 

gippyz

Likes Dirt
Can you get sun in any direction? It is surprising how much you can get from panels not facing north. I have 8 panels facing NW and 12 facing SE with lots of close trees on the NW side. It comes on strong early and only really drops off around 2pm in winter. In summer, the SW panels are still working right up to about 5pm. If you are surrounded by trees on all sides, then you will obviously have a shorter window of time when its working for you.
We can definitely get enough sun on the roof, especially in the afternoon. In summer, we're good from late morning until late arvo. There won't be much in winter, but we know that. We get pretty much all day sun on the driveway and were going get a specially designed car port strong enough to hold the panels, but we're holding back now as we can't get anyone willing to do the job. I even called up solar victoria to complain, and they can only say they can't force any installer to do the job.

I just don't understand why no one wants to do it. They all just back out after they say we will come back to you with a quote. I can't believe they don't want our business.
 

bear the bear

Is a real bear
looking at a 10.6 kw system, no battery, just can’t justify it
That's a lot of panels, you obviously have the roof space.
Are the govt rebates still in effect?
We paid $10k for our system down from $15k with rebate.
Based on the current calcs, it will have paid for itself in ~ 6 years and adds $10-15k to the house price
 

rextheute

Likes Bikes and Dirt

as per @indica , can rate this fellas ‘ list of blokes ‘ - the solar industry is a bit random ….
Currently awaiting an install date should be in next 3-4 weeks , and yeah we have shading issues also - big trees n coverage in winter to the North facing side . Had had a system previously on another house and it worked - as a offset to usage and rising price of electrickery, this might be okay - low usage tho ( although I am genuinely shocked at some low usage numbers above ) although we are at around 7-8 kWh a day - $2.80 a day ish
 
That's a lot of panels, you obviously have the roof space.
Are the govt rebates still in effect?
We paid $10k for our system down from $15k with rebate.
Based on the current calcs, it will have paid for itself in ~ 6 years and adds $10-15k to the house price
we could fit more panels but I don’t think it’s worth it.

strategy is to fit this system, pay it off and hopefully by that time batteries will be more viable

rebate (stc) still in place, about $5k for this system so cost is $9,500 after the rebate
 

bear the bear

Is a real bear

as per @indica , can rate this fellas ‘ list of blokes ‘ - the solar industry is a bit random ….
Currently awaiting an install date should be in next 3-4 weeks , and yeah we have shading issues also - big trees n coverage in winter to the North facing side . Had had a system previously on another house and it worked - as a offset to usage and rising price of electrickery, this might be okay - low usage tho ( although I am genuinely shocked at some low usage numbers above ) although we are at around 7-8 kWh a day - $2.80 a day ish
That's who we used for the recommendation for the installer in the ACT, and they were top-notch!
 

bear the bear

Is a real bear
we could fit more panels but I don’t think it’s worth it.

strategy is to fit this system, pay it off and hopefully by that time batteries will be more viable

rebate (stc) still in place, about $5k for this system so cost is $9,500 after the rebate
Battery for the Tesla power wall was $1k per KWh is this still the case?
This was 2x the cost for an 8kwh system 4 years ago with a 20kwh power wall
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Is that chart really predicting that you'd be using over 40kWh per day in winter or am I reading it wrong? I would have thought that 2 powerwalls should be plenty to keep you going year round. Plenty of people get by on one.
I guess so. It's probably based on the floor size of the house. We don't have a pool, in floor heating or any other major power draws in winter. My wife and I don't really use the reverse cycle in winter. So who knows.

I expect my usage to be pretty high in summer. I looove air conditioning.

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
wow - cost?
$63k for top of the line parts and 28kwh of capacity. Smaller 20kwh batteries drops the cost by about $5k, but we're unlikely to be largely self sufficient then. Note we also have an EV with a 60kwh battery.

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
We can definitely get enough sun on the roof, especially in the afternoon. In summer, we're good from late morning until late arvo. There won't be much in winter, but we know that. We get pretty much all day sun on the driveway and were going get a specially designed car port strong enough to hold the panels, but we're holding back now as we can't get anyone willing to do the job. I even called up solar victoria to complain, and they can only say they can't force any installer to do the job.

I just don't understand why no one wants to do it. They all just back out after they say we will come back to you with a quote. I can't believe they don't want our business.
They are probably doing it based on your location and the satellite data and the theory that you will use the RECs generated to offset the cost (so they can claim them on your behalf). In other words...they are assuming you can't afford it.

Try talking to Renew (they used to be called the Alternative Technology Association). They might be able to help...
 

mark22

Likes Dirt
Feed ins have already stopped in some suburbs. I.e. the local substation is already at feed in capacity.

We're installing a 11kw system with 2 power walls on 2 phases to try and be as self sufficient as possible. The modelling suggests we will have excess energy in Summer and be in defect in winter.



Personally I'm not so sure. I run the a/c pretty hard and happy to use jumpers in winter.

Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk
That is realistic graph for solar output in cooler climates. Approx 1/3 winter output of summer.
I have had a PV 3.6kw for 12 years it has generated over twice the kW that I have used.
I was lucky to have got in on the feed in of 44c (currently 50c Alinta energy)
I have a 3 phase 14kw ducted air con with an energy efficient house, the least amount of refund I have received is $90 (winter) due to me running the air-conditioning on heat pretty regularly.
The most was $400 in summer running the air-conditioning now and again. Location is Brisbane.

Batteries are not financial viable, YET. Due to their diminishing performance and longevity.
Also peak usage coincides with the lowest PV output as indicated by the above graph for 4+ months For that instance and most likely the majority of us.
 
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