Wednesday 8 January 2014

A sunny day in Melbourne!

Why do we love sunshine?

Because we've got solar panels on our roof!

How much solar power do we have?

We've got a 2.4kW system - which is as big as our roof space would allow for, which means in full blazing sun we make 2.4kW. So an hour of sunshine makes 2.4kWh - in the middle of the day when all the panels are in full sun.

So how much energy (power) do we make?

On a day like today - a glorious blue sky summer day we typically generate a little over 14kWh.
Solar display panel for 8th January 2014

What do our power bills look like?

Quite simply they are more of a credit note than a bill!

Back in October we wrote about our average electricity usage - which is still about 4.5kWh (per day) so we feedback about 10kWh into the grid - which equates to $3.50 back into our pocket. Last month (our power company has recently switched to monthly billing) we made $43.54, bringing our total credit to $176 - which will more than cover lower power generation through the darker winter months.

The really nice thing is our solar system will have paid for itself in about three and half years from now. Which we think is $6,000 well spent!