We did an upgrade and the old racking was in place and perfectly fine. When they came to do the quote the guy (happened to be the owner) said leave the rails - they will be re-used. When the installers came they removed the old rails and used all new. It did not change the quote so I am thinking that the quote included everything including the rails. Not sure if you can get an installer to re-use old stuff and remove it form the quote.
I don't understand the lingo down under. You're adding a floor? is that what "extend our house upwards" means? Same roof slope?
I'm wondering if more/upgraded panels/inverters really ought to be the next step
I know you've ruled out batteries before, but it's a constantly changing/improving environment. I have issues with lithium based batteries for home use - the fire risk concerns me (incidentally, that's an argument in favour of micro inverters as you have previously identified), but there are different chemistries becoming available - Redflow in Qld have zinc-bromide flow battery systems already available, Gelion in Sydney will soon have zinc-bromide gel cells. There are vanadium chemistry batteries too
Thoughts and comments please.
I like the enphase system, but it's expensive, and I kinda don't like the limited peak power output. On the other hand, I don't like having two different systems.
And how are you paid/do you pay for power?
UNLESS you have a battery system and then the current doesn't come for "free" any more.
Oh, the other problem with the Enphase microinveretsr is the standby power, it's massive!
They only claim a few watts, but that's real power, apparent power sucks. 280VA for my 14 microinveretrs.
You don't pay for that of course, UNLESS you have a battery system and then the current doesn't come for "free" any more.
Current electricity rates in Australia are roughly: 20-30c buy, 6-10c sell.
Current electricity rates in Australia are roughly: 20-30c buy, 6-10c sell.Is that with net metering or are you strongly incentivized to use what you produce in real time?
"Net Metering" is not a well defined term:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_metering
That is not what Australia uses. The majority of solar installs in Australia are billed for incoming and outgoing power at different rates, but its metered through a single connection (point) so you are incentivized to self consume production rather than export at the large differential price. Then you are also usually capped on export rate (possibly even curtailed depending on grid conditions) and might have time of day rates
I know you've ruled out batteries before, but it's a constantly changing/improving environment. I have issues with lithium based batteries for home use - the fire risk concerns me (incidentally, that's an argument in favour of micro inverters as you have previously identified), but there are different chemistries becoming available - Redflow in Qld have zinc-bromide flow battery systems already available, Gelion in Sydney will soon have zinc-bromide gel cells. There are vanadium chemistry batteries too
The reactive power is not a real problem.
Mrs EEVblog has now approved more panels on the front of the house (north-north-east roof) where she previously didn't want because of looks. (You can't see either of our systems from the street)
"Net Metering" is not a well defined term:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_metering
That is not what Australia uses. The majority of solar installs in Australia are billed for incoming and outgoing power at different rates, but its metered through a single connection (point) so you are incentivized to self consume production rather than export at the large differential price. Then you are also usually capped on export rate (possibly even curtailed depending on grid conditions) and might have time of day ratesI don't think there's a problem with the term 'net metering', but what you have there is clearly not it. Now there are some shades and variations to net metering, such as where you have differing rates at different times of day as I do, but the buy/sell still cancel each other out until there is a 'net' bill at the end of the net metering period.
... p.s. "net metering" that is 1:1 time shifting is broken, it doesn't price storage. For all the free market bluster of the US they sure like to add bizzare bureaucratic distortions to a free market (electricity, corn, steel, etc).