Welcome to the Solar Panels Adelaide Information Website  

• The Solar Panels Adelaide website provides the latest news and reviews relevant to the Adelaide and South Australia solar P.V. (photo voltaic)  market. If you are thinking about installing solar power there are a number of important issues to consider. By no means an exhaustive list, but we have come up with some of the issues that home owners in Adelaide looking to install solar power need to take into account. You can, also, easily have 3 Adelaide solar installers contact you to arrange quotation by completing the form below or on the Solar Installers Adelaide page.

 Update 14 April 2013 - South Australia with its 25.8 cents/KWh feed in tariff is the highest of any state in Australia. Last year Victoria cut their feed in tariff to 8 cents/KWh and Queensland did the same in July last year. 

Complete the form below and 3 Adelaide solar power installation companies will contact you promptly and arrange a totally  obligation free solar power quote for your home.

1. Financial Considerations to Installing Solar in Adelaide:

The main reason for the surge of Adelaide solar installations in 2013 is predominantly related to the concerns Adelaide residents have about the outlook for electricity prices and the likely impact of the carbon tax on power costs to homeowners.  The incentives offered under the Federal Government solar scheme offer financial subsidies to assist with the installation of the solar system. This is integral to the Governments plan for a 20% renewable energy target. The 25.8 cent solar feed in tariff currently available in Adelaide means excess power from your solar electricity system attracts this rate , which we see as ‘fair value’ – certainly a lot better than N.S.W where the solar industry is very quiet due to virtually no feed in price payable currently! Queensland has recently cut their feed in tariff from 44 cents to 8 cents , so S.A. is now offering one of the most attractive tariffs in Australia.

2. Technical Considerations for Installation of Solar Power

Your Roof and its Suitability for Solar Power: Ideally you need a north facing roof and a roof pitch of around 28 degrees . Flat roofs are generally fitted with a ’tilt kit’ which angles the solar panels to around the 28 degree mark. Some Adelaide solar installers will try and assess your roof for solar power by using Google Maps which have satellite images of (most) peoples homes in Adelaide. While you can establish the orientation of the roof and the area of the roof (and therefore work out how many panels can fit onto the roof) we think an ‘on site’ inspection is a far better option. You need to ensure no shade will be cast onto your solar panels from around 9am to 4pm from TV antenna’s, trees, neighbouring properties etc – this will ensure maximum output from the solar system.

 Solar Panels – Which Brand? There are literally hundreds of brands of solar photo-voltaic panels used by Adelaide solar power installation companies and knowing which one to go with is not an easy decision. A reasonable consensus is that the following brands of solar panels seem to have a good reputation:

REC, ET Solar, Trina, Sanyo,Sharp, Sunpower, Kyocera

As far as solar panel size is concerned 190 Watt up to 250Watt are commonly used currently with the 190Watt and 250Watt panels taking up the same amount of roof space  per kw. The choice of using one or the other depends mainly on the geometry of your roofs area. In our view , rather than getting bamboozled with the solar panel specification it is possibly as, or more important, to try and ensure whatever brand of solar panels you go with, that they have a strong Australian distributor and are not imported by a ‘fly by night’ company. The panels should be producing solar electricity for 25 years (they are generally warranted to supply 80% of their rated power after 20 years), so having backup in years to come is important. Long term, solar panels are becoming more efficient – currently the best solar panels, in terms of efficiency, are up to 19% efficient. In years to come this cold be up to 30 or 40% , so it may be that in 10 or 15 years it will make sense to upgrade the solar panels! Discuss warranties and back-up when getting solar quotes from Adelaide solar installers. You can complete the form below to quickly and easily have 3 Adelaide solar power companies contact you to arrange no obligation solar quotes for your Adelaide home.

What Size Solar System To Install?

The ‘standard’ sizes or certainly the most commonly installed solar power systems in Adelaide are 1.5KW, 2KW, 3Kw, and 5KW. The amount of  power that each system produces is approximately System size multiplied by 4.2, so a 1.5KW systems produces around 6.3kwh power per day, a 2KW system 8.4kwh per day, a 3KW system will produce around 12.6kwh per day and the 5KW system around 21kwh per day. If you check your power bill you can see what you current daily usage is (typically anywhere from 15kwh per day up to 40+kwh per day depending  on the size of your family, whether or not you have electric hot water, lots of appliances,R/C air conditioning etc etc), so can get an idea as to how much you can reduce your electricity bill by, for each size solar power system. Obviously there is a seasonal effect in that your solar panels will receive more direct sunlight in summer than winter.

