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Residential Solar Power

60c Gross Feed in tariff customers now able to add a second system

by LJW Solar on February 21, 2013

Article from Nigel Morris here… and repeated below.

 

BREAKING; NSW GFIT customers can now upgrade!

19 Feb, 2013

 

Completely out of left field, I learned today that the NSW Department of Trade and Investment recently updated its web site and the rules around PV upgrades in NSW.

Previously, upgrading your capacity simply meant you would lose your Gross FIT (either 60c or 20c), so of course few if any bothered.

In a nutshell, what appears to be the case now is that additional capacity may be added, as long as it is separately Net metered (see excerpt from the DTI web site below).

This is big news for the NSW industry which has been making a very slow comeback after the sudden cessation of the 60c tariff , although we hasten to add that we don’t expect it to set the market on fire. However, we do expect it to stimulate new and unexpected demand.

Using my own case as an example, I quickly ran the numbers and here’s what I get:

  • I use on average 17kWh/day and have a 1.2kW PV system on the 60c G FIT
  • IN the one bill I analysed we earned $204 from our 60c GFIT and spent $346 on demand, on a Time Of Use Tariff, so our net bill was $142
  • If I assume I can wipe out my Shoulder demand and (say) 10% of my peak demand with an upgrade, I need to generate an average of 10.2kWh/day from my upgrade or about 2.6kW of new capacity.
  • This would save me an additional $160 per quarter which, assuming all things are equal would put me $18 in credit (overall).
  • A 2.6kW system would cost me about $5,000 according to the Solar Choice price index, which equates to a rough payback of 7 years

Good deal? Well, given my net electricity costs would be effectively zero AND that in some quarters my generation goes up and im always working on reducing my consumption, I’d say hell yes.

As a 60c customer who only invested a couple of years ago, would I re-invest? That’s the million dollar question that industry will have to find out…..

We are continuing to dig and try to understand more about the details and will update as more information comes to hand.

The DTI’s web site now says :

“I wish to add to the generating capacity of my solar PV system, what are my options?

I am a 60 cent Solar Bonus Scheme customer. I wish to expand the generating capacity of my solar system. What are my options? 

NSW Solar Bonus Scheme customers receiving the 60 cents per kilowatt hour tariff who increase their Scheme generator’s capacity will move to the 20 cents per kilowatt hour tariff unless the components (for the expansion) were purchased on or before 27 October 2010. 

The customer will remain eligible for the 20 cent tariff provided the system does not exceed 10 kilowatts (kW) of generation capacity. 

Alternatively, Solar Bonus Scheme customers who receive the 60 cents per kilowatt hour tariff may expand their overall generating capacity and retain the 60 cents tariff for their Scheme generator if the additional capacity is from a separately metered non-Scheme generator. No Scheme payments are available for the non-Scheme generator. Customers should check what feed-in tariffs are available and confirm with their preferred retailer whether they will pay a non-Scheme tariff in addition to the Scheme tariff.

Customers are obliged to notify their distribution network service provider (DNSP) of any change to their generator that would affect their receipt of Scheme payments. Fines and penalties of up to $110,000 may apply for failure to notify. 

The connection must be made in accordance with directions provided by the DNSP. The Scheme generator will need to be gross metered and the non-Scheme generator will need to be net metered. 

Customers should consider how the expansion of their solar PV system will affect Scheme tariff payments and other benefits before deciding to expand the generating capacity of their solar PV system. 

The DNSPs are currently processing these connection requests manually while updating their systems. Therefore customers may experience a delay in receiving an approval.”

Article from Nigel Morris here…

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Misunderstanding still at the heart of solar

by LJW Solar on January 23, 2013

We work across a range of different markets in NSW within solar including : residential, commercial and rural. What we find  is that almost everyone we speak to doesn’t understand the full implications of a net feed in tariff.

A net feed in tariff means that the power you generate from solar is directed into your premises where if you have a load it will be used.

If you don’t have a load it is exported.

If it is used – it is worth to you whatever you would have paid for that power (currently from 28c/kwh – 47c/kwh for residential, and from 15c/kwh – 32c/kwh for commercial). So it is possible to work out the value of  the system in savings.

However, when it is exported, it is either lost or paid for at a small rate. (with commercial, you get no feed in tariffs. With residential  you’ll get from nothing up to 8c depending on who your bill comes from and who owns the grid where you are.

