| Q. | What is the difference between solar hot water and solar power? |
| A. | Solar Hot Water systems (SHW) are thermal systems - they absorb radiant heat from the sun and/or surrounding air and use it to heat water. Solar power systems (e.g. GridPower® systems) are electric systems – i.e. they absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity. |
| Q. | What size system will work for me? |
| A. | This is heavily dependant on 3 factors. i) How much power you use. ii) How large and unshaded your roof is; and iii) How much money you want to spend. To figure out how much power you use, check the ‘kWh usage’ on your energy bill. |
| Q. | The terminology is confusing? |
| A. | Solar power and electricity usually use 3 main terms. Kilo-Watts (kW) describes the size of a solar array (eg GridPower® 1000 is a 1000W / 1kW solar power system). Kilo-Watt-Hours (kWh) relates to the total amount of energy that is used or produced. Peak-Sun-Hours (PSH) is the average number of hours each day of 'full' sunlight. |
| Q. | What are AC and DC power? |
| A. | AC = Alternating Current. In electricity, alternating current (AC) occurs when charge carriers in a conductor or semiconductor periodically reverse their direction of movement. Household current in Australia is AC with a frequency of 50 hertz (50 complete cycles per second).
DC = Direct Current. DC (direct current) is the unidirectional flow or movement of electric charge carriers (which are usually electrons). The intensity of the current can vary with time, but the general direction of movement stays the same at all times. |
| Q. | How much power will I save? |
| A. | The power you save depends on the size system you install, and how much power your house consumes. For instance, a GridPower® 1000 system will average 3.85 kWh of power in a day in Brisbane, being over 1.4 MWh per year. |
| Q. | How much money will I save? |
| A. | The financial savings depend on your electricity tariff. For instance , , if you pay 16c/kWh a GridPower® 1000 system will save approximately $300 every year. |
| Q. | How do I reduce my energy usage? |
| A. | There are many simple ways to reduce your energy usage. Swap your old incandescent lamps for compact fluorescent lights. Don’t leave the lights on if you leave the room. Install a solar water heater instead of an electric system. Turn off phantom electricity loads. Use energy efficient appliances (eg fridge, freezer, washing machine, etc) with at least a 4 star energy rating – check www.energyrating.gov.au if you're on the hunt for new high efficiency appliances. Fill out an energy load profile for your house - you may be shocked as to how much power you are wasting! |
| Q. | Can I install the equipment myself? |
| A. | No. The system MUST be installed by a suitably qualified person. To get 15 year deeming on RECs, you are required to use a BCSE Accredited installer. If the installer is not a registered electrician or electrical contractor, he /she must employ one to connect the inverter to your switchboard. The electricity company (usually the local distributor) will install the bi-directional meter. Refer to the following for an Accredited installer near you: http://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/cec/accreditation/findaninstaller |
| Q. | What do I need to do to maintain the system? |
| A. | Not much – GridPower® systems are virtually maintenance-free. There are no moving parts to break down and all the components are very high quality with warranties from 5 to 25 years. All you need to do is keep the panels free from obstructions (eg heavy dust, salt, leaves, etc). The weather usually does this for you! |
| Q. | My roof doesn’t face north. Can I still install a system? |
| A. | Yes you can, though you may loose some power. Up to ~15° deviation from north will not affect the performance very much (<5% loss). At 30° you will see a noticeable drop in power of ~10%. At 90° (ie east or west) you will loose approximately 30% of the power the panels are capable of producing. Or your installer can design a system to tilt your solar panels towards north. |
| Q. | Can I look at the power production on my computer? |
| A. | Yes, you can. One of the optional extras that comes with a GridPower® system is a data-logging kit. This enables you to record all of the system performance information and download it to your PC where you can review historical data and graph the information. |
| Q. | Is there a portable display that I can have in the house? |
