Shellharbour Solar Expo A Huge Success

I spent most of Sunday helping to staff the Jamberoo FutureCare table at the Shellharbour Solar Expo, at Shellharbour Workers’ Club (who actually have 22 kW of solar panels installed themselves – see photo). The expo was organised by Jamberoo FutureCare, in conjunction with Shellharbour and Kiama Councils. There were a number of solar power … [Read more…]

Residential Solar Power: Is The Income Taxable?

There has been a bit of a storm in a teacup lately in the Australian press, claiming that all those people who “bought into the hype” and installed solar panels on their homes will now have to pay tax on the income they receive for any electricity generated. Of course it’s very easy for the … [Read more…]

Generating Electricity vs Saving Electricity

While putting together notes for my talks over the weekend, I noticed something interesting. The amount of electricity we saved each day by converting 10 halogen downlights to CFLs (4 kWh) is about equal to the amount of electricity we are generating each day (on average) since installing a 1 kW grid-connect solar power system. … [Read more…]

Solar Power On It’s Way!

We received an email last night from Earth Utility confirming our order for a 1 kW solar power system. They also phoned today to make sure we were kept informed. I’m really happy with their service so far. WARNING: Earth Utility appears to be in trouble (updated 28-04-2010). Now it’s just a matter of waiting … [Read more…]

Cheap Grid-Connected Solar Power: $2500 for 1 kW System

If you’re in Australia and have been thinking about getting a grid-connected solar power system, there’s a really good deal right now with Earth Utility. If you order before 15 December 2008, it’ll cost $2,500 installed (after rebates, RECs, etc and excluding utility connection costs). WARNING: Earth Utility appears to be in trouble (updated 28-04-2010) … [Read more…]