There are many people saying ‘Solar power does not work’ or ‘Solar power is not efficient’, we can say this is not true.
Some people might say ‘It is too expensive’ , we can say this is not true.

Here is what Barrett did:

  1. We got a proper quote from a very good Solar company.
  2. We gave them access to our last 4 energy bills and they quoted us a proper system.
    (not those advertised on TV, they do not work – cheap panels, cheap inverter)
    The system equals in output (on average over a 12 months period) the same of our current electricity usage.
  3. We took out a loan for the amount of the system plus installation cost
  4. We pay the loan back with the amount of the original monthly electricity costs PLUS some extra (to pay it off a little faster).
  5. Since we are connected to the grid and the system is battery less we have to pay for the overnight (dark) power.
    For that we use a green energy supplier (see below).
  6. Our accountant told us that the tax benefits are nearly the same amount of the loan costs, effectively making the loan very cheap.
  7. Our electricity bill for the summer months puts us in credit, this credit we will use up during the winter months.
    At all other times the energy we use is the same as the energy we produce.

Our Solar Array

The array consists of 40 Yingli Panda Panels, each of them producing 270 Watts, together 10.8KW.

barrett-solar-install

 

Our Inverter:

Our Inverter is a SMA SB10000TL Transformerless Inverter 3 Phase, producing 10.2KW maximum (hence why it is called SB10000TL).

It is connected to via two path going through a SMART meter, ig we use energy it is counted on the “receive from the grid meter”, if we produce more energy then we use it is counted on the “feed into the grid meter”.

The device has a number of jobs:

  1. Transfer the excess energy (energy not used by us) into the energy grid, thus we are in credit.
  2. Change the Voltage type from DC to AC
  3. If we use more energy then the solar array provides take this from the grid, thus we are in debit.

 Inverter-small

A picture is worth more than 1000 words.

Below you can see what the current energy production is of our Solar System.

Power Output

This graph displays the current power created, it is in KW, meaing in units of 1000W each.
It goes up and down because clouds are between the Sun and the Solar Panels.

Solar Power produced of Solar System at Barrett

 

Daily Yield

This graph shows the power created during one day, note that this is reset every night at 12am.
It is in fact the area below the graph above, or in other words it is the some of all power created during one day.
It is displayed in KW/h, or in units of 1000W per hour.
The graphs flattens when the energy produced of the system gets lower and lower, until it reaches zero (dark).

Solar Power produced of Solar System at Barrett

 

Our Power Provider

Powershop logo transparent

We use Powershop as a provider for the additional power and for the power we redirect into the grid, simply as they provide true green power and we do not like that Origin Energy supports fracking.

Powershop has a crew of around 70 geeks, problem-solvers and designers working hard to make Powershop the best power company ever. They supply power to all kinds of homes and businesses in Australia and New Zealand. Powershop are owned by a multi-billion dollar, 100% renewable electricity company, Meridian Energy, their support team is located in Melbourne, Wellington (NZ) and Masterton (NZ).