Solar power
Solar power savings
We just got our first full month’s power bill using a combination of solar and grid power. It is only 42 per cent of the same month’s bill from last year. That’s the sort of result we were hoping for. I know it will take a long time to pay back the solar installation cost, but with the job market the way it is, cash flow is more of an issue for us at the moment, and these savings will contribute to that.
Australia's rooftop solar success
Amid Australia’s chaotic climate politics, the rooftop solar boom is an unlikely triumph.
It’s difficult to overstate how rapidly Australians have embraced solar power – there’s now more rooftop solar than coal-fired power. The key question is what policymakers can learn from its success.
I didn’t know this, and it looks like it might be a good example of how the right incentives at a household level can create the right outcomes. It reminds me of the home insulation subsidies paid in the 1970s. Lots of houses had insulation installed then.
Amid Australia’s chaotic climate politics, the rooftop solar boom is an unlikely triumph
Solar savings
Now that I have added the power company tarrifs into our solar power web system, I am even more obsessed with tracking how much electricity we are producing and saving / selling back to Contact.
“Oh, look. We’ve sold them $0.52 of our power today.”
The app also tells us the CO2 reduction equivalent for various activities. So far we have saved the equivalent of 1,230 km of driving in the car. I don’t know how that is calculated, but I feel smug about it.
Solar power exchange set up in system
We’ve finally set up our solar power supply with the power company tariffs so we can track how much we are buying from and selling to Contact Energy. The electrician installed the new import/export meter last Monday to track the two-way flow and I confirmed and added the tariffs this afternoon.
So far, we have sold a generous $3.19 in power back to Contact on this beautiful sunny day here in Porirua. It’s not much, but it does feel good to know we are part of an exchange that is helping to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Looking at the ‘Earnings’ tab on the Fronius app, I can see that our savings since the panels' installation also equal 1,162 km of vehicle travel. I don’t know how that is calculated, but given we drive only short distances around town in our Nissan Enote Hybrid, it looks positive.
Morena world. Despite the overnight weather forecast that wasn’t too good—although it’s a clear and sunny day now—our house is running at 85% self-sufficient on the solar system. That won’t last long once the upstairs heater goes on!
Getting paid for surplus solar power
Self-sufficient solar power production
Another gloomy day here in Pukerua Bay, although the rain seems to have eased off. I think there is more forecast for later in the day. Remarkably, we are producing 615W of power from the roof from the light seeping through the clouds.
No solar power today
As expected today, with heavy cloud cover and rain, our solar power production and self-sufficiency is a big fat zero!
Solar power obsession
Trying — and failing — to not be obsessed about how much electricity we are producing off our roof solar panels, how self-sufficient we are, and how much we are giving away to the power company for free. On a cloudy day like today, we are producing only 22% of what we are using. Whereas yesterday, a brilliant sunny day, we used only 34% of what we produced.
(See what I mean about being obsessed?)
Solar update with operational system - day 1
Solar update with operational system.
Yesterday, we had clear, sunny skies with good solar production for a brief period. That is, until a hail storm arrived. But this screen grab shows what is possible.
At about 3:10pm yesterday, we were producing 3404W from the panels and using 236W for the house. That’s about 7% of our power going towards the house’s running. The rest was ‘wasted’ by going into the grid. Even though we aren’t being paid for it, it is power we don’t have to pay Contact Energy for. We’re obsessively watching the app and will have to learn to balance production under certain conditions and use appliances in the morning. We tend to put an electric heater on for an hour or so to warm the house if it’s been cold overnight. And we do laundry in the morning so we can line dry it. Fortunately, we don’t have to do laundry daily, so we have some flexibility.
So much for a bright sunny day producing all the power we need. Now we have a hail storm!
Solar power update
Good news. The electrical inspector has just been around, tested the new solar system, turned it on and pronounced it safe to use. We are now running off the solar power produced on the roof panels on a bright sunny day.
We still don’t have the import/export meter installed so we don’t know how much power we are giving away, but we can wait for that, I reckon.
But it will be good to get the smartphone app to monitor the smart meter in the switchboard to get a clear idea of what we are producing and using.
Very exciting!