The implications of this are:

  • Putting on a system that exceeds your needs is a waste of money
  • “Exceeds your needs” is about daytime consumption, not overall consumption. 
  • You can’t offset power you use at night. If the solar is not producing, then you pay for that power, irrespective of how much you produced and exported during the day. 
  • It is almost impossible to completely offset a bill because you still pay for some power. Putting on a bigger system does not help.
  • Most people are talked into systems larger than they need by solar power companies who do not understand this, or don’t explain it.
  • If you are not using power during the day, solar is probably not the best bet for you.
Our goal is advising you to put on a system that is big enough, but not larger than you need.
In our experience, if you use all the power that a system makes it will pay for itself in about 5 years.
If you don’t use the power, ie your system produces but you don’t use it… then the payback may blow out substantially. We have seen houses that use a small amount of power during the day with a 5kw system. This is a wasted investment and the owners may not even know.
There’s three ways to work out your daytime power needs
  • An educated guess. Looking at your total daily consumption and working out what is daytime and what is nightime. Often it is 10-40% daytime. 
  • Taking meter readings morning and night. This is accurate and easy to do. 
  • Monitoring. We offer a service of data logging on your meter which tells us exactly when power is used. This is a paid service but is refunded if you go ahead with our system. 
If you would like to discuss the right size system for your needs please call Stuart Gordon on 1300 792 011.

 

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Solar System Faults (6 July 2011, The Age)

by LJW Solar on November 26, 2012

 

 

For Solar System Faults, please call 1300 792 011  - LJW has an active solar maintenance program for both preventativemaintenance and solar problems.

 

Full article reference here

FIGURES released in New South Wales last week confirmed what some have suspected for months – that there are widespread faults in solar panel installations.

In an audit of 658 household solar systems in western Sydney, just one in five was installed correctly, and about 18.5 per cent had ”major” defects posing safety risks.

Most of the serious problems involve the incorrect wiring of a DC circuit breaker, an error that does not affect the running of the unit but that does pose a risk of fire. Regulators insist it is a very low risk.

Almost immediately there were claims that the federal government – whose solar panel rebates helped start a nationwide rush for the roof-top systems – has kept the problem quiet to avoid the sort of bad publicity that was sparked by the home insulation and Green Loans schemes. ”They have tried to keep this away from the public as much as possible, that’s clear,” said one solar panel industry operator.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/volts-with-faults-warning-on-solar-panels-20110705-1h0pn.html#ixzz2DJ0GquXn

”They didn’t want it to be seen as another home insulation debacle.”

The federal government, through the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, last week denied that it had tried to avoid releasing information to the public.

It said solar panel safety was the responsibility of state and territory governments.

But it is true that the agency contracted by the federal government to accredit solar panel installers – the Clean Energy Council – has known about the extent of the problems since October last year, alerted by the Department of Climate Change.

Kane Thornton, director of strategy at the Clean Energy Council, said the council made ”no secret” of the issue, and was trying to fix the problems.But it did not want to widely publicise the extent of the defects because, Mr Thornton said, it did not want to cause unnecessary alarm.

Householders could not fix the faults themselves, he said, and the council feared that alerting the public could result in some people trying to interfere with, or switch off, their systems.

This would be a problem, because the safety risk with the circuit breaker was triggered only when the solar panel was switched off.

The Clean Energy Council said for a spark to form, it would need to be a sunny day, pushing the panels towards full capacity. The panels would then need to be ”shut down in an incorrect manner”.

”Our concern was that there was a greater risk in alerting people to a potential issue that they couldn’t do anything to solve themselves, but could increase the risk if they become alarmed about it,” Mr Thornton said.

But the federal opposition, as well as some in the solar industry, suspect there is more to it than that.

Last week the opposition’s environment spokesman, Greg Hunt, suggested that a national audit had uncovered similar results to the NSW audit, and that the federal government was ”sitting on” the figures.

The Department of Climate Change conducted a ”random and targeted sample of inspections” nationwide from last October to June 30.

It denies that it tried to keep the information secret, saying it referred any problems to the householder, the state or territory authority and the Clean Energy Council.

But it did not answer questions from The Age about the results of the inspections, and whether they revealed a similar number of defects to those uncovered in the NSW audit.

Meanwhile, another federal agency – the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator – kicked off its own round of national inspections in mid-May.

It said these had not been running long enough to generate any data.

But it said it had received ”preliminary information” about certain issues, including incorrectly wired DC circuit breakers.

In Victoria, the state government agency responsible for policing solar panel safety insists that the extent of faults uncovered in NSW has not happened there.

”Victoria has the most rigorous safety regime for home solar systems in Australia, and has not experienced the problems reported in other states,” a spokeswoman for Energy Safety Victoria said.

An Energy Safety audit of 81 Victorian homes last year found that nine had the serious defect.

These were fixed, and installers and inspectors were alerted to the problem and the need to go back and fix any incorrect installations.

Since then, Energy Safety said it had run a series of inspections and found no more of the faults.

”We are very confident this is not an ongoing issue,” a spokeswoman said.

The Clean Energy Council said there were now 300,000 solar panel installations nationwide.

More than 130,000 solar panel systems were installed under the Solar Homes and Communities Plan – a Howard government scheme that was beefed up with generous rebates after Labor was elected in 2007.

It was then dramatically axed in the middle of 2009 after cost overruns of $850 million.

Demand surged again when state governments brought in feed-in tariff programs for household solar systems. Several of these have since been scaled back. According to the Australian PV Association, federal, state and territory governments spent $641.3 million on the solar panel industry in 2010 – 78 per cent of it on ”market stimulation”.