3. Ok, So What Price Will I Expect To Pay?

We spoke to a range of solar installers in Adelaide to get a guide as to current prices (July 2012) of the different size systems discussed above.  Like all things, price is determined by many factors – quality of the panels and inverters used (see below for more details on various solar panel and inverter brands used in Adelaide), margin the solar company is operating on – some companies are selling only on price, other companies are selling premium grade systems and selling the ‘benefits’ of their system. Bearing this in mind we are currently seeing prices in these ranges:

5kw solar panel  $9695 – $18,000

3kw solar system Brisbane $5290 – $11400

2kw solar system Brisbane $1700 – $3300

1.5kw solar system Brisbane $900 – $2600

Complete the form below or go to the Solar Installers Adelaide page and have 3 Adelaide solar power installers contact you promptly.

3. Factors to Consider When Choosing Which Adelaide Solar Installation Company to Go With

There are over 200 solar panel installation companies operating in South Australia , so choosing which one to go with is not an easy decision. In making a decision you may like to consider:

1. Are the Solar Installers Clean Energy Council accredited?  Rebates are dependent on C.E.C. installer accreditation.
2. Do the solar panels and inverters have solid Australian distributors? If you need to make a warranty claim in a few years, will back up be available?
3. When offering a solar quote – do the installers actually visit your home and inspect the roof, check its orientation and pitch, check the meter box and overall establish your home’s suitability for solar? Does the quotation they provide include all warranty information – panels / inverter / workmanship. Is an extended warranty on the inverter offered?
4. Are the solar panels and inverter quoted ‘brand names’ , like Conergy / Kyocera / Sharp / Suntech / ET Solar / Sunpower / SMA etc or a ‘no name’? . A little research can often be invaluable in assessing the track record of  solar panels and inverters.

No Obligation Solar Quotation:

Easily Access 3 Adelaide solar Installers – After completing The Adelaide Solar Quotes Form below you will be contacted by 3 Adelaide based Solar Companies who can arrange a convenient time to discuss your Solar Power needs and arrange a no obligation quote:

5 July 2012 – Update. The Carbon Tax was introduced on 1 July 2012 . The interest in solar installation in Adelaide is likely to remain very strong with the introduction of the carbon tax and with expectations of electricity price increases from 5 to 15 percent per year from here on. As power prices increase the effective ‘return on investment’ from a solar panels system increases.

Solar Update – 12 April 2012

It is interesting to note that a news release in N.S.W. today is predicting electricity prices will rise by 16 percent from 1 July 2012. The main contributor to this power price increase is being attributed to the carbon tax. The other factor claimed to be attributed to these pending price rises is the solar bonus scheme which at one point was paying, in N.S.W, a 60 cent per KWH feed in tariff. Our view is that this was mismanagement by the State Government at the time and 60 cents whilst certainly encouraging the uptake of solar panels by householders would never be sustainable. The South Australian Government, in our view has managed solar power feed in tariffs more sensibly. With the trend up in power prices the uptake of solar panel installations around Adelaide and South Australia is likely to remain strong over the next few years it would seem.

Adelaide Solar Systems

We take a look at the components – the solar panels and inverters that solar energy Adelaide based installers use in 2012. It really is a ‘buyers’ market for solar power – our view is that it is not advisable to buy on price – the cost of solar panels in Adelaide is more than 60 percent less than five years ago. Couple this with the rebates on offer and the competition between Adelaide solar companies and you are in a strong position to negotiate a good deal on a quality solar power system.

Inverters – Considerations and Which Brand

The solar inverter is an electronic device (typically the size of  a DVD player) that converts the  DC electricity of your solar panels  into mains or AC power which suitable for use by your households appliances. The solar inverter is a key part of a solar panels system. If anything is going to fail in your Adelaide solar power system its most likely to be the inverter, in fact some of the low end Chinese inverters have reportedly had failure rates of greater than 30%.  The inverter efficiency is the percentage of the power from your solar panels that is converted into usable power within your home (or exported back to the electricity grid, if not consumed in your home) . Obviously the higher the efficiency the better. Modern, transformer-less design of inverters has lead to efficiencies of great than 97%. As per the solar panels our advice is stick with the ‘brand names’ with a long track record of reliability in Australian conditions and as important, strong distributor support, should there be problems in years to come. Reputable brands of Inverters used in Adelaide include SMA, Eaton, Aurora, Xantrex. We will be adding reviews on various brands solar panels and solar inverters commonly used in Adelaide over the next few weeks.

