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HOW DOES SOLAR WORK?

How much will solar save me and is it worth it?

Solar is very simply all about numbers. 

The average house hold users 18kW per day, which equals a quarterly bill of around $400. A 6.6kW system producers on average 30kWs per day. Therefore, it is enough to cover your day time usage and the feed in tariffs will cover your night time usage.

Your Bill = $0

If you get a larger system you will receive more feed in tariffs.

Your bill = $0

Credit (tax free money from your provider) = between $100 – $300.

Alot of factors can vary this, such as house size, appliances, and people in the home, but this is accurate for 97% of our customers

The picture below shows where Australians use most of their power, you can use this to help limit your electricity usage to during daylight hour.

Why are your prices so cheap?

We have smart business practices and we share those savings with our customers.

  • We have our own warehouse in Browns Plains, which means we can buy panels for the lowest price direct from providers.
  • We use our own installation teams, this continues quality assurance through out all elements of our business and saves costs as we do not use subcontractors.  
  • We do not price gauge. If we get it at a lower price so do our customers

How do government rebates work?

When you install a solar system, you generate Small Technology Certificates (STCs), which are sometimes referred to as a ‘Government Solar Rebate’. You’ll receive 1 STC for every Megawatt of energy your system is expected to produce until 2031.

Once your system has been installed and the STCs have been registered, they can be sold to recover a portion of the cost of purchasing your solar PV system. Given the complexity surrounding creating and selling STCs, it’s common practice to assign the right to create the STCs to your solar provider, in exchange for an upfront discount off the full, or ‘true’, system price. 

STCs currently trade for around $38 each, which means you’d receive around a $4978 discount off the full, or ‘true’, cost for a 10.56kW system. So instead of paying $9578, you would pay $4600.

All quotes from a certified solar installer will be after the rebates. 

This makes it a smart time to buy solar as STC’s decrease every year on January 1st.

What are Feed in tariffs and how do Feed in tariff work?

Solar always services the needs of the home first, when your rooftop solar panels generate more power than you’re using in your home, the leftover solar energy is sent back into the electricity grid. 

A feed-in tariff, or FIT, is a payment you’ll receive for this unused energy. The solar FIT appears as a credit on your electricity bill and is paid to you from your electricity retailer, usually at a set rate per kilowatt hour.

Feed-in tariff rates (payment amounts) and eligibility will change depending on:

  • the amount of solar-generated electricity you feed back into the grid
  • the state you live in 
  • when you installed your solar PV system. 

Find the best solar feed-in tariffs

To compare the current rates click: Feed In Tarris QLD 

Should I buy Chinese products

China are the world leaders in renewable energy as they took over from Germany and America in the last 10 years. 

China is currently the world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy, and the largest domestic and outbound investor in renewable energy. Four of the world’s five biggest renewable energy deals were made by Chinese companies in 2016. As of early 2017, China owns five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing companies and the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.

They spend more money on research and development for renewable energy than any other country.

Their panels and inverters are rated the most efficient products on the markets with some of the highest warranties for the last 6 years.

 

We strongly recommend quality Chinese products. We install 1000’s each year and we continue to be amazed at their efficiency, quality, and low price for customer.

What size system should I get? What is the biggest size system a residential home can have?

We encourage bigger is better for 2 main reason:

 

1 – It is smarter financially. Solar is a positive short and long term investment. With minimum 25 years performance warranty on most panels. 

A 6.6kW system costs in 2022 – $3800, it will save you an estimated $30,000 over its life time

A 13.3kW system costs in 2022 – $6200, it will save you an estimated $60,000 over its life time. 

 

2 – Future proofing your home. Its a long investment and we always encourage our customers to consider the below points when getting solar.

 

  • Electricity usage is increasing in homes on average 4% per year. Our homes are becoming more efficient but we also are becoming more power reliant.
  • Electricity costs on average increase 4% per year. Which simply means for every kW you use your electricity provider will be charging you more.
  • Government policy – The government and the world is pushing for lower carbon emission and one way the Australian government is tackling this is by helping homes become more sufficient power wise through reduced solar over the past 7 years and batteries in the not to distant future 
  • Transport: Most large car companies have planned to stop producing petrol run cars and focus on electric cars over the next 10 years.  

 

So if you can fit it on your roof and afford it, we recommend it.

Why should I get solar with Ryde Energy?

Every thing we do at Ryde Energy is based on 3 things:

 

QUALITY                Service – From the first enquiry, through to you installation,                                         and after install needs. We aim to provide quality, responsive,                                      and people focused service. Our customers’ comments and 5                                         star review demonstrates we achieve this.

