1, 1.5, 2, 3KW Solar Panel Systems

[BV]

In America and other countries,I believe (Someone please set me straight if I have been led astray) it is now becoming common practice for the firefighters to stand by and let them burn .

It could be that the panels are wired differently there.
Here we supply our electricity to the grid and don't use it to power up our homes

 

[redsquash]

Cloud cover and kw generation

There has been a lot of the rain and cloud cover in Brisbane from mid December until now.
Can someone post some figures on the rate of electricity that has been generated and the size of your system,under these conditions?

 

[Deena]

I cannot comment for Brisbane, but in winter and low sunlight, heat, cloudy days my electricity generation goes way down to about 2.6 kw a day. I am in Perth and have a 1.5kw system

 

[Francesco]

Belated response - back from holidays

I thought the same as you however after looking in to the matter more,
There is still an issue of live power from the actual panels to the actual switch.
Where is the switch is it on the roof next to the panels or at the meter-box?
If it is at the panels,how do you reach it when the house is on fire?

There is one switch on the roof, right at the end of the panels mounted in series and there is another switch between the inverter and the smart meter. So there are two separate switches. When there is no sun there is no power and there should be no need to flick the switch. Depending on the stage of the fire and common sense the roof switch can be flicked if required.

When the SES gets on the roof,it is to fix holes created by large hail or falling trees or debris,chances of the panels being damaged in this situation is very high and the chances of them being in the rain and sun at this time is also very high.

As an installer and someone who has obviously made money from the fitting of these,can you tell us if there is an actual cut off point at the panels or is the wire going from the panels to the power box still live?
This wiring,is it normal electrical wire or is it fireproof,indestructible wire,
Could it melt on a steel frame or color-bond roof and send the roof live?(Without an earth leakage)

I am NOT an installer. There is an actual cut off point at the end of the panels as stated above, before the transmitting cable and inverter. This is required in the ACT. The risk of a DC transmitting cable has already been addressed by others.



It seems that once a panel is broken by hail or debris it is no longer waterproof and fire has a way of stepping around waterproof?

If the panel is broken then production of any photovoltaic DC will be dramatically curtailed. What is more important is whether the components such as cable are waterproofed sufficiently to prevent leakage.


Not many repairs are carried out at night,and fires don't wait till night time and as an ex fireman I know this personally.

Night time would be a different scenario and insulation and water proofing burns as easy as anything if not better exposing dangers not thought about.

I know by bringing this up some people might change their mind and not install these panels as you would like,however as a customer who has these panels,if I knew then what I know now,I would never have got them

I am happy with the panels I have.

 

[Spectre]

Thought I would revisit this thread and ask peoples opinions on the current Origin offer for 1.5 systems. It seems to be the same system (well maybe a variance on the panels) that Solar Energy centre quoted me about a year ago at about 50% less.


http://www.originenergy.com.au/2100/Solar-electricity

 

[w0nnie]

i ordered this system just 2 days ago. i went with origin being a larger company, the concern i had was the many fly by nighters popping up so i wanted to go with someone who will still be there to honour the warranty.

ill let you know how the install goes and if i have any issues.

 

[Corey Batt]

I suggest you don't go with the chinese standards and upgrade to the Sharp panels and invertor for $800 more.

Talking to the installer I was told that they carry three chinese invertors when ever they install, as they have a high failure rate. Furthermore their generation in cloudier days are less and higher long term fail rates.

It is all covered by warranty of course, however for $800 more I thought piece of mind and greater low light efficiency was preferable.

 

[Witzl]

you are seriously kidding yourself if you think that a "chinese" panel will output less than an equivalent "sharp" or other branded solar panel..... if they are both mono-crystalline panels, they will have near IDENTICAL power output if installed in an identical system.

Monocrystalline is monocrystalline, and if both are CEC approved (they have to be to be installed in grid tie systems), then they are bound to the same mnfr processes.

It's like comparing home brand milk to dairy farmers milk. Same stuff, just more expensive.

 

[k_les53]

solar panels

I just install solar panels 1.52 kW from company Beyond Building Energy and it cost $1495.They promise a lot and were very polite.After installation my system gives only 1 kW.I have perfect position no shadows.I contact service department and the problems start.They are always busy and they can`t come.Now is 6 weeks and some one come and said that sun is not strong so he can`t check what is the problem,I ask when can you come and fix the problem he said I don`t know.Now I`m waiting 2 month and no one is coming.I try to make you aware that this company is no good they charge less but service is hoples so becarefull.

