**Project Helios **

We began at a local "Agro Show" and quizzed at least 5 of the vendors selling Solar Systems. Many were obsessed with the small 1.5kW systems [because that's where the highest Federal Government [REC] Renewable Energy Credits are.... once you go over 1.5kW... the credits drop off] - but I'm putting the cart before the horse.

Let's start again....

First step was to get the last 4 electricity bills and make a spreadsheet.

We were just looking at Queensland Tariff 11 - the household use (exclude the Hot water system which is on a separate "night rate" meter).

Our figures showed a usage of 11,800kWh of electricity per year - an average of 32kWh per day.

Now check how much SUNSHINE we get per day - that's sunshine capable of making electricity - for our area of Bundaberg the accepted average is 5.2 hours per day.

Using a calculator it's easy to see that a small system - say 3kW x (times) 5.2 hours will produce 15.6kW of power per day.... what did we say we used? THIRTY TWO PER DAY...

Whoops, we need a bigger system.

And that's how you begin, first you check what you use and see how large a system you would need to offset all of it, then look at the cost. Can you afford to buy enough panels to offset all of your account or just some of it. The choice is yours.

Below are some photos of the installation process. If you want more information see the section after the photos, there's pricing and which companies we used and information to help you make the right decision on Solar Power Generation.

We understand that it's a huge investment and we all want to make the right decision, so we're constantly updating the Statistics, and Let's talk about money sections below with hard data.

Just the facts without any sales pitch, Enjoy.

**Our system has been in place now for over a year, you can see the statistics on how it's working further down this page - suffice to say - we're very happy**

**This page will be constantly updated**

Want more info ?

The Equipment

SILEX SOLAR- Australian made panels was our preferred product. We try to buy Australian Made whenever we can so we we were prepared to pay a premium for Australian made panels (rather than some of the cheaper imports on the market).

Just like cleaning up your nest... buying Aussie Made makes good sense.

Now let's talk performance! - From August 2010 to January 2011 we had 6 full months of production accompanied by the highest rainfall and tropical storm build-up and floods in 100 years - the silex panels have produced an average of 22kwh per day over that 6 month period.

What that proves without any doubt is that they are capable of taking the slightest brightness in the sky and converting it to electricity. We are very impressed and once again draw your attention to this brilliant - Australian Made - product.

 

The Aurora inverters are made in Italy by Power One and imported by Solar Inverters Pty Ltd in Sydney [it seems no inverters are made in Australia??]

We did have a minor problem with the inverter (installation problem - not a fault with the inverter). The importer & inverter warranty company was straight on to the problem, arranged pick up, repair and return - even their phone staff are actually trained to help fix your problem... what a refreshing change.

We were back in production quite quickly so we would highly recommend the Solar Inverters Pty Ltd products and their after sales service.

The Installers and your rights

This is a link to AgriSolar Australia website. They are the company that we contracted with for installation of our Solar system. They operate in South East Queensland and Northern NSW. We caught up with the team at the 2011 Agro Trend and told them how happy we were with the system.

In regional Australia a company sells you a system but they may only have the team to install the panels and it's probable that they will contract a licenced electrician to do the connection and application to the electricity company. So be prepared for Contractors doing parts of the job.

We had some delay in getting the new Net Meter installed and our problem was twofold. The paperwork was delayed by the electrical contractor... So get Involved! Ask the electrical installer for the Form "A" - make sure it gets into Ergon's local office - the depot which will send a truck and men to install the new Meter.

Next was the Net Meter install in our power box. There was a minor problem but Ergon must work by-the-book so they refused installation which meant another week's delay until it was rectified.

Don't rely on people's say-so... maybe you can hold back a sum of money until the application is accepted and meter installed. Let's face it making power on the roof but being unable to sell it into the grid is NOT a completed contract. The installation contract is complete when the Electricity company leaves your property and you're officially selling power into the Grid - and not before that point.

Be firm with the company that you contract with to ensure your rights are protected. A respectable company will accept your interest and your knowledge - a fly-by-nighter will think you're too much trouble. If they have a policy of seeing everything through - including the paperwork and quality of workmanship of their contractors they'll stand your scrutiny.