 

QUALITY                Products – We only use the highest quality panels rated by the                                      leaders in Solar PV independent testing ****, therefore you                                           know you are getting the best. For inverters, we have                                                     Australia’s first testing lab so what we offer and recommend we                                  know is a leading product.

 

AFFORDABLE       Prices – We make sure all the quality products we sell are at                                         affordable prices and we use smart business practices so we                                          can pass all the savings on to our customers

What is single phase and 3 phase power?How does that impact my solar?

Both single phase and 3 phase homes can enjoy the benefits of solar.

However, the limit of the size you can have installed will vary and the components needed for your installation will be different.

 

Single and 3 phase briefly explained

Both single-phase and 3-phase electricity are used to transmit and distribute electricity. Depending on where you live and how much electricity you consume, your home will be fitted out with either a single-phase  or a 3-phase  connection. (Most homes have single-phase connections.)

 

In the case that you have a single-phase connection, electricity flows in and out of your home through a single phase (imagine a single cable/circuit).

If you have a 3-phase  connection, on the other hand, the electricity entering your home is divided into three separate phases (imagine three cables/circuits). Different devices in your home will be powered by these different phases. For example, your lights may run on one phase, while your washing machine and refrigerator may be on the other two phases.

 

In QLD – Limitations

 

A single phase property (most residential homes) can have a maximum of a 10kW inverter and 13kW of solar

 

3 phase properties can have up to a 15kW inverter and 20kW of solar

What is the best size solar system for my house?

Starting costs (July 2022) Solar Production (average) What quarterly electricity bill it will cover to make it $0
6.66kW $3400 30kW per day + $400+-
10.37kW $5400 45kW per day + $600+-
13.28kW $5800 60kW per day + $800+-
19.98kW $10,200 80kW per day + $1200+-
*These figures are conservative and estimated figures. Each household can vary depending on location, size, and time of usage.

What is a mono cell and poly cell panel?

Monocrystalline Solar Panels

Monocrystalline solar panels contain cells that are cut from a single crystalline silicon ingot. The composition of these cells is purer because each cell is made from a single piece of silicon.

As a result, mono panels are more efficient than poly panels. They also perform better in high heat and lower light environments, which means they will produce closer to their rated output in less than ideal conditions.

Polycrystalline solar panels 

Have blue-colored cells made of multiple silicon crystals melted together. These panels are often less efficient. 

We only use Mono cell panels at Ryde.

What are half-cut solar cells?

Half-cut solar cells are exactly what their name suggests – they are traditional silicon solar cells that have been cut in half using a laser cutter.

Half-cut cells provide several benefits over traditional solar cells. Most importantly, half-cut solar cells offer improved performance and durability. Performance-wise, half-cut cells can increase panel efficiencies by a few percentage points. And in addition to better production numbers, half-cut cells are more physically durable than their traditional counterparts; because they are smaller in size, they’re more resistant to cracking.

Due to these advantages, solar panels built with half-cut solar cells have the potential to provide quicker solar payback periods for property owners installing solar energy systems.

At Ryde Energy, we only use Half-cut solar cells.

What is a Tier 1 panel

A Tier 1 panel is in regards to the financial bankability of the manufacturer, not the actual quality of the panel. It is an independent rating by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This means that the company is considered financially sound and has approval for mass scale installations and is considered able to hold up their products warranties.

Ryde Energy only use Tier 1 panels

What are micro inverters or AC panels, and are they worth it?

The general solar installation in Queensland involves the solar panels and one large inverter that changes the power from DC to usable AC power. This inverter is often set up outdoors near your meter box.

Micro inverters or AC panels have an individual inverter on each panel this was an attempt to limit the impact of shading. However, testing in 2021 showed that individual inverters had no efficiency benefits.

Therefore, we do not recommend them in 99% of situations as they add substantial costs for minimal gains.

What is the inverter, what does it do?

The solar inverter lies at the heart of a solar PV system. This sophisticated piece of electrical equipment is responsible for:

  • The conversion of DC electricity produced by the solar panels to AC electricity which can be used within your home or exported to the grid;
  • Controlling the voltage of the system to extract the maximum power available (referred to as maximum power point tracking); and
  • Reporting on the solar system’s performance (either on screen, via Bluetooth or the internet).

Therefore, a quality and tested inverter is essential. We recommend that you trust a reliable installer as the best inverter option for you as they install 1000’s of these each year and knows what is reliable.

Setting up my wi-fi: Growatt

Wi-fi and Shinephone app set up:

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