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Request a QuoteSolar panels capture the sun’s energy using photovoltaic cells, this is DC electricity which then needs to be converted into AC by your solar inverter before it can be used to power your home.
Electricity prices are rising and solar panels are also becoming more affordable, making them a worthwhile long-term investment with an impressive payback period of around 3 - 5 years.
The amount of solar you should install is dependent on a number of factors such as your consumption, panel output, location and roof space.
As a general rule for solar systems in Australia a North facing system will yield the most production. East and West facing systems are also great for heavy consumption in the morning or afternoon.
Although Winter may cause a slight decrease in production due to shorter days and weaker sunlight, this difference is barely noticeable, most systems will still comfortably cover your base load.
When sunlight reaches the Earth, solar panels capture its energy using photovoltaic cells. These cells are made of semiconductor materials that generate electricity when exposed to sunlight.
This energy is direct current (DC) electricity. However, most of our appliances and devices run on alternating current (AC).
To make electricity usable in our homes, we need an inverter. The inverter converts the DC electricity produced by solar panels into AC electricity, which is what our appliances, lights, and gadgets rely on. So, the inverter ensures compatibility with our existing electrical systems.
Once the AC electricity is ready, it flows into your home’s electrical system. Your appliances, from the refrigerator to the dishwasher, draw power from this solar-generated electricity. If you produce more electricity than you use, the excess energy can be stored in batteries or sent back to the grid, and your electricity retailer pays you a feed-in tariff.
Installing solar panels helps you reduce your power bills.
For example, a 10kW system, on average, will produce around 40kW per day. Say a particular household uses 20kW of power per day. This translates to saving 30c per kW or $6 per day. Although this may not seem like a lot, even using half of the available solar energy throughout the day generates $550 of savings quarterly. Combining this with a feed-in tariff of 10c per kW, this translates to another $181 quarterly. These savings combined to reduce a quarterly electricity bill of $800 down to $68.
As electricity prices soar and become increasingly unpredictable across Australia, households are turning to solar energy to reduce their energy bills. The fact that solar panels are becoming more affordable makes them a worthwhile long-term investment.
There is no magic formula that fits every household, it's dependent on several factors such as how much power you would usually consume on an average day. Most good panels are rated 400W per panel. A higher-rated array of panels means you need fewer panels overall. For example, you can install 24 415W panels instead of 29 350W panels.
The number of panels you install depends on the amount of roof space you have available and the brand or type of panel you're thinking of installing. If you have a smaller roof or one with obstructions, you may want to install fewer high-rated panels.
Considering your household's base load will also help determine the right system for you. Every house has an average base load, which usually includes your fridge and freezer, lights, and any appliances left on standby.
When trying to decide on a system size, you may also want to factor in any additional usage that your solar system can account for. Some of the most draining appliances include pool pumps, spas, air conditioning, heating, dryers, dishwashers, and washing machines. You can determine system placement and size based on the times when you tend to use these appliances the most. Choosing the right system to suit your needs can save you $100 per kW per quarterly power bill.
Deciding on where your panels are installed is key to maximising your system's efficiency and performance.
As a general rule for installing solar panels in Australia, your system will generate the most electricity when facing north. This is especially important for winter months to ensure your solar panels get the maximum amount of daylight hours possible.
If you have a flat roof, installers will often tilt the panels north to match the direction of the sun. Angling them in this way changes their ideal season from summer to winter, which is beneficial as the hours of sunlight are decreased in winter.
Despite the north being widely recognised as the ideal direction, panels can be installed in any direction that better suits your house and energy needs.
For example, if you have a family that uses the most energy in the afternoon after school, you may find that western-facing panels are ideal for you. Even more beneficial is installing Enphase microinverters, allowing you to have a split panel array covering multiple roof sides, making the most of multiple periods of sunlight throughout the day and better meeting your peak energy needs.