Be a good consumer instead of complaining after the event. Know the process, know your rights, be aware of the pitfalls, protect yourself. You don't have to be the customer from hell but if we all demand excellence from Solar companies it should sort the opportunists from the honest and competent ones.

Timeframe

It took 8 weeks from sign-up to install complete and during that time we received the power company (Ergon) contract in which they acknowledge our system and agree to the financial arrangements.

We had a period of two months with the old meter and that meant our system was making electricity spinning our meter backwards during the day and then running forward during the night.

Ergon then fitted the new IES meter which makes the Net calculations - which will result in us receiving a cheque for the times that we export more than we use.

 

What about the Cost?

The retail price for 32 SILEX panels (with inverter & installation) is around $32,000 then depending on where you live you will be entitled to REC 's from the Federal Government.

It's complicated and I do have the formula to work out the credits BUT it depends on YOUR LOCATION... and worse still it depends on HOW LARGE a system you purchase. As with most Government rebate systems the installers will get you to "sign the credits over to them" which is fine as it saves you finding the money up front but just be aware of how it works! Check and see if they're passing the right amount on to you. This Federal system was meant to help the householder afford Solar... it wasn't designed to line the pockets of installers. They're entitled to a reasonable profit of course but you need to be a smart consumer and ask the right questions.

From 0 to 1.5kW system you get a LARGE Renewable Energy Credit from the Federal Government, then after that, the credits drop.

If you want the formulae email me but if you want to know why it's so darn complicated and why they don't want you to put in bigger systems... I'm as much in the dark as you are...

What about the performance?

The system has been installed for over a year now and we started out with a mix of brilliant sunny days and cloudy overcast days so our figures weren't outrageously 'good' or dismally 'bad' - just a pretty average mix for where we live. Then of course xmas 2010 Queensland began to experience the biggest "Wet" on record and the floods followed. Here we were wishing the drought would break and we got our wish with about 5 years rain in 4 months!

When the system was first installed we would read the meters at 10am and 4pm to build up some data (which we graph to give a visual reference).

Even on a dull day our system will still generate power - Nowhere near the maximum rate of course but typically it will produce 8 or 10kwh of electricity per day on rainy days. On days with black sky and 100mm (4") of rain the system only makes 2-3kwh - which proves that light is working on the panels even if they can't see the sun. We think that's pretty impressive.

The inverter is very smart and gives you all the data as it’s happening and daily totals etc, easy to hook up a computer and get information that you need.

These are our major findings to date;

• During Winter the system is switching on before 7am and it's still running at 5pm.
• Even on dull days the panels produce electricity
• We've become very power conscious - major electrical appliances like dishwasher, washing machine and clothes dryer are used after dark but that's the only change we've made to our personal habits.
• As the sun moves higher into the sky (spring/summer) we see a steady rise in the production each day.
• The record rainfall from November 2010 to February 2011 broke the drought but our averages dropped.
• Wind Generation system is ordered to take advantage of the wind during our storm season.
• In the first full year the system AVERAGED 22kw hours of production per day.
• Will continue to update this page... so please visit again.

Statistics

Updated: 13-Jan-12

We're recording the monthly performance to see what each Season produces.

We're not interested in bragging about one-day Highs. We're in for the long haul - while we hope we did the right thing in investing heavily in solar, we're like the rest of you - we simply didn't know how it would go.

The following tables record our solar years from August through to end of July so now we can check on our progress and calculate our payback times.

But it's official - we're getting a WIND generator - the individual components have arrived and consturction has begun but other projects seem to be getting in the way. (guess we'll have to make a Project Ventus page hahaha)

Wind project has stalled, too many other jobs on the go at the moment but soon, soon....