Solar Systems Adelaide – Solar Panel Reviews:

As part of our Adelaide solar systems reviews we take a look at C.E.E.G. brand  panels – made in China. Several Adelaide solar installers are using these in their solar installations:

CEEG Solar Panels

CEEG which stands for China Electrical Equipment Group is a state energy ministry supported group in china with its head quarters in Nanjing. CEEG has been into the manufacturing industry since 20 years and works in four business verticals namely Transformers, Solar Industry, Complete substations and Power Electronics. 

CEEG is a complete vertically integrated company in the solar crystalline PV industry and is involved in the manufacturing of products at all levels in the solar PV value chain. CEEG produces Polysilicon for both solar industry and Semiconductor industry. CEEG also produces Ingots, Wafers, Cells and Modules. 

CEEG solar panels are available in both Mono Crystalline and Poly Crystalline technology. In both technologies, modules are available with four different cell configurations namely 48 Cells, 54 Cells, 60 Cells and 72 Cells.

Mono Crystalline Solar Panels used in Adelaide solar Installations include for example

• CSUN200-48M – Highest module efficiency of 15.69%, made up of 48 High efficiency 6 inch mono crystalline cells, power class ranging from 175 W up to 205 W.

• CSUN250-60M – Highest module efficiency of 16.02%, made up of 60 High efficiency 6 inch mono crystalline cells, power class ranging from 240 W up to 250 W.

Solar Power Adelaide -Key features of CEEG solar panels are :

• High Efficiency Cells – The cells that go into CEEG solar panels are produced in the state-of-the-art highly automated manufacturing plant using a unique technology called the “Selective Emitter Technology”. Using this technology CEEG has been able to achieve average cell efficiencies of about 19% and module efficiencies of about 16%. 

• Power Guard Specialty Insurance services – CEEG provides insurance cover for modules which has the following advantages namely 25 Years coverage, worldwide coverage. (Tip – Always confirm warranties with your Adelaide solar panels installation company!)

• Certifications – CEEG solar panels have all the required certifications related to its product performance and safety. The certifications include CE, TUV Intercert, TUV Rheinland, ETL Intertek, VDE, PV Cycle, MCS and ISO 9000. The modules also have specific approvals and certifications required for specific country markets. 

• All CEEG modules are subjected to a mechanical load test of 5400 Pa as per IEC standards. These modules are also tested to withstand hails of size 25 mm in diameter and an impact speed of 23 m/s. All modules come with a low power tolerance of ±3%.

 

• Solar Panel Block Diagram – How Solar Works

  
  

  Solar News Snippets – 30 April 2012.It has been reported that the latest CPI figures show electricity prices in Adelaide rose an appalling 18 per cent last year. This is an astounding figure and is another driver of the rapid uptake of solar power in Adelaide. Our estimates of power prices doubling within five to seven years may be understating the scenario. At 18 to 20 percent electricity price increases per year, power prices will double in less than five years.

  Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Installing Solar In Adelaide?

  What is net metering ?

  Net metering is currently in place in South Australia. Net meters are new electricity ‘solar meters’ installed once your solar panels system has been installed.The electricity that you to use in your home is first supplied by the solar electricity your solar system is generating and any excess is sold back to your electrical utility at the ‘feed in tariff’ rate, currently 23cents per kilo watt hour for South Australia.

  I have a flat Roof – Can i still get Solar Installed?

  If your home has a flat roof it is still possible to orient the pitch of your solar panels by using of a fixed tilt railing system. Typically a solar panels system is mounted parallel to the pitch of your roof.

  If my roof has significant shade from trees or is not facing North are there any other options for mounting a solar panel system?

  If , for example, your roof is south facing or has too much shading it is sometimes possible to install the panels on an out house, large carport or other building that may be some distance away from your home.Talk to your installer about this possibility. Many rural properties in S.A. take advantage of other buildings on their properties to install solar power system.

  I am installing solar panels however i am very concerned about global warming. I have heard that the manufacture of solar panels, particularly in China is very energy intensive – Is this correct?

  The factor in answering this are the so-called ‘input energy’ – meaning the amount of electricity required to manufacture the solar panels.The National Renewable Energy Laboratory concluded in a study that energy payback for photovoltaic systems, in the worst case scenario, is less than 4 years. Given that solar panels produce electricity for 25 years (plus), they produce far more power than is used in their manufacture.

  Get 3 totally obligation free quotes for solar power installation in your home - here

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