selling power to the grid

It's for real and it's easy, all you need is a "grid inverter", you can buy them off-the-shelf:

Go to the national Sustainable House Day on Sep 9th and you can see a whole bunch of open houses with grid connect systems.

Dave.

All we need is for the price of a grid connected solar system to drop to $8/W and you can install one for free thanks to the government rebate. I'm patiently waiting... In the mean time I'm happy to pay 17c/kWh or so to have it delivered via the grid.

Dave.

The problem with rebates is that generally the price of what is being rebated goes up to suit the rebate. You can buy Solar Cells now for $8 a watt, but the typical installation cost of a 1KW Grid tie system is around $14K or more. Thats $6K for the installation and the Invertor , doesnt really add up. Rebates usually dont work as they drive up the demand for Solar Cells which is what is keeping the prices high. It would make more sense for Governments to build their own Solar Cell plants and make the Solar Cells at cost and then just sell them to the public. Much better than just lining the pockets of solar cell manufacturers.

im on the grid, just looking to see if its worth doing.

not using much in the way of electrical appliances, gas stove, hot water and heating powered by a bank of lpg cylinders.

so mainly lighting , and the usual, tv, computer, probably the highest draining items would be washing machine and dryer.

pretty much looking at using it as a getaway so power demand would not be constant. but if i was to stay there for a week or so i would need a system that i can draw power off 24/7

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@g12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

At this point, financially it isn't worth doing. If there is enough demand and/or government pressure, better solar panels will certainly be developed in the future, just like how almost every other item in the world has been improved and developed over time.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@g12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

It really depends on what you mean by better Solar Panels. Better Solar Panels are being made everyday, the efficiency is now hitting 40% which is a lot better than the 12% we are currently used to. If by better Solar panels, you mean cheaper ones, theres not much evidence that theres going to be much change. I know of no current technology that will substantially reduce the price in $ per watt of Solar panels. Better solar panels yes, cheaper ones , unlikely. And there is huge demand for cheaper solar panels. But most manufacturers seem to want to make better ones.

Which is better. A 12% solar panel that costs $5 a watt or a 40% solar panel that costs $15 a watt.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@g12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

In the consumer society it's only dollars per watt that counts. If you're sending a satellite into orbit then you might want to look at efficiency. After that you only compare the cost of the setup over a period of years. At this point solar looses against grid power. Do the maths.

Dorfus

**OK, so far.

**A CLOTHES DRYER??!!! Get real. Clothes dryers are the most easily replacable, almost useless drains on power. Get rid of it. Don't even think about using one on a Solar power system. **Then think VERY CAREFULLY about high drain devices. Clothes dryers, indeed!

Trevor Wilson

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

When a government no longer believes in government hospitals, government schools, government roads, government provided public transport, government owned banks or government provision of any essential services in fact, then government run factories are never going to happen!

They do however like providing tax-payer subsidies to any business that contributes sufficiently to their election campaign funds. This will obviously continue for the foresee-able future.

MrT.

It's not worth doing at the moment. A lot of hassle, and a lot of money. But if you have money to burn, by all means... If you want to be be eco-friendly the easiest thing you can do is switch to 100% Green power from wind or solar. Origin Energy provide the best plan for this. Costs you about an extra 6 cents per kWh or so. Anything cheaper is not true 100% green power from new infrastructure. You should do this anyway regardless of if you install a solar system or not.

Dave.

Almost - Synergy W.A. will buy your peak electricity for about 3x what you buy it from them during off-peak. They have a problem in summer with excessive amounts of cheap inefficient Chinese made air conditioners drawing more load than the network can handle. The peak is during the middle of the day, off-peak is at night. you must have a "smart meter" installed. see:

what is the tariff structure in your state?

In reality, you should add up all your costs and find out what your capacity will be to return power back to the grid. It takes a very large cost in equipment and up-keep to make a viable power source that can bring any type of return. You have to also consider the recovery time for your cost.

Most power companies only pay out much less than there selling price when buying power. They are there to make a profit.

I myself went through the numbers for my area, and found it was not worth the effort in relation to the return I would end up with. In fact, I would have the possibility of a loss.

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JANA
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"tuppy"  wrote in message 
news:1186640866.293607.286700@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
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?

SNIP

That sounds like the kind of sales pitch one would expect from a Synergy employee.

The relationship between what they pay you for power during peak periods compared to what they sell it for during off-peak periods is totally irrelevant since they still only pay you 10/11ths of the rate at which you buy from them irrespective of the period.

Solar panels $4W in Japan!!

I'm currently visiting Japan, going through all the electronic hobbyist areas but my focus is on solar panels and inverters. I am amazed to find the odd house here and there covered in solar panels. (They have 15 nuclear reactors around Japan supplying Tokyo electricity). I asked a friend to introduce me to someone into solar and gathered some interesting info. solar panels are cheap here!! Cost is about AU$4 Watt retail! That is with no govt rebate or anything. why are we being ripped off in Australia. The rebate is a scam.

You can order online here

I am looking at what customs will charge me in inport duty if I try to bring some back with me.

130W panel weighs 17kg.

Rebates are like subsidies. They usually drive up the local prices by the amount of the subsidy. Because there are so few PV Manufacturers In Australia, its essentially a Monopoly Market. Ive been watching closely the cost of installing grid tie solar systems since the rebate was increased to $8K, and surprise, surprise the install costs have magically gone up to match the increase of the rebate.

10/11 is just the same rate as what you pay from them minus the GST. If that is a big problem, talk to the fed govt, or maybe you can do a deal if you are registered for GST? Compare this to what is on offer from other elect supply bodies in Aus.

btw, I d>