| A. | Yes, there is, though the availability and type depends on the inverter manufacturer. The personal display is a small, portable display screen linked to the inverter by a remote radio system. The display mimics the information shown in the inverter menu anywhere in your house. Other inverters have a LCD screen in the inverter which displays this information. |
| Q. | How do the panels mount on the roof? |
| A. | The panels are fixed to the roof using the UniRac framing structure, such as SolarMount of CLICKSYS. These have a series of components that allow the installation to be flexible in choosing how and where to mount the panels. |
| Q. | Will the system work in a black-out? |
| A. | Unfortunately no. The systems are required by the electricity safety regulations to switch off when there is a black-out. This prevents the inverter from feeding power into the 'dead' grid while technicians are working on the lines. On the plus side, as more and more homes install GridPower® systems they will stabilise the grid, helping to prevent brown-outs and black-outs caused by over-demand. |
| Q. | Can I connect some batteries? |
| A. | Not directly to the inverter. To use batteries in the system they must be installed in a separate circuit from the ‘mains’ circuits. You will also need a stand-alone inverter to change the DC battery power into 240V AC power. |
| Q. | Does solar work in Victoria or Tasmania? |
| A. | Solar power systems work where-ever there is sunlight. The more sunlight and the longer the daylight hours, the better the solar power system works. So, solar panels installed in Queensland will generate more hours of electricity over a year than say, Melbourne or Hobart. However, there is not that much difference between the average kilowatt hours of energy production possible in Brisbane (3.85) or Melbourne (3.38) or Hobart (3.24). |
| Q. | Are there any Government incentives to help install a system? |
| A. | The Solar Homes and Communities Plan (SCHP) ceased in early June 2009. The August 2009 Renewable Energy Target (RET) legislation created a Solar Credit scheme. In addition, the various state governments have legislated for solar Feed-in Tariffs (FiT). When a FiT is legislated, the retailers supplying electricity to eligible customers in that state must provide a FiT that is not less than the amount legislated, though they can pay more. |
| Q. | What is the RET? |
| A. | The 2009 national Renewable Energy Target (which replaces the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target - MRET - and incorporates all existing State RETs) expands the electricity target for generation required from renewable energy technologies from 9,000 GWh to 45,000 gigawatt-hours - or 20% of Australia's energy production. |
| Q. | What is the REC (Renewable Energy Certificate)? |
| A. | A Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is an electronic, tradeable commodity equal to 1 megawatt hour of renewable energy generation. A REC is similar to a share certificate as it represents a unit of value and may be traded for financial return. Every GridPower® system will generate a certain number of RECs. These RECs can be sold to an electricity utility or traded on the energy market. For more information refer to the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator website: https://www.rec-registry.gov.au/about.shtml. |
| Q. | What is the Solar Credit scheme? |
| A. | The 2009 national Renewable Energy Target Legislation includes a 5 times multiplier for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), for solar photovoltaic installations up to 1.5 kW in size. The scheme will taper off in each subsequent year to 4x, 3x, 2x and finally to no multiplier. |
| Q. | What is the Solar Multiplier? |
| A. | It is another descriptor for the new Solar Credit scheme. |
| Q. | Can I put power back into the grid? How is the power measured?>? |
| A. | Yes you can! Most utilities now install a bi-directional meter to monitor power going into the house (importing) and the power coming out of the solar system (exporting). This way you are only billed for the 'net' amount of power you use. In the ACT and in Alice Springs, the meters register gross export. |
| Q. | What is the different between gross and net export? |
| A. | A NET Feed-in Tariff is when your property uses the electricity generated first, and then any excess is exported to the electricity grid. In the case of a Gross FiT, everything generated is exported to the grid and you are paid for this. FiT rates are measures in cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh) of generation. |
| Q. | What is a Feed-in Tariff? |
| A. | A Feed-in Tariff (FiT) is when electricity generated from your property (usually from a solar power system) is exported to the local electricity grid and your retailer pays a premium for it. |