Many people associate solar energy with heat, but in fact, solar is not reliant on heat at all, instead using light rays to generate electricity. Winter may decrease production slightly due to shorter days, potential cloud cover, and weaker rays, but this is not as significant as you’d expect.
Most solar systems can still comfortably cover the base load of your home, meaning you'll still get to experience solar savings year-round.
Maximising the output of your solar system throughout winter can be done quite simply. Firstly, keep your panels clean and free of obstruction. This means keeping your panels out of shade by pruning the surrounding trees. Perhaps consider cleaning your panels occasionally and checking on them to make sure there's no debris obstructing sunlight.
During these colder months, working to reduce your energy consumption can also be greatly beneficial. Heating is a massive use of energy throughout these months, and reducing your need for heating can help bolster the benefits of your solar system.
You can achieve this by installing insulation, installing floor-to-ceiling curtains, and using door snakes to prevent cold air from entering.
If you're in the solar market, you may be wondering why you’ve been quoted at so many different prices. It's important to understand that the price you pay depends on the brand of the products you choose and the quality of the installation.
With a great deal of cheap solar panels out there, it is important to understand that the cheapest option is not always the best option. But why pay more?
The quality of the product is so important to ensure that frequent maintenance and repairs are avoided, as well as decreased efficiency and possible threats to the safety of your home.
The first step is to research the manufacturer. Cheap manufacturers have been known to disappear, leaving you with little to no aftermarket support or servicing.
Workmanship quality is equally as important, if not more so, as even a good quality system installed poorly will have a decreased lifespan and develop the potential to experience a range of problems over time.
At the end of the day, how much should a system cost? There's no magic formula for determining the cost, as it is greatly dependent on many factors such as energy consumption, size, brand, and difficulty of installation, but a general rule is $750 - $1700 per kW of installed solar; anything lower than this is concerningly cheap.
Solar is a significant investment, and although it is tempting to try and look for the cheapest deal, this, unfortunately, is not a purchase you can make based on that alone. Cheap solar panels present some serious risks in terms of safety and often will not perform up to your expectations.
To make sure you're getting a quality system for the right price there are a few things to look out for. Many cheap or dodgy installers like to hide behind brand-name products such as REC, giving you the impression of reliability. These retailers often discount the price by as much as $1000 below the industry average.
Installations are usually carried out by inexperienced sub-contractors, as a result, the workmanship is often poor and the process lacks post-installation support, some have even been known to block customers when they make contact regarding an issue they are experiencing.
There is growing pressure for the Clean Energy Council to address this issue and implement measures to clean up the industry. Although this is not happening at the moment, it is up to you to ensure your solar retailer is reputable. The best way of protecting yourself is to thoroughly research your installer. This includes reviews, offers, how long they’ve been in business, and where they are based, to name a few.
This is a significant issue in the industry, with 1 in 4 solar systems being deemed faulty. In addition, over 1,000 solar installers have left the industry in recent years, leaving those who bought from them without any ongoing support or maintenance.
Installing a solar system usually involves significant upfront costs, depending on its size and the products being installed. Many choose to finance their systems, and several different options are available.
Some choose to borrow against their home loan, redrawing money from their mortgage as this typically has the lowest interest rate, but there are other options to consider as well.
One good example is a green loan, which is a specialised type of financing designed to promote environmentally friendly practices. These loans are used to purchase or install approved clean energy products such as solar systems and home battery storage. The definition of eligible products may vary between lenders, but they typically include items that enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and contribute to a greener planet.
At 1KOMMA5°, we often refer our customers to Community First or Plenti.
Although finding the right system may seem daunting, don't let that scare you into missing out on the benefits of solar energy.
It comes down to figuring out what's right for you and conducting adequate research before you buy.
Our team at 1KOMMA5° would be happy to help you answer your questions and understand what's right for you. If you're not ready for that step yet, you might want to try reading some of our other resources to help with your solar journey.
Head over to the 1KOMMA5° blog for more helpful tips and other important guides on everything solar, from inverters, panels and batteries to how to make the most of your investment for years to come.
