You guys got any advice on who to use...

I was thinking True Value Solar... About $8k for a 5kW system... (20 panels, fully installed, total cost)
Flat Tin Roof, so I cop perhaps $1k of stands...

What thoughts do you guys have... suggestions, etc.

without the feed in tariff the people who can make solar systems most viable are those who can adjust their lifestyle so that they use most of their power in the middle of the day

eg those who work from home or are retired

simondo shop around for the equipment as much as the price, most of the panels out there are pretty close in efficiency to the top boys (BYD and a few german brands)
but the inverters will differ more - sunny boy are one of my favorites for quality and efficiency but there are other decent ones out there

NewScotty said..

Simondo son,
Why do you want solar panels ?
Surely not to make $$$$
I thought the rebates are ordinary now.
Unless they are paying more in Vic.

G'Day Scotty,
Making money is only on excess power generated, and not used!...
Yes, feed-in tariffs have come down, but that only relates to "if you are feeding in"... making more power than you use!

Basically I'm just aiming for almost cost neutral Electricity for 20 years...

I'll need to ask them about "Feed-In, Peak & Off Peak", to see if that is metered... I doubt they would meter that... Because you make power at peak times... Daytime...

Simondo said..

You guys got any advice on who to use...

I was thinking True Value Solar... About $8k for a 5kW system... (20 panels, fully installed, total cost)
Flat Tin Roof, so I cop perhaps $1k of stands...

What thoughts do you guys have... suggestions, etc.

you may want to do some reading on this, for example here:http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/143
I suggest you search True Value Solar .... might save you some headache ...

www.solarquotes.com.au/panels/roof-tiles/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=contentamplification_main


www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/the-truth-about-solar-panel-performance-and-temperature/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=contentamplification_main

Just some sites I am looking at, same thing.

I think this is worth a watch. He points out that the cost of getting the usual suburban household "off grid" will be more than you would spend staying "on grid".

We need to get rid of our paranoia of nuclear energy.

iview.abc.net.au

what are you going do with true power totalling 4kw, at 240, thats about 20 amps, and again thats true power not absolute, in my experience a house has much higher demands than that, especially if your gunna have air con, dishwasher, dryer, washing machine, decent tv, heating, theres no way 4kw will be enough to meet the modern sydney house demands, not to mention that one of the most potentially explosive things going would be a battery bank, which will lose its potential to maintain charge over time, and panels, assumming containing silicon or germainium will also break down over time, reducing there potential to act as transistors, reducing their conversion rate, ha, thats just some negatives, as you well know their is many postives, i'm sure it will reduce your electricity bill,

i assume your load is located very close to your source at 12v, a 100w panel at 240v would be lucky to supply two lights, the 12v system might do ya if your gunna make electricity something in your home you have to be thinking about, changing batteries etc, constant daily effort would be required,and again, batterys have gnormous explosive potential, so perhaps not the greatest outcome to have every second home in a residental zone with battery banks, and most people draw a lot more power than that, but yeah, if you want your home to be the electrical equivalence of a house boat then thats not a bad system, but in my opinion that system wont meet the demands of the average urban consumer, and as j murray indicates, you need to have the ability to manage your power usage, which does not suit the average consumer whom is basically an electrical slob, i mean, most people have no idea what electricity is, let alone the ability to manage it, and if you were gunna do what j murray has done, you'd have to do it at 12v because anything else would be too dangerous,, the misses has to go start the generator to do a load of washing, yeah, this aint gunna happen in urban sydney

cisco said..

...

We need to get rid of our paranoia of nuclear energy.

....

Solar power IS nuclear energy!

cisco said..

I think this is worth a watch. He points out that the cost of getting the usual suburban household "off grid" will be more than you would spend staying "on grid".

We need to get rid of our paranoia of nuclear energy.

How come everybody becomes economically rational when it comes to the cost of energy, when they will quite happily pay $50 for a $5 t shirt if it has a logo on it? Or pays for electrically heated car seats .... in Qld.

As for nuclear power, I believe that there is not actually a whole lot of Uranium in the world and the price is expected to rise quite a lot in a few years time. In Oz we have lots of sun, wind and waves. As good global citizens, we should be letting areas that are not so lucky burn the stuff, but then take the waste back and use it to backfill some of the deeper holes it came from.