22/06/2021
Each Wednesday we will be answering a question that our team gets asked during our consultations, which we reckon everyone who is considering going Solar would like to know the answer too.
This weeks question is;
Q. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SOLAR POWER I DONT USE?
A. As it currently stands, most residential solar power systems are installed under a Net Meter scheme. A Net metering system means your inverter sends the energy your system generates to the meter box, and from the meter box into your house. From this point the energy is either self consumed or exported to "the grid"
For example, if you were to consume energy in your house for say, air conditioners, washing machines and dryers at the same time which are all heavy draw power consuming appliances, you may find that the amount of solar power produced will cover these requirements without any left over.
If your consumption requirements are lower during other times of the day when your not using larger appliances or periods when you may not be home and have little power usage needs, the amount of energy generated by your solar power system is going to be more than you consume at that point in time, the additional electricity is exported back to "the grid" to be used by other people.
In this instance, your Net energy meter measures how much energy is exported to the grid per hour. In most cases this export will be limited to no more that 5kWh per phase.
Once this energy is exported to "the grid", energy suppliers will "pay" or apply credits to your power bill. These are called Solar feed-in-tariff credits. Currently the rate for this ranges from 7c to 10c per kWh exported. The rate of feed-in-tariff you get paid varies from State to State and from energy company to energy company. Here in Cairns we are currently somewhat disadvantaged given our lack of competition for suppliers in the energy market.
So now that we have covered what happens to the excess power generated from your solar system, how can you maximise your benefit from your solar system?
When you take into consideration the cost of purchasing energy from the energy companies at a rate of between 20c and 50c per kWh, and you sell the excess back to them at between 7c and 10c, it is easy to see who benefits out of that transaction. As a result of this very equation, when you are considering what size system to install, we ask you to employ the "USE IT, OR LOSE IT" mindset. What we mean by that is, consider installing a large enough system that will allow you cover all of your household consumption with some left over to export, as opposed to going too small and ending back up in the purchasing energy scenario.
If your unsure on how to work out what size system you need, one of ALL ENERGY QUEENSLAND'S friendly solar specialists are ready to assist you. Call us on 1300 639 765 (NEW SOLAR) to book in your no obligation in home consultation.
ALL ENERGY QUEENSLAND - "Your Trusted NQ Solar Specialists"
Your trusted solar and battery sales and installation specialist. Locals supporting locals.
