The size and location of your property will determine if wind, sun and/or water can be harnessed for long term generation. A significant benefit can be achieved from the members’ own power generation using the sun. And the results mean real cash savings.
In the bank or on the roof?
A member who has savings in the bank of $6,500 will receive around $204 per year interest (3.1% after tax). If that money was spent on power generation the reduction in power bills could be around $780 every year. That is an equivalent return of 15%. *
*Assuming tax of 17.5% and a small PV system operating on the member’s property. (Savings increase if the member’s tax rate is higher.)
Solar to match the load
It may seem obvious, but there is little point in buying more than you can use of anything, especially as the excess goes to waste.
The same is true for Solar, installing more than you can use means the excess goes to the grid, good for the power companies with limited benefit for you. Your excess would go to the nearest point, the closest neighbour, the power company charges them between 26 and 32cents a kWh, and pay you less than half of that for the grid feed in.
It is easy to work out your load from the latest power account, use an average monthly use for the year divide by 30 (days in a month) to get an average daily use, divide by 24 (hours) to get an average hourly load. That will be less during the day time and more during overnight peaks.
A typical house load is around 8000kWh a year, that is about 1 kW per hour, less during the day usually. This means there is no real advantage in having more than 2 kW of solar.
The same applies for commercial such a schools or offices, or super markets. In such cases the load is usually more, especially during the day, so the benefit can be quite significant.
Solar IS free power, and the return, the saving in power use, will offset the initial cost in 5 years or less.
As an example a 3 kW Solar system for a rent-to-own contract would be about $200 a month, after 5 years you would own it completely, and would get another 15 years of saving about $300 a year.
That is not to say “one size fits all”, but it is easy for us to work out specific details, at no charge!
