We replaced our old solar panels about a year ago. The inverter had died and although we could have just swapped it out, the panels were ten years old and solar tech has come a long way in the last decade. So, I got the provider to max our rooftop coverage and… boom! Even though we lost the old 41c feed in tarrif, we still end up making money off the install.
When I checked we were a nearly a grand in credit on the power bill.
What I’m thinking now though is BATTERIES.
Or one big battery, anyway.
Even with me working from home running the aircon through summer, and the pool pump going half the day, we’re still exporting to the grid. It’d be nice to hold onto that juice I reckon, and spend it on some more aircon at night. Brisbane nights in summer have always been pretty foul but they’re getting worse as the climate changes.
Be nice to run some chilled air after dark without adding to the problem.
Nissan Leaf for the battery makes sense. Especially for someone working from home. I'm waiting for it to be approved in NSW, then it's just getting the wall-system that allows it to feed back in.
A friend of mine on Bribie Island decided to go all out to replace his old solar/lead acid battery setup. Spent ~$40k on a 15kW (20kW panels) system with a Tesla Powerwall 2 to cover the evenings.
Since May he has only used 160kWh from the grid. When Calide blew up he didn't even notice.
Payback for him will be about 8 years.
I only know this stuff because he's been nerding out and sending me updates constantly! He's a good test case though. We'll probably do something that suits us once the same feed in that John was on runs out in 2028 (Worth about $20k so I don't want to make any changes to our setup)
It's all a matter of maths and locations JB. Let's say you want to have one of Elon's love babies in the form of a Tesla Powerwall 2 with gizmo's so Casa Birmingham is Zombieproof electricity wise (you can also have a gizmo installed that in a blackout shut you off of the grid and runs the place on battery power etc). https://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/brands/tesla-powerwall/
That will set you back A$14K for a 13.5 KWh setup. Then its a matter of cost: what does a nighttime Kilowatt hour cost you? For simplicity sake let's say that is A$1 and you drain the pack every night, it would take around 1000 cycles or just shy of 3 years to recoup the cost.
Our rural place is entirely dependent on batteries. Even off-grid like us, it's eminently doable, you just need enough storage for your usage. Where you are grid connected, it will smooth out the bills even more if you set it up smart. All night AC for the summer months gets much cheaper.
Yeh, it's still nascent in the market for on-grid load balancing with batteries and micro-grids but it's all heading in the right direction. Battery tech is moving forward as fast as any nerd tech and there will always be a better return just around the corner.
I'd be checking out your pay off period vs warranty period before going down the battery road, my understanding if that unless you have intermittent power or are off grid the battery story isn't worth it yet.
Nissan Leaf for the battery makes sense. Especially for someone working from home. I'm waiting for it to be approved in NSW, then it's just getting the wall-system that allows it to feed back in.
I think it's already available in Queensland.
A friend of mine on Bribie Island decided to go all out to replace his old solar/lead acid battery setup. Spent ~$40k on a 15kW (20kW panels) system with a Tesla Powerwall 2 to cover the evenings.
Since May he has only used 160kWh from the grid. When Calide blew up he didn't even notice.
Payback for him will be about 8 years.
I only know this stuff because he's been nerding out and sending me updates constantly! He's a good test case though. We'll probably do something that suits us once the same feed in that John was on runs out in 2028 (Worth about $20k so I don't want to make any changes to our setup)
It's all a matter of maths and locations JB. Let's say you want to have one of Elon's love babies in the form of a Tesla Powerwall 2 with gizmo's so Casa Birmingham is Zombieproof electricity wise (you can also have a gizmo installed that in a blackout shut you off of the grid and runs the place on battery power etc). https://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/brands/tesla-powerwall/
That will set you back A$14K for a 13.5 KWh setup. Then its a matter of cost: what does a nighttime Kilowatt hour cost you? For simplicity sake let's say that is A$1 and you drain the pack every night, it would take around 1000 cycles or just shy of 3 years to recoup the cost.
Our rural place is entirely dependent on batteries. Even off-grid like us, it's eminently doable, you just need enough storage for your usage. Where you are grid connected, it will smooth out the bills even more if you set it up smart. All night AC for the summer months gets much cheaper.
Yeh, it's still nascent in the market for on-grid load balancing with batteries and micro-grids but it's all heading in the right direction. Battery tech is moving forward as fast as any nerd tech and there will always be a better return just around the corner.
I'd be checking out your pay off period vs warranty period before going down the battery road, my understanding if that unless you have intermittent power or are off grid the battery story isn't worth it yet.