 

[Ausprop]

you are seriously kidding yourself if you think that a "chinese" panel will output less than an equivalent "sharp" or other branded solar panel..... if they are both mono-crystalline panels, they will have near IDENTICAL power output if installed in an identical system.

Monocrystalline is monocrystalline, and if both are CEC approved (they have to be to be installed in grid tie systems), then they are bound to the same mnfr processes.

It's like comparing home brand milk to dairy farmers milk. Same stuff, just more expensive.

pretty much the same stuff, just a bit of permeate blended thru and no one will know.

 

[Pa1nter]

I am still fighting with energex to get my meter installed after nearly five months since installation of my 1.5 system.,

The form 1003 was submitted in 9th November last year,they say they didn't get it.Yesterday I made them go through their faxes and guess what they found the application,however they never acted apon it

However even though the property electricity account was in my name for over 7 months during construction and three months after construction,they refuse to install my meter because the power account is now in the tenants name

I now have to wait until tenants vacate,change the power in my name to get the meter installed.
I am not renewing their lease as they are a dirty bunch anyway.

I can get the tenants to apply for connection,however after talking to the RE I believe they wont help us.

Have to wait

Others be careful you don't fall into this mess.

PS: Dixon / Tamawood homes was the installer,(Hembrows electrical)

 

[Spectre]

Hi

Found this link if youre interested as well.

Think I'm going to go with the mid-range sharp

http://www.ata.org.au/forums/topic/15kw-solar-system-from-origin-energy/page/5#post-16328

 

[Success]

Hi all, I contacted Origin today and they are offering 26 cents per K/w for net metering.

The days of 60cents per k/w for gross metering are gone. They only offer 20cents per k/w from now on. Why you would chose gross metering now is beyond me.

Anyone else doing number crunching with sea of information out there ?

 

[Witzl]

you can thank our fantastically foresighted state govt for that one buddy.
Gross metering was a dumb idea to begin with - i mean really, where is the incentive to reduce household power CONSUMPTION with a gross meter system??

gross metering is just a money making exercise for households, people installing a gross metered system dont really care about reducing their power consumption - they purely want to make money.

 

[redsquash]

There has been a lot of the rain and cloud cover in Brisbane from mid December until now.
Can someone post some figures on the rate of electricity that has been generated and the size of your system,under these conditions?

Just bumping this question along for brisbane generally so I have a broad base line to compare.

 

[Brett IP]

redsquash, interested in this too.

We are on the brink of signing up for a 3.43kw system with DELSOLAR 245w Panels and a CLENERGY Inverter. Hoping this will kill our electricity bill entirely at a cost of $8650. AGL pay at $0.52 so we should actually make a few bucks out of it too.

Power consumption has dropped too since we got the climatesmart home check. For $50 they changed 16 light bulbs, a shower head and we got the monitor, its great.

 

[WASP]

Is it worthwhile cost/benefit wise getting a solar panel system in Perth to convert to Solar Power?

There's a lot of dodgy looking advertisements around at the moment how do you sort the best from the rest?

 

[MissMuffitt]

I am also on another forum called Whirlpool.net.au.

It is primarily a site for geeks . But they do have a section under "Home" for solar and green energy. It's a good place to ask advise about systems and I am sure you will find someone who has an install done in WA who can help you.

Best of luck with it.

We have a 3kW system installed in Nanango and I am now waiting for Ergon to come to change the meter over, so we get paid for the solar input.

 

[charlieandkath]

There's a lot of dodgy looking advertisements around at the moment how do you sort the best from the rest?

I would try and find someone who has been in the solar game for 25 - 30 years as they will know what they are on about and they will be more than likely be about in another 25 to 30 years. I personally would use monocrystalline panels as they require less space and are proven performers.

Fed govt. rebate is reducing 30 June by one fifth. Not a huge amount but worthwhile. I have been told the system has to be installed by June 30 aswell (not sure if this is correct).

 

[KidsInheritance]

Recently got our first bill since having the 3.42kw system installed late November, gross credit of $290 less $120 for bi-directional meter installation resulting In a credit of $170 rather than a bill of approx $430.
Paying off $8k at $180 per month (2.9%) which means system should be paid for in around 4 years.
FYI, system is in Vic