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Do you have solar panels?

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It's not a matter of whether the government spent taxpayers' money wisely. Governments rarely do. Let the taxpayers make it clear to their pollies that they feel shafted.
But if I'm offered a contract that guarantees me a set price for selling power into the grid, I do my sums based on that offer. If I come out ahead, I'll take it, otherwise I leave it. But if the counterparty stuffed up and pays me more than it's worth, I won't reject it or feel guilty accepting it. It is not as if I had forced them to stuff up.

As far as my comparison to negative gearing goes, and I can also include halving the CGT after 12 months, I see those issues on exactly the same level: Nobody in their right mind will buy a rental property expecting it to be a long-term losing business. What you call an "actual tax loss" may well apply in the short-term view for the initial years of ownership. Over time though, appreciation will ensure that the investment is profitable, or nobody would buy rental properties and accept the hassle and red tape that comes with it - not to mention the chance of finding a rotten tenant that wrecks the place and then does a runner. The Government wanted to boost the Building Industry, so they gave tax money away in order to get more taxes from builders, rental agents, and other sources.
 
pixel said:
The Government wanted to boost the Building Industry, so they gave tax money away in order to get more taxes from builders, rental agents, and other sources.
Click to expand...

Yes, and it hasn't worked because most investors buy existing property. Time NG was dropped, but that's off topic, sorry.
 
pixel said:
"cr.ap return only if you over-capitalise, trying to make money from power generation. If you configure your installation to meet your daily consumption, you save the full 27c or whatever your GST-inclusive cost per unit.
Click to expand...
Not interested in making money from it, just don't want to pay the power company.
 
My average power bill, even with a mesley 6 cent feed in tariff (QLD, Origin), is on average $50-$70 a qtr. Used to be $200+ a qtr. Huge saving.
 
While a little off topic, reduced energy usage is in everyone's best interest.
Coming from the tropics, ceiling fans help you keep your cool for most of the tropical season, ceiling fans are cheap to run. When I go south, ceiling fans seem to be reasonably rare and as soon as the temperature goes up just a little during the day, on goes the living area A/C and stays on. Airflow is the key for comfort and the stillest days tend to be the sunniest days (where solar really shines, pardon the pun) When I asked a few people about it they do not seem to be interested or see value in ceiling fans. Is this a common attitude with you southerners?
Getting back on topic, i personally feel good about exporting on average 20KWH/day to the grid, one day when electricity prices get to a point where large solar fed domestic battery plants can be accessed by the NEM and homeowners paid a premium for it, as the peakers are now, it could go a long way to solving our power needs. We and everything else on the earth are only here because of the sun, surely harnessing it's energy is a no brainer for our future.
 
Wyatt said:
When I asked a few people about it they do not seem to be interested or see value in ceiling fans. Is this a common attitude with you southerners?
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Well, hot air rises and ceiling fans just blow it back down on you.

Evaporative coolers are an alternative as long as you are in their direct flow.
 
SirRumpole said:
Well, hot air rises and ceiling fans just blow it back down on you.
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They were all people had a generation ago, my wife and i lived in Exmouth in the early 80's, all we had was ceiling fans. You manage, today there seems to be little tolerance of hardship, to save money.

SirRumpole said:
Evaporative coolers are an alternative as long as you are in their direct flow.
Click to expand...
Evaporative, especially in dryer climates, like W.A, S.A are really good.
 
Thanks for the comments and info above. We lived in PNG for 5 years with no air con and with ceiling fans. Also much younger then!

I used Solar Quotes a lot in my research but also a very informative Whirlpool thread on Solar Panels in WA [ thread title may have been Perth].

Anyway, right or wrong, the system is in and staying there. Generated 34.7 kWh today when the weather fluctuated a bit and the morning quite cool.
 
Wyatt said:
When I asked a few people about it they do not seem to be interested or see value in ceiling fans. Is this a common attitude with you southerners?
Click to expand...
There was a ceiling fan in my house when I bought it - installed for the purpose of pushing down hot air from the wood fire in winter.

It wasn't much good at that, not powerful enough, and was also at a height just perfect for trimming the hair of anyone even slightly over average height. Once it broke I didn't bother fixing it and replaced it with a ducted heat transfer system which does a much better job of moving the heat around the house.

So far as energy's concerned there are some interesting differences between states when it comes to heating and cooling. One that immediately comes to mind is that the average house in Victoria actually uses more heating than the average house in Tasmania. Then there's differences in the means of doing it with gas being incredibly common in Vic whereas gas is a minor thing in Tas with electricity being dominant followed by wood.

As for power bills, well my last one was less than zero so no complaints there. Winter is a lot more though since the solar doesn't do much and consumption is far higher due to heating (have electric as well as wood so well prepared there).
 
You're spot on smurph, energy needs to heat or cool, are dramatically different throughout Australia.

On the East coast, I would think evaporative cooling would have limited effect, due to the high humidity in summer.
However in the areas through S.A and W.A, that run from a line South of Carnarvon through to Adelaide, they really work well with evaporative cooling.
This is due, to the heat being generally accompanied by an easterly wind from the desert, and a high pressure system lacking humidity.
 
Has anyone gone off grid yet? if so what batteries did you settle on and why?
The son is building a house and no grid available, so doing a lot of research on batteries. Interesting he sent an email to Redflow, didn't get an answer, so is going to chase them up.
Any info, on experience with house batteries, appreciated.
 
With advice from the guru Smurf and Google and Youtube, I am off the grid on a small house where grid connection was not viable. One year down the track and everything is working fine. Using AGM batteries I purchased off ebay (Giant brand). I have never had to externally charge the batteries even after multiple rainy/ overcast days. A bit of power management/ common sense becomes second nature.
 
We are really liking the offerings from BYD. 48V 2.5kW blocks. Also the Power Plus in both 24V & 48V are looking promising.
 
Thanks for that Maca, how many Kw/hr of batteries do you have, what voltage are you running the bank at? I guess you are using a hybrid inverter ? or are you running separate inverter battery charger set up?
Yes I have explained to the son he needs to think about power management, tank on a stand to supply house water, orientation of the house, insulation, wet back stove with solar hot water. etc
He is a good kid pretty smart, so he should be o.k.
Any advice you can offer, would be greatly appreciated, no better knowledge than someone who has done it.
 
I started by purchasing 20 solar panels of which I could only use 18 because of the configuration dictated by the inverter. So I have 4.5kW of panels being 6 strings of 3 panels so the VOC (voltage open circuit) is only approximately 120 volts DC.

The inverter is a 5kW 48 volt all in one charge controller/inverter with twin MPPT solar inputs. I purchased the inverter on Ebay, it is a MPP brand, I think it is the PIP5048MSD but I can't find that model on Ebay now.

The battery bank is just 8 X 130ah 12 volt AGM batteries in 2 strings of 48 volts. The batteries are Giant brand purchased on Ebay. As I understand I have approximately 12.5 kWh of battery power which translates to approximately 6.25 kWh of usable power because of the recommended 50 % maximum of depth of discharge of AGM batteries.

Very basic system that relies on gravity feed water supply that I pump upstream with a petrol water pump. Gas oven and cook top. Gas boosted solar hot water. Wood combustion heater and NO air conditioning.
 
That sounds great Maca, I will pass on the info to the son, as I said he is a bit ocd so he will research it to the enth degree. If you like I will continue the conversation as pm's, unless you wish to just keep this thread going. Up to you.
But he will really love the info.
 
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