Proposal to charge Australians for exporting solar to the grid

Solar Questions and Comments
1

I’ve heard a lot of chat about this story in the news today, so thought I would open up a thread on it here.

The discussion around limiting solar exports to the grid has been happening for quite some time now. There are already houses in certain areas that are not allowed to export any solar to the grid. The reality is that as more households get solar, in certain areas, at certain times, we will run into a situation where there is too much supply and not enough demand. In Germany where rooftop solar uptake is higher than anywhere else, the grid operators have the ability to ramp rooftop solar up and down as demand changes.

Whether this proposal is an appropriate solution for Australia or not I’ll leave to others to discuss, but I wanted to reassure solar households that it seems unlikely it will have a big effect on your return on investment.

“For a medium-sized system, we’re still modelling you’ll have a $900 return per year and a small reduction of $70,” Mr Barr said.

The report shows people with a large rooftop solar system earning more than $1,200 a year could see their benefits slashed by about $100.

Those with a smaller system of 2kW to 4kW — which is most households with rooftop solar — could lose about $30 a year.

Keen to hear other views on this.

Cheers
Marty

2

I am sick and tired of lying politicians & government who say they wish to reduce our carbon imprint, giving residents rebates on solar panels/batteries and then taking it away by charging for solar exports to the grid, unconscionable & deceptive as usual

3

This is a good follow up article from the ABC discussing the pros and cons of this proposal, and the alternatives. I like the idea of electric vehicles soaking up the additional solar supply, bring on EVs!

4

Australian Energy Market Commission is just another Self government department, run by people that appear to be word-smiths, that make a simple situation sound difficult.

I say bring it on, as the more they treat Solar Generators ungratefully, first of all by Charging Generators to be Grid connected, when they are doing the Country a service.

The Big Con is, the Energy Regulators allow the Rip-off Retailers to charge people with Solar a $80 quarter to Remain Grid Connected, and that means People with Solar have to Gift the first 800kWh energy per bill, to just Pay that Charge, and it doesn’t finish there, the Retailers makes 30cents kWh for that 800kWh =$240 profit, by selling it to your neighbours, and the same for all other excess energy sold for the 10c kWh Feed-in-Tariff (FIT).

It get worse for people without Energy Storage, as when there solar Stop generating energy, they then get slugged the Full energy rate until Sunrise, that is commonly $0.30 kWh =300% more than there FIT.
It leaves thinking who is getting stitched-up, as we understand that commercial Solar Farms don’t get Charged to be Grid connected !

However, we are bewildered that more people aren’t installing Energy Storage, as LiPO4 are now down to $8’800 for 20kWh modules.

Although we consider the State Grid should be installing Energy Storage at each Sub-station that is being over supplied with Energy from rooftop solar.

Although, the over-supply of Energy into the state grid, is largely brought on by the Solar Retailers Not planing the placement of Solar panels more efficiently, so that the Harvesting of energy is Spread out across the whole Day.

This can be better by done by making sure that 1/2 or 1/3 of the Panels, if possible are mounted Facing East, North & West.

However, a Dual Axis-solar Tracker (DAT) instantly harvests Energy for up to 11 hours per day in Sydney, and 14 hours if you reside in Tasmania, as the further South (or North) of the Equator you reside, the better, a DAT unit is superior at Harvesting/Generating Energy !

** Dual Axis-solar Tracking v Fixed Tilted Racking;**
See 2.72MW Dual Axis-solar Tracking & the 5MW Fixed Tilted Calculator

Common Household Systems;
See Residential 8 Panel Dual Axis-solar Tracking Payback Calculators

100kWh/p Solar Farm is Largest Array that can claim the Government Renewable Credits (REC’s), in April 2021 the REC Rebate for this System is $52’500.00, that pays for all the Solar Panels & Solar Cabling, and provides approx. $3’300 per Month return on investment, if energy is sold @10c kWh!
See semi-Commercial Dual Axis-solar Tracking Payback Calculator

For the Serous investors looking to take a whole town Off-Grid, or Create an ongoing income for 25+ years!
See Commercial Dual Axis-solar Tracking Payback Calculator

We hope that helps people understand the options & what direction to consider.