selling power to the grid

Is anybody actually selling power back to the grid? I know there are green power credit schemes but this appears to only wind back the meter or give you credit. I am trying to figure out which company actually gives you hard cash for electricity sold to the grid. Im wondering If I can make even a small income from it?

Reply to
tuppy
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"tuppy"

** If YOU can make 240 VAC electricity, at home, for under 12 cents per kWh - the world wants to hear from YOU.

Seriously - in some countries, legislation forces energy suppliers to pay around double the retail cost of AC power to folk who have solar panels installed and feed back their excess capacity.

Helps with peak demand on hot days I suppose.

Very politically correct move.

...... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

I think you would make a lot more by being careful with your usage, dont leave unused lights on, use lower wattages if practical, use the line not the clothes dryer etc

Another problem is that if you sell power, you probably have to pay tax on that income, whereas what you use (for domestic purposes) wouldn't be a tax deduction against it.

How do you plan to generate the electricity ?

Reply to
kreed

Most of the Power Companies in Australia that do give you credit for buying back your power pay you about 1/2 for it than what they charge you for it. In Germany things are a lot better, you get the equiv of 75C per Kwh for what you sell back.

As for making an income , good luck.

Reply to
Mauried

Thank god we don't pay that much for electricity here just yet!

MrT.

Reply to
Mr.T

I've claims of people with solar installations selling excess power back into the grid, but this tends to be in articles or promotional material, and seems more of an implication that it *could* be done rather than actually happening. I guess the inverter would have to be synchronised to the mains frequency, but to actually get power to flow into the grid it'd have to output a voltage marginally higher than the grid voltage?

I also wonder what happens if the power authority needs to isolate a circuit, or a power line goes down, or there's a blackout? Would the lack of grid voltage cause the inverter to shut down or would there be voltages in the grid where linesman wouldn't be expecting to find it?

Reply to
Poxy

No probs, you can when we go nuclear with no subsidies!

Greg

Reply to
gcd

Forget it, unless you do it for the love of it. You will never get your money back, well, not for say 20 years.

Michael mobs does it, I've been to his place and seen his installation, and he mentioned that he actually got a cash return. No idea who he is (or was) with though.

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Plenty of others feed back to the grid as well, but now that you can simply buy 100% accredited solar or wind power (at a premium), it's far far cheaper to simply do that than have your own local power generation system. If you are in a windy rural area then perhaps you could feed back wind power, the installation costs would be less than solar, as wind generators are getting cheaper and popular. But forget trying to make any sort of income from it.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

**Well, yes, but you are neglecting several facts and probabilities:
  • Solar cells are falling (slowly) in price and increasing (slowly) in efficiency.
  • Electricity is VERY cheap in Australia, by world standards. The price will go up, as the cost of generating one's own power falls.
  • The upcoming carbon trading will push up the cost of coal generated power.

Of course, all these things will reduce the cost of large scale renewable energy too.

I've done the sums for my place. For around $18k, I can generate around

33% of all my power needs. If I fill the pool in, that balance becomes around 50%. That, allowing for the $8k grant form the gummint, means a 20 year payback. If electricity was the same price as it is in (say) California, then payback would be less than 15 years. In Germany, payback would occur in less than 10 years. In Italy, around 7 years. In Denmark, around 5 years. The one, certain thing is that electricity prices will rise in the near future. If Australia is dumb enough to go the nuclear route, then prices will rise even more dramatically.

If I could expect a 5 year payback, I would jump in right now. And, I suspect, so would a lot of other people.

Further: A friend's girlfriend works for BP Solar. They can't keep up with the present demand for cells.

Trevor Wilson

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Reply to
Trevor Wilson

This is a good utility for working out the payback.

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Use version 1 and use your closest locality.

Reply to
Mauried

My enquiries several years back revealed that my supplier would credit me at about 20% the rate they charged me.

Fairly recent legislation in Victoria requires that power companies credit you per KW.hr at least what they charge you per KW.hr.

A wise move by Bracksy, which went almost unreported.

Reply to
Moonshadow

I am hoping the labor party gets in, then increases the solar rebate as promised. then Ill buy 20K worth of panels with inbuilt mini inverters on the back of them. ie no batteries at all. Then get a rebate back of $8- $10k.

So I would be looking at getting back $10-$12K generating as much power as possible and not actually using it myself. This installation would be on my weekender house which is mostly unoccupied. Thus I dont want credit, just hard cash to pay off these panels asap!! Problem is integral only give you credit (yes at 1/2 rate u buy it) but better than nothing. Goal is to get these panels paid off in record time..

Reply to
tuppy

"tuppy"

** Knew you had some crackpot scheme like this in mind.

...... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

I'm sure of it, that's why I said "just yet" :-)

MrT.

Reply to
Mr.T

these

I doubt that even in Victoria they will pay you a higher rate for power you put into the grid compared to what they charge you for power you take from the grid. Power utilities (Australian) don't usually work that way.

I had a look over the Origin Energy website to see if I could find anything regarding solar energy buy back rates but this information is not obvious anywhere. In contrast, Synergy in WA, are completely open about it

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Reply to
Ross Herbert

.......

I think those two statements are contradictory. My 2c is that until the world gets another large scale solar panel fabrication plant, then solar panels are going to stay expensive. Prices jumped a few years back due to the serious under supply of panels.

Reply to
Terryc

Yep, I'd love to put solar cells on my roof and have a grid inverter, but because I can now simply buy 100% solar or wind power from the grid (albeit at a 50% increase in price over coal), it's a no-brainer at present. Things will eventually change though.

They haven't been able to for many years now. And they like the keep the prices artificially high as well, but that will eventually change as well.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

ok so anybody have any idea on how much would it cost to power a home 24/7 via solar?

i would imagine i would need the usual stuff like 12v lighting, 12v appliances, inverters for 240 volt.

i am looking at doing a green project as i just got a block of land out at mudgee and i stuck one of those shed type homes on it.

Reply to
NL

**How long is a piece of string? There are too many variables to take into account.
**Budget for at least $20k, less the gummint rebate ($8k), if you are VERY frugal with electricity and you don't use any of the following:
  • Electric heating and cooling.
  • Electric ovens (microwaves are OK).
  • A pool filter.

If you want all that stuff too, then you'd better bump your budget up to at least $40k. Plus batteries. Add another (say) $5k for them.

Trevor Wilson

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Reply to
Trevor Wilson

Do you have any idea of your likely consumption? There can be a 10 to 1 difference in power consumption between homes depending on a whole host of factors.

You have to know *exactly* what stuff you need a before you can price a suitable solar system.

Do you have access to the grid? Did you consider any of this before you bought the block of land and plonked your shed down? Is it windy out at Mudgee?

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

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