This is the data to date:

(Figures will be updated mid and end of the month)

Second Solar Year 2011-12

	Highest Daily Production kWh	Total Monthly Production kWh	Avge Daily Production kWh	Highest Daily Export to Grid kWh	Monthly Export to Grid kWh	Avge Daily Export to Grid kWh
August 2011	29.5	678	22	20	418	13.3
September	33.6	815	27	25	555	19
October	33.1	717	23	25	443	14
November	35	876	29	24	576	19
December	34	697	22	24	415	13
January	33.6		29	23		18

Notes on the weather this year:
August: Still unseasonally cold and wet
September: hooray the sun is back - bright warm days.
October: We are entering our build-up to the storm season, so clouds roll in from the North
November: Clouds building [no rain - very different to last year!] 876KWh Highest monthly production ever
December: Wet Season storms have begun, overcast almost every day so production is up and down

31st July 2011 ends first full year of production
Annual production 7503kWh [Average daily production 22kWh]
Average daily sales to the Grid: 13.5kWh
Two things about these annual figures;
1. we were without the unit for 3 weeks during a warranty repair Nov/Dec 2010 and
2. we had record rainfall and 100 year floods which impacted production during summer

First Year Solar 2010_11

	Highest Daily Production kWh	Total Monthly Production kWh	Avge Daily Production kWh	Highest Daily Export to Grid kWh	Monthly Export to Grid kWh	Avge Daily Export to Grid kWh
August 2010	30.5	635	22
September	32	591	20.5
October	36.5	787	25.7	27	504	14
November	33.2	359	22.9	20	211	13
December	32.7	456	19	23	247	10
January	34.3	757	24.4	24	439	14
February	33.3	707	25.1	22	424	15
March	30.3	549	17.7	20	298	10
April	28.7	639	21.3	20	402	13
May	27.7	688	22.2	19	449	14
June	25.4	610	20.6	18	380	13
July 2011	27.3	710	22.7	20	462	15

Notes on the year's weather:
August 2010: Wettest on record for this area !
September: Extreme wet weather, wild storms, flooding, overcast for weeks! [Not exporting to grid yet]
October : Overcast day after day as we head into the cyclone season - we begin to export to the Grid
November: Overcast & showers almost every day of November! - system down 15Nov Warranty repair
December:Ongoing tropical rains - Dec rainfall 666mm (26") Bundaberg floods! Unit repaired 8th Dec
January:Ongoing tropical rain depressions - Rainfall 233mm (9")
February:Northern Cyclone heavy clouds clearing. 50mm rain
March:Still WET season. Cloud cover/rain most days. Rainfall 300mm (12")
April:Still raining, on Cyclone watch
May: Clouds cleared and rain eased. Made 690kwh Sold 450kwh
June: Weather coldest winter on record, days are short! Solar panels are coping well
July 2011: Bitterly cold, short unexpectedly overcast & gloomy days

How does SELLING Electricity work?

Grab a coffee and relax as it will take some time to get your head around all this.

First know your system: e.g. In our case each panel is rated to produce 170Watt, so 32 x 170 = 5440Watts - that's 5.44kW  (kilowatts) maximum it could make each hour.
Bundaberg has a stated average of 5.2 hours per day which are strong enough to produce electricity via this photovoltaic system.

So 5.44kw x 5.2 hours = 28.3kWh of power per day is what they expect we would generate... More on a bright, sunny day…. Less on an overcast day.

Our electricity bills showed an average usage of 32kWh of power every day  - [yes, we are excessive users - lot's of fridges, a spa, run the bedroom aircon on summer nights... that type of thing.]

Simple math shows that if we use 32 but can make 28 of our own -  mathematically we would buy only 4 per day. At that rate it's going to reduce our quarterly electricity bill from $600 to $60.

BUT wait there’s more… and this is where “selling excess electricity to the grid” comes in.  Ergon Energy has fitted an I.E.S. Smart Meter - Net meter - and it works quite differently.*

Image it happening hour by hour (I'm rounding figures to keep this simple)

If during the day the house is Drawing 1kw for an hour and the roof is producing 5 kw, we have an excess of 4kwh that is exported to the grid in that hour. Now remember those Average 5 hours of Bundy Sunshine per day? Our excess 4kw x 5 hours = 20kWh of surplus electricity is left over, available to export... and it's this excess that we're selling to Ergon and this figure is recorded by the smart meter.

But, it's not all our way... Think about 'night-time' from 6pm through to 6am our Solar system is asleep and we have nothing to sell so instead the house is buying electricity.

The new Net Meter shows how much you're 'taking' from the grid during those hours that the panels aren't producing and how much you're exporting to the grid while the sun shines.

