Handy Solar & Energy Tips

Solar will typically generate between 10am to 5pm on average across the year, shorter in winter and longer in summer, depending on how it is located on your roof.
Anything you generate in EXCESS of what you use during this time is exported back into the grid and earns a Feed in Tariff revenue of 5 to 10c per kWh.
Run pool pumps during OFFPEAK or during the day
Run the dishwasher during OFFPEAK

Try and maintain heavy cooking or washing loads during PEAK.
Check if you have OFFPEAK service on your electricity and what time this starts.
Minimise washing machine (and winter clothes dryer) usage during the week to urgent work / school washing, and to use it by running a load at OFFPEAK time and unloading it the next morning
Placing a timer on systems during the day

Shade On Your Panels

If your panels get shade on them (from a tree, chimney, neighbouring house, foxtel dish, etc.) it can reduce the output of the entire system.
Shade reduces the direct sunlight on a portion of a panel BUT it also acts to potentially “block” the flow of power from some or all of the panels in your array.
If your panels are under-producing due to regular shade, this could definitely have an effect on how much power your system produces over time, and thereby reduce the power you can consume during the daytime.
Not all systems will have a major issue with this (some systems have components included that reduce the loss from shading), but it’s definitely worth looking into.
Solar Arena will check your roof to see if there might be obvious items that cause shade (trees would be the most common) and consider whether there is some way of mitigating the shade caused or moving panels elsewhere.

Try and switch as much of your discretionary power use to daytime as possible – washing machine, clothes dryer, dish washer, pool pump, electric hot water system, etc..
You can put these items on a timer so they only go on during the daytime. It’s all about trying to use the electricity from your solar panels rather than the grid, saving you on your energy bills.

Handy-Solar

The price of your Solar PV system can be affected by a number of factors including:
1. Type and number of panels
2. Type and size of the inverter
3. Quality of material used!!
One way for Solar businesses to offer cheaper systems is to import the key components like Solar Panels and inverters from low cost, low quality manufacturers.
The problem with the current low Solar prices is that they come with low warranty service, and you won’t know until its a few months or years down the track when things go wrong with your low quality system.
Be wary of Cheap prices on offer!. Initial savings could cost you significantly in the long run – just remember you get what you pay for!