Just receive a Harrisons sales leaflet offering their basic instal for $6990. Seems too basic. Wondering just what it would run
aredwood,
Nov 3, 6:31am
It would be some sort of grid connect system. Therefore check what buyback rate your power company offers you. And plan for it to go down in the future.
t_naki,
Nov 3, 11:39am
Yeah, its grid tied so it wouldn't run much. Instead it combines with grid power so you just use less and sell back what you don't use to the grid. At that price i would imagine that there would not be much selling back going on.
Does it say what the Kw rating of the panels is?
eagles9999,
Nov 3, 1:27pm
The price includes a 3.8Kw inverter and 5 x 270W panels. Claims to be a 1.350KWP system. yes I guess there would not be much to come from selling excess back.
crackerjack19,
Nov 3, 2:38pm
I am afraid that the priority that should be being placed on uses of solar are not being helped by the complete lack of commitment by successive governments, and the greed and self preservation of the retail electricity companies. So please don't expect any benefit other than 'Peace of mind' if you go down that track
eagles9999,
Nov 3, 2:43pm
I wasn't seeking to "agendarise" the issue. Just asking for an expert opinion on what benefit a fairly basic priced solar power system would offer
maggie65,
Nov 3, 3:32pm
I can help with this (own a company that sells and installs these).
1350W's of panels will generate approximately 1800kWhr's per year (give or take, depending on the exact direction they are facing, location in NZ etc.)
The average NZ household uses close to 9,000 kWhr's a year, so this system would do about 20% of your power bill. In my opinion, too small, although smaller is often better than bigger.
For most people, a system that does about half your average power usage is about right. Don't be fooled by people who try and sell you something that will "eliminate" your power bill. As you use a lot of power at night (when the solar isn't generating) to achieve this you would have to sell a lot back during the day and the rates you get for selling it back are lower than what you buy it in for.
To answer your question more clearly, the Harrisons system would save you approximately $350 a year on your power bill (making a number of assumptions).
I am not going to rubbish Harrisons, but I would be very hesitant to use them. They are a carpet company who are dabbling in solar. Although they would likely to do an acceptable job, I just don't feel they have the expert knowledge at this stage, and they seem to be focused on gimmicky systems that they can sell easily, as opposed to systems that are specifically designed for what you need.
Happy to answer any other questions you might have eagles9999
solarboy,
Nov 3, 6:45pm
Best way to reduce your electricity usage is to go off-grid for 20 years like I did. When I grid-connected recently I discovered that I've averaged 2.3 kW/h daily since, so about 840 units annually - roughly $1 a day including daily fixed charge.
eagles9999,
Nov 3, 7:23pm
What I figured. , not too sure they are a great carpet company either. Whats "going off grid"?
A solar system whereby you are no longer corrected to the national grid. The energy from your panels is stored in batteries. Very expensive upfront, depending on what you run in your house, can be $30,000 to $50,000 to do it right.
t_naki,
Nov 3, 10:41pm
So how much extra should those who do not have solar panels pay in order to subsidise solar installations. Bear in mind that they are already exempt from export fees that all other generators pay and receive more for their power than large scale generator does.
aredwood,
Nov 4, 2:05am
Grid connect solar is only suited to countries that generate most of their power from fossil fuels and/or nuclear. In NZ Peak demand is in morning / evening. So during the day your solar panels are competing with renewable generation. Therefore virtually no benefit to the environment. And renewable power is cheap to buy on the wholesale market.
t_naki,
Nov 4, 11:36am
That is very true, it may even make renewable energy less economic as more focus is placed on peaker plants so they can sit idle during the day and then fire up in the mornings and evenings.
drsr,
Nov 4, 1:23pm
Not really, for example this week there is about 750MW of gas and 200MW of coal burning during sunlight hours that could easily be displaced by solar. See http://www.em6live.co.nz . Also displacing hydro with solar during dry spells conserves scarce water which would otherwise be preserved by burning gas and coal.
tintop,
Nov 5, 2:58am
Well - there was an energy savvy guy on the Nine to noon session on Radio NZ a few weeks back. He discussed a very wide number of issues concerning PV systems. His summary line was to the effect that given the uncertainty of excess power buy back payments by the energy companies - that it would be better to spend the money buying power company shares.
And I just heard on the news that some of the power companies have halved their 'buy back ' price that they will pay to new customers.
eagles9999,
Nov 7, 1:15pm
Meridian are cutting it back even further- from 25c per unit to 7c. Contact halved their buy back rate. from 17c to 8c. Seems solar installations for domestic use have gone up by 400% in the last 3 years. the average price is $10,000 which makes Harrisons quote of under $7,000 look a bit suspect.
maggie65,
Nov 7, 1:35pm
Their price of $7000 is not suspect, it is just a small system. The "average" price of $10,000 would be for a cheap 3kW system or similar. Solar can still be worth while, the key is to not get a system that is too big, and use as much of the power yourself (not sell it back to the grid).
tigra,
Nov 7, 1:59pm
maggie65 wrote: Their price of $7000 is not suspect, it is just a small system. The "average" price of $10,000 would be for a cheap 3kW system or similar. quote] LOL! Harrisons leaflet says its a 1.350KW system
ira78,
Nov 7, 2:12pm
Yup, not that a big system producing more than you use is a bad thing, but it's less cost effective than aiming to simply decrease the amount of electricity you have to buy. Even a few hundred watts is better than nothing. Though, you'll probably not get much of a bulk discount from the installer. :)
eagles9999,
Nov 7, 2:19pm
Is it "better than nothing"? ignoring the environmental aspect most of us would do it to save money and it would take a very long time to recoup $7000 if you were only producing a few hundred watts. AND, you still have to pay the daily line charge to the power company for the conventional power which is the big hurdle
trade4us2,
Nov 7, 2:30pm
Grid tied systems are now uneconomic. Meridian and Contact have cut their buy back rates and the others will follow. This is the end of solar power in NZ unless you go off grid, and even that is uneconomic unless you live in a remote area.
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