Can you see that during the day we're racking up credits and then at night we put in some debits. A typical day could be: I earn $8 and pay $3 so my ergon account is $5 in credit for that day.
The next day it might rain and I only generate enough electricity to cut out half my usage… and so on. Day after after day these debits and credits are racking up.

If you were a wild and crazy optimist you could say; there are 90 glorious sun filled days in a Quarter, I'm getting a cheque 90days x $5 my cheque will arrive for $450!

Of course being a realist you will know that it rains, is overcast or is so incredibly hot you run aircons for 6 days straight - so many factors effect the dollars in the equations.

But here's the most sensible tip of them all.

DON’T do the washing, ironing, clothes dryering, dish washering during the day - keep the house just ticking along at the minimum - So that hour by hour you’ve got excess to “sell”.

If you waste the energy during the day on chores which could be done after 6pm, then you’re effectively costing yourself 44cents for that power aren’t you?

So that’s what selling to the grid is all about.

*At the end of the quarter we end up with an electricity account which is in CREDIT... and Ergon have agreed to send us a cheque for all that we sell. We haven't had a cheque yet, our credits are just stacking up - perhaps they do it annually or when it reaches a certain amount... will report when we know.

* Some folks have queried the electricity buy/sell information so I'm adding two links to help explain the Queensland Government Net system which we may have oversimplified above.

The first site is a Qld Government website see Qld Government Solar Bonus page.

The next site is from the Silex Solar - our Solar Panel providers. They've compiled information on each State system to help their clients - Check out the Silex State Info pages [Please be aware that every state is different - e.g. NSW is on a Gross system]

** * In Queensland we currently have a contract with Ergon Energy that they will buy exported electricity for 44c per kWh up to the year 2028 (and I always believe what a Government Department tells me)

Let's talk MONEY !

Bearing in mind that our average quarterly bill prior to solar install was $650 for household electricity Hot Water, service fee and Ambulance levy that's added onto our bill in Qld.

July 2011 Used from the Grid 1268kWh on Household plus a further 891kWh for Hot Water. We exported to the Grid 1405kWh.

We are in front by $150 for this quarter. [still no cheque from them but our total Credit is now $270]

April 2011 Used from the Grid 1540kWh x $0.21 - cost $328.80: Used a further 386kWh for Hot Water on the night tariff costing $32.07. Under the heading of "Qld Solar Scheme" it shows exported to the Grid 1203kWh which Ergon buys from us - 1203 x $0.44 $529.32.

We are in front by $120 for this quarter.

January 2011our first full SOLAR quarterly electricity bill (Oct-Jan).

Used from the Grid 1703kWh - cost $363.61: Exported to the Grid 953kWh for credit of $419.32. Net result in credit by $55.71. That credit was was eaten up by our night rate Hot Water system so now we're installing solar hot water to cut out that part of the bill.

October 2010 - For Aug-Oct was a mish-mash of 3 weeks without solar, 8 weeks running the meter back and forth and only 2 weeks with the net meter. We purchased from the Grid 964kWh x $0.21 - $202 and exported 186kWh x $0.44 $81.84 to the Grid.

Well done Ergon Energy, the bills are accurate to the last kWH and easy to read, clearly showing the full credit for exported power. We'd read horror stories of some power companies making a mess of the billing, so we were very relieved and we'll stay with Ergon even if/when the other companies begin to sell power in our area.

 

How we're calculating Payback

Our previous electricity accounts were $660 per quarter = $2640 per year including the hot water charges and the account keeping fees etc.

Our 5.44KW system has completely cut out our electricity bill ! - i.e. we generate enough from the roof that we do not pay Ergon for electricty.

Savings Year 1. No electricity bill = Saving $2640 PLUS we received a cheque for $523 total savings year 1 = $3163.

System cost $22000 so $22000 divided by $3163 = 7 years to pay back the cost of installation.

That's the calculation at the end of year 1.... We had initially thought a 9 year payback so we're currently ahead of that.

We receive a cheque for selling the power to the grid on the anniversary of the installation (October is Cheque month!) we'll update these figures and see if we stay on the target of 7 years.

This page will be updated frequently with hard data, we want to complete the picture & show the realistic pay back info - so please check back.

Contact Us

If you would like to contact us with comments or suggestions email

Goodbye and thanks for dropping by, we hope we've answered some SOLAR questions

 

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