Well we finally bit the bullet, and courtesy of the renewable energy scheme, we are now putting electricity back into the grid. Our little 0.003 MEGAwatt solar farm is up and running. Today was rather cloudy and dull, and our roof was turning the meter backwards!.
It took 3 days to install,and only 6 months of government paperwork
life is good

poor relative said...

Looks great been contemplating one ourselves.

What was your out of pocket expense if you don't mind me asking?

you need to hurry Rello, the rebate runs out on June 30.

We discovered by accident that kalgoorlie WAS a remote area and after means testing we were good for a 50% rebate. by the time it was istalled , rising material costs made it around45%.
Im told that the best rebate you can get now is $8000. that would be 50% of a 1kw system.
Our s set us back about $19000 (plus the $16500 of the rebate).
our meter starts runnig backwards at about800watts, but our FRidge /freezer set up is big and old, and we havent started seroiusly working on our power us yet.
the decision to go for it was based on long term thinking. The solar water system is 15 years old and still going strong ,. when we installed that it our friends said the cost was too high but they have all gone through plenty of water heaters in that time. so this was the obvious next move.
I look at it by comparing it to replacing the car with a new Commodore or Ford( not that you would)and the car fueled itself for the next 25years
if big fancy homes, cars and boats are not you thing, then I reckon this is a great way to upvalue your house AND get a return

Got mine on the way...hopefully being installed within net 2 weeks! (after waiting 6mths to get approval). Landyacht, that's a huge system, especially for WA, you guys get a better deal than us...you might make a small profit off that one...eventually!

I went with the 1.4kW system (7 panels) with the option to extend it once cashed up, I saved $3.5k by jumping on board with a company that offer 'bulk' lot discounts. About 25 locals have signed up with another 30 trying to get the next batch...handy if you live a fair distance from a capital city.

I guess the gov't are busy trying to get the economy going, the first-home buyers grant is taking preference over green energy...tough call?

Warning......careful....have a friend who is seriously muffed with his own bulk buy build crowd, has told me that he should have checked the fine print also inverta problems. So i know two with inverta meltdowns

j murray said...

Warning......careful....have a friend who is seriously muffed with his own bulk buy build crowd, has told me that he should have checked the fine print also inverta problems. So i know two with inverta meltdowns

Colleague has heard of many inverter meltdowns and is buying more expensive, German gear.

I'm dubious, and uninformed...

$35,500 - 8,000 = $27,500 IF YOU GET IT NOW.

Does the system return more than 7% on investment?
i.e. I could put the same money against my mortgage instead and save money that way (ignoring the environment).

$27K @ 7% = approx $1900/year, $472/quarter, $36/week

As of 1 july solar credits increase 5 fold

www.environment.gov.au/climate-change