A SOLAR power plant for your home could knock you back several thousand
dollars. It will reduce your carbon footprint, but will it really save
you money?
With a typical Sunshine Coast household consuming an average of 24kWh of electricity a day
- which can cost you $2500 to $3000 a year - home owners need to look
carefully at the cost-benefit balance of investing in solar power.
The Clean Energy Council says rising electricity prices and the falling cost of solar PV systems mean the business case for solar remains compelling.
But the council advises that the amount of money your household will save by going solar is affected by factors including:
- How much power you use
- The size of your solar system - if you use more power than it can produce, your savings will be reduced.
- Your feed-in tariff - that is, how much your electricity retailer pays you for any excess power your solar panels generate.
- Your usage patterns - solar panels only work while the sun is shining. Households that use a lot of power during the day may save more than those that consume more at night. However, you will still receive a feed-in tariff for any excess electricity you generate during the day.
Bradford Solar general manager Andrew Rowe says every person's circumstance is different and needs to be assessed as such.
"If you consume 60% of the energy produced by (an average Australian)
solar system and export 40% of it you could save up to $1200 a year," Mr
Rowe said.
"If you don't consume the power produced during the day it will be fed
back to the grid and at best you may get 6c/kWh when you are more than
likely paying between 25-35c/kWh.
"You want to be offsetting this cost. So you need to consider when you
are using your appliances, for example you could put the timers on for
dishwashers/washing machines during the day.
"Solar is ideal for those people with pumps such as pools and farming as they are expensive to run."
Mr Rowe said Sunshine Coast families needed to look at the return on investment and decide "Is it worth it?"
"Use our calculator
if you want to do a more in-depth analysis. Choose Brisbane from the
map as this will provide a very similar result to the Sunshine Coast.
"The consumer must consider 'is this a good use of my funds?'
"The reality is: What other appliance will return on your investment, produce energy and save the environment?"
More info on www.bradfordsolar.com.au
