Power $$$ cost and cooking at home

[austastar]

So how does the 2K in credit actually work cause i simply cannot see an electricity company writing me a cheque

Hi,
    Yep, they will write me a cheque (I'm told), or credit to a family member's account.
But I will erode it eventually when the feed in tariff drops below equity.
Cheers

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

[Craig Tomkinson]

Thanks Vern, Thanks for that, Thats way to much for this brown duck, I would pay around 15 to 20 grand, would that run a house, Craig

Hi Edz, If you have heaps of timber, You can not beat an old wood stove cooks your tucker and heats your water, Craig

[vern]

You could do it for $20k for a smaller system that could be expanded on later.
Firefoxes system is big, its actually 2 systems.
Last one i did cost about $34k with generator back up. $5k was just for the generator alone.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Craig Tomkinson]

Thanks Vern, If power keeps going up the way it is, we will defiantly looking at going offgrid, Craig

[edz]

If you have heaps of timber, You can not beat an old wood stove cooks your tucker and heats your water, Craig

Wish we did live in the scrub, totaly  agree with you on the wood stove, still miss the sister inlaws  wood stove cooking and the milky white hot bath water,  Still reckon it stayed hotter for longer too  ..

[firefox]

My systems are about 40k that's with using the gov rebate on panels.
The expensive part is the batteries and inverters.. there's 20k alone in that.

Panels not that bad, ground mount systems aren't cheap, if you mounted to roofs u could save a bit.

With a 15 yr warranty and we are using upwards of 30kw day the repayment back is very very quick at about 5-7 years.

I don't feed into the grid, I could but it would cost about 15-20k to get power poles/lines to the house area which in the scheme of things I would have had to spend to get mains power anyhow.

It's a big investment upfront but if you can spend it. Not getting power billsis not.

I think the big thing will be people putting a single battery, tesla lg or something with inverter, use mostly battery power overnight..
I reckon this is why power companies putting their connection fees through the roof, that way it can force people to pay for not even using..

It's not hard to go off grid and as most that know me being in IT, I run lots of electronics, dishwashers, dryers, TVs as well as a 10,000 swim spa with heating (living in tassie gotta heat it)..

[vern]

$40k each system?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[firefox]

40k total

A battery combo with inverter will set u back about 10k
So 2 of those.

5kw of solar is pretty cheap especially with gov rebates..

There's a lot of over priced suppliers, I went through 2 different companies before settling with actually the biggest guys down here but in the overall scheme was the cheapest.

A single phase setup retails for around 20k out there but u can normally get them a little cheaper.

[vern]

Ahh i just re read your post, last off grid job i did the batteries alone were $12k, think it was 32kwh worth. Those sunny island from memory are about $4k, the 5000tl are about $2k, the 3000tl is about $1.4k from memory. Panels can be from 60c per watt to $1.30ish. All adds up.
Sizing of the battery system is where quotes can differ dramatically.


Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[firefox]

Yeah so those 32kwh were lead acid or lithium?
Although I use the power overnight, I only need batteries to support one night. Benefit of having lithium as u probably know is running them below 50%. I allow mine to drop to 15% but LG says I should let them go to 5%.

Normally like my caravan I have 880ah but will only let them run down to 50-60%..
But in the house as they are guaranteed I run them much lower allowing me to have less. Each phase I have is only 12.8kwh total of 25kw between both banks.
Even with dishwashers overnight, heat transfer, fridges and all the other stuff batts are normally only 50% in the morning even in winter..

Has a lot to do with planning in the house and having Eco friendly appliances etc. we built the house from scratch so was able to ensure everything is simple and energy efficient.

[Craig Tomkinson]

Great Info gents thanks very much, Craig

[Craig Tomkinson]

Flaming hot in summer though edz, My grandmother had a Rayburn and I had to chop the wood for it when we visited, great memories, Craig

[vern]

Yeah so those 32kwh were lead acid or lithium?
Although I use the power overnight, I only need batteries to support one night. Benefit of having lithium as u probably know is running them below 50%. I allow mine to drop to 15% but LG says I should let them go to 5%.

Normally like my caravan I have 880ah but will only let them run down to 50-60%..
But in the house as they are guaranteed I run them much lower allowing me to have less. Each phase I have is only 12.8kwh total of 25kw between both banks.
Even with dishwashers overnight, heat transfer, fridges and all the other stuff batts are normally only 50% in the morning even in winter..

Has a lot to do with planning in the house and having Eco friendly appliances etc. we built the house from scratch so was able to ensure everything is simple and energy efficient.

They were sonnenshein VRLA batteries, due to where the panels were there was not a lot of solar gain (customer didn't want to see the panels plus there was a budget) so we allowed for more days of autonomy.
Lithium was still new and everyone i knew in the solar game wouldn't touch it for off grid as it wasn't tried and tested enough.  Amazing what the difference a couple of years makes, all the go now.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[janner5382]

No good thinking about it those rebates have gone forever and you know it , we're talking about now in the now world

We're still getting 44c/Kw here in Qld. 😂😂😂

Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk

[Fizzie]

+ 12c/kwh from supplier (Diamond Energy)! 

[briann532]

I would guess in the vicinity of $60k

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

You can get a system like that for half that these days.
Prices dropping almost on a daily basis.

[lloydus67]

We're still getting 44c/Kw here in Qld.

Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk

You may be, but no one can get that rebate today
I'm in Queensland and only get 6cents from energy Australia
I have had my solar in for 12 months, I generated approximately 1.2 times the amount I use, but that doesn't cover the charge, never mind the actual consumed cost
Lloyd


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trinityalyce]

Yeah so those 32kwh were lead acid or lithium?
Although I use the power overnight, I only need batteries to support one night. Benefit of having lithium as u probably know is running them below 50%. I allow mine to drop to 15% but LG says I should let them go to 5%.

Normally like my caravan I have 880ah but will only let them run down to 50-60%..
But in the house as they are guaranteed I run them much lower allowing me to have less. Each phase I have is only 12.8kwh total of 25kw between both banks.
Even with dishwashers overnight, heat transfer, fridges and all the other stuff batts are normally only 50% in the morning even in winter..

Has a lot to do with planning in the house and having Eco friendly appliances etc. we built the house from scratch so was able to ensure everything is simple and energy efficient.

Would love to know if you can recommend where to find some quality info about all of this...? I've been wanting to go off the grid for years. We do have solar and have been taking advantage of the rebates for years, but nonetheless I'm keen to not be at the mercy of the power companies long-term. To be honest I haven't even started looking into it seriously, but some good info (or knowing where to find it!) would be a great start!

My other half is concerned about the battery life, efficiency of solar panels dropping with time, etc. etc. and keeps saying he's not interested at this stage until technology improves and efficiency losses aren't as significant... but I think its been a while since he did much research into the systems. For those with off-the-grid set ups, how long have you had your set ups and how does efficiency change with time?

[vern]

All i will say is do your research, you think used car salesman are bad! Use quality components is what i recommend, and have a look at the installers quality of work

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[trinityalyce]

All i will say is do your research, you think used car salesman are bad! Use quality components is what i recommend, and have a look at the installers quality of work

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

See that's what we're afraid of, but where to start with the research...     Not only can you not believe all the salesman tells you, I also certainly do not believe everything I read on the internet!

[firefox]

Pm me I'll give u a contact I trust.
Yes solar is very very dogdy.. some good players.
All my gear is warranty between 10 and 15 years, batteries especially.
The gear I have is the good panels, SMA and LG. nothing else.