Grid Feeding Solar Electricity in Australia

As a result of Government rebates, publicity about reducing your carbon footprint and a general rising interest in renewable energy grid feed power systems are hugely popular. Such is the Australia wide uptake that rebate approvals that once took a couple of weeks are now taking up to 2 months or more. As a result of this interest and the Government rebate, renewable energy companies are springing up like mushrooms and they all want a slice of the carbon pie.

If you are considering installing a grid feed power system on the roof of your house it behooves you to know all the facts. It is unfortunate that some of the new companies out there want to feed you bullshit and keep you in the dark.

What a grid feed power system does

A grid feed power system consists of some solar panels you fit to your house or shed roof or to a pole in the back yard or wherever and an electronic device called a grid feed inverter. The grid feed inverter converts the solar panel output to mains like electricity, monitors the grid and keeps its output voltage slightly higher than grid voltage. The net result of this is that whenever your solar array is making useable power, this power will flow out of the inverter and find its way into the grid.

What you get for your power

What you actually get for producing this power depends on which state of Australia you are in and what your power companies policy is. It also depends on whether you are on gross or net metering. Currently the Government and the power companies are in discussion, the outcome of which may be a national policy on grid feed power systems. If and when this national policy gets implemented will also have a big bearing on the current Government rebates which are so popular that funding looks like drying up at some stage soon. Let's look at what gross and net metering actually is. The fundamental difference is where your grid feed inverter connects ...

Net Metering

This is what you will get in most Australian States. What it means is that the output of your grid feed inverter will connect into your house supply on the house side of the electricity meter. Here, the output of the inverter will feed the demand in your house first and supply any excess back to the grid via a selling meter. It works like this; if you are using no power at all, everything from your solar array will feed into the grid. If you start to turn on stuff, the supply from the inverter will feed this equipment up until the point where your electrical demand exceeds the output of the inverter. At this point the shortfall will be met from the grid seamlessly and automatically. If you reduce your power consumption to below the inverter output the excess from the solar array will then flow into the grid again.

Net metering has caused some disillusionment amongst grid feed owners as when power bill time comes along they find they have contributed little or nothing into the grid. Their savings are only in reduced electricity bills and sometimes this is barely noticeable.

Gross Metering

If you are lucky enough to have an electrical company that supports gross metering then the output of your inverter will be connected via a dedicated meter into the grid on the supply side of your power meter. Everything you produce will be fed into the grid and you will be paid for this power at a hopefully better rate than the power you are buying. "Green power" can be sold at premium prices.

How much for a grid feed power system?

Currently the smallest grid feed system that is viable to fit to your house is a 1 kW system. This comprises of a 1 kW solar array and a small grid feed inverter. This system will cost you somewhere between $9000.00 for a super discounted system comprising Chinese panels and a ultra quick fit in a neighborhood where the supplier can arrange 50 odd like systems, to a more realistic $12000.00 - $15000.00 for a system comprising quality "brand name" solar panels with long guarantees and a solar installer who actually cares for what he is fitting. For a 1 kW array the Australian government will currently pay an $8000.00 rebate to eligible householders. This means a quality grid feed solar system will set you back in the vicinity of $4000.00 +

What is wrong with Chinese panels?

In short nothing really, but sadly in the long term there are some problems. Firstly anyone can become an importer of solar modules from China, I can, so can you. If you or I choose to import a foreign product, under Australian law, if there is no official manufacturer presence in Australia the importer is deemed to be the manufacturer. What this means is; if I choose to import stuff that has no manufacturer representation in Australia I am responsible for the guarantee. If I close up shop or change my business name, bingo, there goes the guarantee.

The second problem is that panels sold in Australia must have the following approvals: IEC61215 or IEC61646. Some Chinese panels have these approvals, some have been found to have forged certificates (Source: RISE; Research Institute of Sustainable Energy). To meet these requirements the testing is expensive ... . In March next year even more difficult to meet standards are being imposed on solar panel manufacturers.

Given that it will take you 12 years or more to recoup your investment in a grid feed power system a rock solid guarantee on the equipment is needed. You really should only be interested in using panels that have long standing manufacturer representation in Australia.

Unfortunately at this stage and in the foreseeable future there is no such thing as a good quality cheap solar panel.

What will be your return on investment?

Good question! About the best return you could expect from a 1 kW solar array is around 4 kw per day for around 300 days per year. Let's say around 1200 kW per annum. This power is currently costing you about 10 - 25 cents per kW depending on your location. For an investment of $4000.00 you could expect an annual return of around $100.00 - $250.00

Is there any good news?

You bet! Read our next page: Grid Feeding Solar Power part 2