Get all the right information before installing a solar power system for your home in NSW.
Learn about how you can reduce your power bills, government rebates, how to select the right system for you and of course how to get the most out of your solar.
No, in Australia a solar system without integrated battery storage turns off in a blackout. There are two reasons why your solar system turns off when the grid goes down:
Safety: during a power outage, repair crews will be working to fix the grid to get power restored. To avoid endangering them, it is essential that there is no power flowing from solar systems out into the grid.
Technical: the appliances in your home need a steady flow of electricity to work properly. In many cases, appliances can also be damaged if the flow of power isn’t steady and constant. Because a solar system doesn’t produce a steady flow of power, the system needs to be turned off when the grid goes down.
For these two reasons, your solar system must automatically shut down in the event of a blackout, unless you have battery storage with backup.
Tesla Powerwall is the battery we recommend for households that want blackout protection.
As a part of our installation service, we will work with you to nominate circuits that can be powered from your battery in the event of a blackout. Typically this will include things like a modem, lights, small pumps, garage doors and other appliances that are of high priority. Anything that uses a lot of power is typically not backed up in a blackout such as air conditioning and pool pumps.
The final step is to nominate how much capacity you want to leave in your battery in case of a blackout. If you choose 30%, for example, your Powerwall will never discharge more than 70% of the battery’s capacity, ensuring that in a worst-case scenario, you still have 30% of the Powerwall’s capacity to get you through the night. In the morning, the solar system will start generating power again and the Powerwall will recharge from the solar power being generated. For more information about how this works, please speak with a member of the 1KOMMA5° Team.
Online monitoring is about making sure you can see what’s going on with the solar power system and how much power it’s generating and what it’s doing, what its status is and importantly, you need to have that because the last thing you want to do is find out your system’s not working when your power bill arrives in three months’ time, but that’s the first step.
The second step is in relation to how your system is actually performing in relation to our expectations. Because when we sell you a system, we tell you how much power we expect your system to generate day on day, month on month, year on year. So it’s important we benchmark that data and understand what’s going on.
So, our system will give you detail around and graph that detail for you, so you can see how much power your system’s generating.
Then it comes to the exciting stuff and that’s when us data junkies get excited because we’re going to give you data and the access to data, so you can start to profile what your system’s doing when you generate power and how you can use it, because we all want to get the best out of self-consumption.
So whether it’s just solar power or you’re putting in solar power and storage, self-consumption is really important and data is really powerful.
Once you sign up for a 1KOMMA5° Installation, we immediately submit your grid application to the relevant energy distributor. For systems up to 5kWs, this is a formality. For larger systems it can take a few days or more. Once we receive approval, your installation will be managed by our installation coordinator, who will welcome you to 1KOMMA5° and book an installation date for you. This is generally booked within around two weeks and installation dates are available Monday to Friday, weather permitting.
We endeavour to have your system installed within 2-4 weeks unless you request us to hold for whatever reason. Due to our strict safety policy, we do not install solar systems when it rains. In the event of inclement weather, we will rebook your installation as soon as possible. We always work with your requests as we strongly recommend that someone be home on the day of installation.
Most solar panels are all approximately 1.7 meters high by 1 meter wide. If you have a flat roof please allow a minimum of 2 meters per row to allow for additional shading from the panels after they are tilted.
As today’s solar panels are about 265W or higher, you should allow 4 panels per kW. For example, a 4kW system can be installed in 2 rows of 8 panels, allowing 1.7 meters for each row plus a little buffer, and 8 meters long. The panels in a row sit flush and they are just under a meter wide, so allowing one meter per panel works out to be quite accurate.
Our Solar Experts have the ability to draw proposed panel diagrams on the computer such as the one below. Because we use aerial maps that do not take into account the pitch of your roof, our estimates are not exact to the centimetre, but we can get pretty close! If it looks like a tight fit we will send an installer out before the installation day to confirm everything for you.