Has anyone got solar panels on their roof?

[steve_t]

Looking at getting a grid connected solar system on the roof. Just thought I'd see if anyone has one and if there are any 'good to know' things. Probably getting 3kw

[superman]

Looking at getting a grid connected solar system on the roof. Just thought I'd see if anyone has one and if there are any 'good to know' things. Probably getting 3kw

Have they started plans where the energy companies pay you for any excess that goes back out to the grid? Or are they still isolated systems?

We've just got an isolated water heating solar panel.

[Pwalo]

I'd suggest that you look at the cost and life span of the solar panels. These haven't been too flash in the past.

My understanding is that you can feed back into the power grid but you will need to meet generation standards so that you don't upset phasing etc. Your lines company should be able to give some info on this.

[avgas]

Have they started plans where the energy companies pay you for any excess that goes back out to the grid? Or are they still isolated systems?

We've just got an isolated water heating solar panel.

Grid connected systems feed back into the grid and you get credited for the power.

I don't have a system......yet........need to buy a house first. But you have to remember that grid connected systems are really expensive. Last quote I got roughly worked out was about $3000 kW (installed). Where as a battery system is less than half that.
Problem is none of the cheap grid connected inverters are 230v, most are 110V AC.

[steve_t]

Have they started plans where the energy companies pay you for any excess that goes back out to the grid? Or are they still isolated systems?

We've just got an isolated water heating solar panel.

Yeah, 37c per kWh I think thru Meridian

[imdying]

I'd suggest that you look at the cost and life span of the solar panels. These haven't been too flash in the past.

Definitely worth keeping an eye on... as their dev state is relatively infantile the jumps they've been making in the last few years have been awesome... increases in efficiency of 50% in foul swoop. IIRC earlier this year they finally broken even against power created from fossil fuels.

Two things I believe are critical to the survival of the human race... Solar power (the sun has all the energy we could ever possibly want) and getting the hell of this rock (because eventually that lovely sun is going to start to get bigger and we'll all be BBQ'd).

[steve_t]

I'd suggest that you look at the cost and life span of the solar panels. These haven't been too flash in the past.

My understanding is that you can feed back into the power grid but you will need to meet generation standards so that you don't upset phasing etc. Your lines company should be able to give some info on this.

From what I understand, the panels are warrantied for 10 years but expected to last at least 25. I'll check. Thanks for the heads up too as I notice there are many different types of panels and I don't wanna get cheap shitty ones

[Pwalo]

From what I understand, the panels are warrantied for 10 years but expected to last at least 25. I'll check. Thanks for the heads up too as I notice there are many different types of panels and I don't wanna get cheap shitty ones

Good idea. Just remember that a ten year warranty is b all use if the manufacturer isn't around after ten years. I have never heard of solar panels being effecient/useable after ten years, and I don't know who's suggesting that they are any where near the effeciency of fossil fuels.

NZ is also a pretty harsh enviroment for panels.

[paturoa]

There are a bunch of youtube vids on making your own for a fraction of the cost of the commercial pre-built panels. Half of them are loonie / commies who prob belong to the "occupy" groups. Some are a good read, but the raw cells are not avail to buy in unzud like in the videos.

The other cost to consider is the battery life and as you go up power the bat costs go up too!

[jim.cox]

I have a access to a couple of bachs with solar systems. Only small, used for lighting and water pumps, they work well.

Jaycar have some very good pricing on panels and led lights

[steve_t]

There are a bunch of youtube vids on making your own for a fraction of the cost of the commercial pre-built panels. Half of them are loonie / commies who prob belong to the "occupy" groups. Some are a good read, but the raw cells are not avail to buy in unzud like in the videos.

The other cost to consider is the battery life and as you go up power the bat costs go up too!

Haha... I know. I was wondering if it was just for the hippies but an opportunity arose and I decided to go for it, especially given the constantly rising price of electricity. I read the other day that Genesis made $90m net profit and thinks it's not enough so will be raising prices shortly

Oh, and grid tied systems don't use any batteries

[SPman]

We've had a 1.5 Kw system for 2 1/2 years. Cost us $1800 installed (thank you Aus gov subsidies) and we have a 40c feed in tarriff. Our power bills have plummeted - you also tend to become more aware of power usage as well when you do things like this - turning things off, instead of leaving them on standby, etc. We are "lucky", in that when the panels are producing full output, there's no one home for 4 days a week, so it nearly all goes straight back into the grid and we aren't drawing down at peak rates.

I'd suggest that you look at the cost and life span of the solar panels. These haven't been too flash in the past.

The cost is plummeting and the life span is considered a good 20 yrs plus. We have a guy not too far from us has had panels for 18 yrs, and they're still going strong ... There is intensive development in solar generation and also battery development - we'd like to get a "stand alone" backup system - no point having panels generating power if they're shut down when the power goes off - which it does quite frequently out our way....

[sootie]

Solar panels are a brilliant idea. The trouble is that for most of us it just does not work out that well in practice.
If you burn lots of other fuels (wood, lpg etc) & a connection to the National Grid is really difficult, and you live in a very sunny area, and you use separate solar water heating and you use a bit of generator backup and everyone in your household is really miserly with their power usage you can get by, if that is how you want to live. A few folks folks are doing it in NZ.

Some very rough - back of an envelope statistics:
An average NZ house uses about 1kw of power averaged over the day & year.
In practice, it takes around 10 sq metres of solar panel to produce 1kW of electricity in full sunlight.
In a very good NZ location you might get the equivalent of 8 hours direct sunlight power output per day.
(I don't pretend these figures are more than rough estimates).
I Suggest that if solar power really interests you, you go do some calculations allowing that electricity storage is like to be about 70% efficient & it costs heaps to provide big batteries.
Solar power is not a waste of time, but the real return on investment is usually disappointing.

There are some really interesting developments going on with solar power generation & I for one hope they make the whole thing better for all of us. In the meantime, what we are getting is mostly hype, and figures from places like Germany & Japan where it is in the government's interest to subsidise solar power generation because it supports a local manufacturing industry, and because their electricity needs are vast and their generation alternatives are not.

[rickstv]

Don't expect to break even in your lifetime. If you average a power consumption of 25 units a day, the best you can hope for from your system will be 3 kwhrs (3 units) for each of the 2.5 hr average sun hrs/day. there is not much power in the sun before 10 am and after 3 pm.

On a good day you may get 10 Kwhrs or 10 units which will offset your 25 units, so you only pay the utility for 15 units.

You will still be paying a daily supply charge and about 25 cents a unit, the utility will usually want to pay you wholesale rates of 5 cents a unit if you actually have any power to sell to them. some Power companies will pay more, up to retail price.

We don't have the govt incentives to help pay for these installs like Germany, Spain and USA because our energy is already mostly generated by renewables anyway.

Rick.

[NinjaNanna]

Solar panels don't like shade, not even a little bit of shade on just one area of the array. Make sure any trees you have around the house can be pruned back.

And google, google and google some more, there's heaps of good info out there and this is just some of it http://www.schoolgen.co.nz/ss/default.aspx

great for getting some real-world sun light hours statistics.

oh yes and check to see that the solar controller you are being quoted is a MPPT one (Maximum Power Point Tracking) research to find out what I mean.

Good luck, its certainly an interesting field.