Big Business Turns To Solar

by | Jun 8, 2017 | Reduce Your Power Bill, Save Money, Solar Power

Government Lags Behind, As Usual

Last week Telstra signed a deal to purchase the entire output of a new 70MW solar farm to be built in Queensland.

Rapidly rising power costs have prompted the move as part of Telstra’s long term energy management strategy.

Telstra consumes about 1% of the nation’s electricity so rising power costs have negatively affected the company’s bottom line.

The unusual aspect of this deal is that Telstra has signed a contract with the developer directly, rather than through an energy retailer.

Telstra has plans for more solar farms as the cost of renewable energy falls, while power prices continue to rise.

 

Korean owned Sun Metals has also announced a new 125MW solar farm for its Townsville zinc refinery. The facility is expected to provide about 30% of the refinery’s power requirements.

Both these projects are expected to be completed and delivering power in 2018.

That’s one of the great benefits of solar power. An installation can be up and running quickly, without long design and construction phases.

Monash University has also called for tenders for a 40MW wind or solar farm to supply their on-going power needs.

Both the Telstra and Monash projects can be built in locations that are remote from their own facilities. The power output from the farms can be sold to other users, and that income used to offset the power costs of Telstra and Monash.

 

Australia’s biggest horticultural company Costa Group has identified power costs and reliability of supply as major risks to their business.

They are currently reviewing plans for a solar farm and battery storage facility at their South Australian mushroom farm.

We know that Australians love solar power.

Now Big Business has done the sums and they are voting with their wallets.

We expect to see more businesses follow Telstra’s example and probably groups of smaller businesses forming consortiums to build their own power plants to manage their energy costs.

The federal government is out of step with the Australian community, with its’ continuing support for the coal industry, and constant attacks on renewables.

More and more, consumers and business are turning to wind and solar energy and that trend will only continue.

Solar power is here to stay and will only get bigger, better and stronger, whether the government supports it or not.

Generators Are Lost Opportunity For Tasmania

by | May 15, 2016 | Home Heating, Keep Your Family Safe, Solar Power

Hydro Tasmania’s greed and mismanagement, the failure of the Basslink cable and an unexpected drought have brought power generation in Tasmania to a crisis point.

We are now in panic mode with large industrial users cutting production and emergency measures in place.

Hydro Tasmania has committed $44 million to hire up to 200 hundred diesel generators and has predicted up to $22 million a month for fuel to run them.

If those figures are correct, after 3 months running the generators we will have spent $110 million.  And what will we have to show for it?  The generators will still belong to someone else and the diesel will have all gone up in smoke.

Imagine if Hydro Tasmania spent $110 million on solar panel installations across Tasmania.

That amount of money would be enough to put a 5.0kw system on over 12,200 homes across the state.

Or make every single government building, every hospital, every school, college and university, every local council building, all the museums and libraries, and every sports ground and community centre in the state, self sufficient in electricity for the next 25 years.

Spending the money in Tasmania would create hundreds of new jobs with a massive amount of work for solar installers, wholesalers and distributers, truck drivers, etc with the usual flow on effects running through the state economy.  The power saved by using solar generation could then be sold to the mainland, meaning no loss of revenue for the Hydro.

Under the present scheme, most of the money leaves the state.

The dire state of our water storages means there isn’t time to install that many panels before the water runs out.  Recent rains have been welcome but are only a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed.

Lake Gordon for example covers 272 square kilometres and is 43 metres down from it’s full level.  That is an absolutely colossal amount of water and will take years to refill.

The same weather that has brought the rain is also delaying the repair of the Basslink cable.

If the rain continues, we may just avoid the rolling power blackouts that will otherwise be required.  If power cuts do occur it will be a disaster for families and businesses alike.

How many people are well prepared to face a Tasmanian winter without power?

Some people are preparing by buying their own generators, but just owning a generator is not a straight forward replacement for mains power.

The small handyman generator will not power much more than your lights and your toaster.  It certainly won’t run your electric heater.

A generator large enough to run your home, including some of your heating, can be sourced for around $2,000.  That’s fine if you can afford it, but you can’t just run a cord out and plug it into your heat pump.

In order to use the power from your generator you need a generator inlet connected to your switchboard and a proper isolation switch to select between mains and generator power and avoid causing safety issues for your neighbours.

Click here for more info on solar panel installation.

There is no easy fix to the power problems we face at the moment. Let’s hope the rain continues, the Basslink cable is repaired and that those responsible for this debacle are held properly accountable.

Defective Switch Could Cause A Fire

by | Sep 23, 2014 | Dodgy Installations, Keep Your Family Safe, Solar Power

This is what’s left of a defective DC isolation switch on the roof of a solar installation we attended recently.

The picture below shows what it used to look like.

DC Isolator 1

This particular brand of isolation switch was subject to an Australia wide total recall, due to the possibility of it catching fire.

So far, four brands of imported DC isolators have been recalled after causing similar problems.

The experience of solar clients has varied, with some having the faulty parts replaced quickly at no charge, and some finding that no-one wants to take responsibility for rectifying the faults.

Two of the companies that imported the isolators have folded, leaving wholesalers and installers holding the bag.

This unfortunate situation highlights the importance of using a reputable, local installer for your solar job so you have someone you can talk to face to face if something goes wrong.

If you did experience a problem, would you rather be phoning a long established, local business, or a mainland call centre?

Fortunately, Mance Electrical has never used any of the recalled isolators, which were more commonly used by those solar sales companies that advertise heavily on TV.

Our solar panels, inverters and isolators are supplied by Energy Aware and they only use quality products from Trina, Simax, SMA, Canadian Solar, Suntech and other quality manufacturers.

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