Could people who have installed the Panels tell us there experiance with the process. 1 what they spent number panels 2 How much there power costs have gone down a November bill and a June power bill then a years total 3 And are they happy overall
budgel,
Mar 14, 11:23am
I havent installed it, but went into a thorough process of investigating the benefits/drawbacks. At the time I did my research it took eight years before I would have broken even, and at that time the age of the panels could become an issue. Globally, it seems that the economics only stack up if there is a subsidy on the purchase cost. In NZ, any surplus fed back into the grid is paid for at a minimum rate, so it isnt like you are getting the full benefit to your own account.
I will be interested to see what other posters have to say about it.
loud_37,
Mar 14, 11:32am
I'm the same as budgel, when I crunched the numbers it just wasn't cost effective.
harm_less,
Mar 14, 11:43am
From another thread: Also if you are installing Tier 1 PV panels then their output shouldn't degrade significantly until they are 25 years old. I would be more concerned with generation efficiency rates improving year on year making present technology uncompetitive in the longer term but if you do your investment calculations based on what is presently available (with rising power prices being the 'cherry on top') then you are at least justifying your spend.
emeargg,
Mar 14, 11:49am
I installed a 5 kw system just over 6 months ago. I'm in Napier so have high sunshine hours. I have 8 north facing panels and 6 west facing ones. I paid $15K for premium panels. My next door neighbour has 12 mid range panels all north facing. I am generating 40% more power than her.
I also paid $450 for a unit on which I can set the times that my hot water gets heated and have it set for peak generating hours. When you're exporting power back to the grid you can't get a cheap rate for controlled water heating.
In our case the lines company increased the daily charge by about $24 a month.
Through the summer I was getting paid about $30 a month for excess exported (8 cents per unit).
For the first 6 months of having solar my monthly bills are on average down $103 on the previous year.
They say having solar can increase your house value by 4%.
harm_less,
Mar 14, 11:56am
In answer to your points:
We spent $31K on a 6kW ground mounted PV system in early 2012. Being ground mounted the orientation and slope of the panels was optimum and that installation generated ~7,500kWh/year in Taranaki (up to 900kWh January, around 300kWh in June). The cost of replicating that installation now would be half of 2012's spend, and costs of panels and inverters continue to decline. Also the PV was a major factor in the marketability of that property.
Use the calculator in my previous post to evaluate the returns/pay back period of any planned PV installation. Our experience in 2012 was much different to today's situation as in 2012 Meridian were paying 1:1 export tariffs on excess generation fed back to the grid. The export rates now are about 1/4 of retail power prices. In other words you export 4 kWhs to pay for 1 kWh so putting excess generation into the grid is a hiding to nothing and should be avoided by consuming your own generation instantaneously wherever possible. Again covered in my previous post.
We are currently planning to install a 5kW PV system on our current property which with inclusion of a power diverter (with dual element hot water cylinder) and daytime charging of an EV will give us a payback period of less than 10 years, without factoring in rising power prices during that time.
loud_37,
Mar 14, 12:59pm
So at this rate it will take 12.5 years before you see any financial benefit from them, and at the stage you will need to replace most of the system.
emeargg,
Mar 14, 1:10pm
I'm not so sure about having to replace parts of it. In 25 years the panels will be producing 90% of what they are now. Cheap panels degrade at a much higher rate. Also I have a good guarantee (20 years from memory).
loud_37,
Mar 14, 1:31pm
I know of people replacing panels after 10 years, inverters after 5, this was all at their cost even though they had a guarantee (check what is covered).
harm_less,
Mar 14, 1:38pm
Usually a case of getting what you pay for hence my recommendation of tier 1 panels earlier, but also curious as to why the person you know decided to change out panels. Physical damage or short circuiting maybe, but a significant generation reduction over 10 years would seem very unlikely.
You also now have the choice of either stand alone or inline inverters both with varying price points and quality levels. A small inline inverter integrated into each panel may be more expensive initially but it does mean that you aren't exposed to the possible replacement of a significant component (i.e. stand alone inverter) further down the line.
Before even starting to consider the economics, you need to define why you are considering it. If it's for economic (ie 'saving' cash) reasons, then one set of calculations apply. If it's for security or availability of supply reasons then a completely different set of calculations apply.
lythande1,
Mar 15, 8:24am
We are in Napier. I decreased our power bills by $150 a month by changing power companies.
That's a good point especially as many don't realise that PV generation is typically not available in the event of a grid outage. Grid tied grid installations must disconnect (and cease supply to the owner) if the grid goes down so that linesmen aren't put at risk repairing what they expect to be dead lines.
The exceptions are for off-grid installations which have no grid connection but are far more expensive and restrictive in home power usage. Another exception are grid tied installations with a battery included which are designed to 'island' in the case of an outage but again the inclusion of a battery is a significant added cost. Vehicle to grid (V2G) set-ups are another option but pretty rare so far and some vehicle makes don't allow this functionality.
harrislucinda,
Mar 15, 1:17pm
we have 24 panels cost around $21,000 few years back no battery so no back up energy this has brought our power bill down to $50 well worth it batteries cost around $10.000 never seem to be going down
loose.unit8,
Mar 15, 2:10pm
10 years ago the batteries would be lead-acid wouldn't they? And now they'd be Lithium?
Might be the same price but capacity and longevity would be much improved.
harrislucinda,
Mar 15, 3:40pm
dont recall lead acid as the inverter that they suppled didnt come with a battery so had no choice back in 2015
gazzat22,
Mar 15, 5:14pm
What was your average monthly power bill before going to solar and your annual power bill.
gazzat22,
Mar 15, 5:16pm
May have been Ni Cad. !
emeargg,
Mar 15, 7:16pm
Total for the year was $2854. Average per month was $238 with a low of $208 and a high of $309.
My bills since going solar (starting in Sep) have been an average of $142 with a low of $105 and a high of $181.
I'm expecting some good savings when winter comes.
emeargg,
Mar 15, 7:26pm
Ignore July generation as that was testing the system before waiting through 4 weeks of sunny for the inspector to sign it off and turn it on. Ignore August generation as it was only for small part of the month.
Impressive reduction in consumption. What are Contact paying for export per kWh now? Do you have a power diverter in your set-up, or if not have you investigated doing so? Some interesting discussion here: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=249131
emeargg,
Mar 15, 7:50pm
They're paying me 8 cents per unit, I'm paying them 25.9.
My contract with them in expires in a few months and I'll be contacting them and others asking for their best rates.
Not sure what you mean by a diverter.
loud_37,
Mar 15, 8:10pm
I can see why you guys think solar is good as your power bills are huge, mine is only on average $150 per month and most of this is used in the evening so solar is no good for my situation.
harm_less,
Mar 15, 8:45pm
http://www.paladin.nz/ Check out the link in my earlier post for Geekzone discussion on the details. Essentially a power diverter monitors your connection to the grid and when it senses power being exported it diverts that power to your hot water cylinder. Works best if you have a dual element HWC but it allows you to more fully consume your own generation by storing that energy as heat in your HWC thereby offsetting the electricity it would otherwise require to heat the water. Your PV installer should be able to advise you on such a device for your system.
Be sure to check out Ecotricity when you're shopping around. We're with them because their off peak rates suit us for overnight EV charging but they're also sympathetic to PV owners.
harm_less,
Mar 15, 8:50pm
Our electricity bill is just over $200/month which includes EV charging but we're still keen to halve, or better, that cost by putting in a PV set-up.
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