As the cost of electricity increases it makes sense to start generating some of your own household energy from home. In the long-run this will help you reduce your electricity bills and benefit the environment.
By installing a rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system, you’ll be generating renewable energy, reducing peak loads and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In Perth, a 1kW system is priced between $10,000 and $14,000, however the new Solar Credits scheme subsidises around $5,000 at current REC prices, but these will fluctuate and could be less.
To apply to connect a PV system to the Western Power network, first select an installer, and the system that best suits your household. With the assistance of your installer, submit your application.
If the application complies with our technical requirements, we will send an approval letter to your supplier/installer or nominated representative.
If approved, Synergy will contact you regarding the Renewable Energy Buy-back Scheme (REBS). If you want to receive credits for export, you will need to apply to join this scheme and pay for the costs of configuring or installing an import/export meter.
Synergy will then forward your application for a meter to us, and we’ll make the necessary changes to your meter.
Once the installation is done, you’ll be issued with a certificate stating that the work has been completed in accordance with industry standards.
You will need enough roof area receiving direct sunlight, facing northwards (east and west are still possible, but with diminished capacity), elevated around 25-30 degrees.
Decide how much you want to spend. This influences size of system and quality of components.
The Federal government is stimulating the installation of renewables through a mechanism that requires retailers (such as Synergy) to purchase and surrender a specified number of RECs each year. The right to register a REC belongs to the owner of the system, but typically this right is assigned to the installer or supplier as a discount on the purchase price. Some owners prefer to pay the full price and retain their RECs as their contribution to extending the amount of renewable energy beyond legislated requirements.
Your installer must be a qualified electrical contractor.
To be eligible for the REC subsidy your designer and installer must be accredited for design and installation of photovoltaic systems under the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy accreditation scheme or the Clean Energy Council. A list is available from: www.bcse.org.au/. Your selection of components will be limited to the range that the installers cover in their contracts with suppliers.
Monocrystalline and polycrystalline: These are made from wafers cut from silicon blocks which are then ‘doped’ to convert them into a semiconductor. Monocrystalline are made from a single block and polycrystalline from silicon that has been clumped together. Polycrystalline are slightly less efficient and require more surface area. There is a high degree of wastage of silicon in the wafer cutting process, with monocrystalline being the most energy intensive to manufacture. This type is suitable for small roof areas with minimal shading.
Thin film (e.g. amorphous silicon): This uses a different technique to deposit layers of materials on to metal or glass. They can also be made into flexible panels that can be rolled onto structures. They have greater shade tolerance, but lower output per square metre. This type is suited to a large roof, with slight shading.
Some installers offer an upgrade to a higher capacity inverter to allow for expansion at a later date. In many cases it is impractical to utilise this capacity unless the upgrade is done within a few years, as the new components would need to be matched to the existing system. Alternatively, simply use a second inverter, matched to the new modules, and expand the system that way.
If you want to be able to record the output from the PV system, and download it to a PC at a later date, then an inverter with a data logger is required. This may affect the choice of installer as some may not include inverters with this feature.
Study the fine print on the warranty clause of the components. Some can require you to bear the cost of returning a defective module to China or India, rather than returning it to a local agent.
Page update on 16 December 2009