Last year, 383 megawatts of photovoltaic power was installed in Australia – a 480 per cent jump on 2009. Little wonder there have been concerns raised about the quality of installations in a market that has run hot.

But even within the industry, opinion is mixed about just how big a deal the faulty solar panel installations actually are. The risk of fire from a faulty breaker is, by all accounts, very small.

The council said there had been just ”three minor incidents” reported nation-wide, and no actual house fires. But as the body representing electrical contractors, the National Electrical and Communications Association, said: ”There is going to be a significant amount of rectification work required.”

There has been no shortage of audits and inspections of household solar panel installations.

The states have done their own work, the federal Department of Climate Change has carried out its inspections, and the inspections by the Renewable Energy Regulator are under way. But it remains impossible to get a clear picture of the extent of problems nationwide.

The Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator said it intended to make ”general information” about its inspections public, but it is not clear whether this will include any information about safety defects.

Given the results of the NSW audit, the continuing speculation about the extent of the problems and the massive investment by taxpayers, a bit of openness and transparency – or as some call it, sunlight – does not seem too much to ask.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/volts-with-faults-warning-on-solar-panels-20110705-1h0pn.html#ixzz2DJ0NGmZ2

 

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Build or renovate for increased energy efficiency

by LJW Solar on October 9, 2012

Contributed by Dimitri Harakidas from  www.aenec.com.au

9th October 2012

We are all aware about energy efficiency, heating and cooling performance and energy bills. The above terms apart from being linked in sentences within the same context they have actually quantifiable or tangible effects that we will discuss about below.

Planning

If you do this part correctly you are likely to save a lot of trouble, money during construction and money during the life cycle of your project.

Planning is probably the hardest thing to do. You will need to find all the right people to work with such as architects and building sustainability or energy efficiency consultants.

It is way better to design an energy efficient house or addition to it at the planning stage rather than seeking band aid solutions when your project does not even comply with minimum BCA standards. Clever thinking at the design stage will pay huge dividends later on

LGA rules

Talk to your local council or state or territory government department about building regulations. You may need to comply with energy efficiency and water saving regulations. In NSW for instance BASIX is the scheme which is applicable in lieu of the BCA when it comes to energy efficiency.

Design considerations

Before a design is made you need to consider what you really need. There are some key aspects that need to be considered. Depending on the nature of the project sometimes all of these parameters can be assessed and adjusted accordingly and in other cases only a few due to various constraints, especially when an extension is built. Key parameters:

1.      Orientation of certain rooms of the house. For instance more often than not North facing living/kitchen areas tend to make a really big difference in the overall performance of the house. There is no point having the garage at the North facing side of your building.

2.      Orientation, size and type of windows. That is one of the most critical and most expensive aspects of the design of a house; I can not stress this point enough. The best way to make a correct decision is to simply simulate the design with the proposed windows.

3.      Insulation. Another key aspect is the insulation. Although we tend to think the more insulation the better, in many cases that is not correct. In some climate zones insulating the concrete slab on ground is beneficial and in other situations it is not. Once again expert advise is required from a building energy efficiency consultant.

4.      Thermal mass. That is another component which plays a big role in the overall performance of the building. There are also different ways to apply thermal mass. For instance in some cases it works better to have a reverse brick construction.

5.      Shading. Awnings, eaves, louvers are some of the ways that desirable shading can be applied. The width of the eaves can play a significant role in the overall performance of the building, conversely depending on where in Australia the building is located eaves can be beneficial or not.

6.      Colors. The color of external walls and roof can play a significant role also.

7.      Light fittings. Most recessed light fittings have a massive negative effect on the performance of a building. In many cases the insulation performance can be downgraded by 50% if recessed light fittings are used.

8.      Ceiling fans. They are by far the best way to keep you cool as they are both economical to run and are a lot healthier than A/C. However if an A/C system is required ceiling fans could be used in conjunction.

9.      Building products. There is a big carbon footprint associated with building or renovating a house. Try and use low footprint building materials and ones with low chemical content, such as non toxic paints, or timber sourced from plantations. In the end you could always buy carbon offsets to neutralise the project.

10.  Appliances. Energy efficient appliances are more expensive to purchase, however their benefits on the long run are apparent. In addition solar PV panels will have a great impact on the running cost of the house.

All of the above are some of the considerations that must be taken into account. Every project is different and some factors will affect more or less each project. Sound planning and advice is the key to a successful outcome. Energy efficiency, heating and cooling performance and energy bills can be addressed effectively only by using expert advice and sound research.

 

 

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Hybrid Solar Systems – Grid Connect with Battery backup

by LJW Solar on October 8, 2012

Traditionally solar has been divided into two camps:

- Off grid or Remote Power – this is completely self sufficient  - not connected to the grid. Often used in rural areas when the cost of grid connection is prohibitive.  This is often done as a necessity when the cost of connecting to the grid is high (we hear daily of $30,000, $50,000, $100,000 connection quotes. The highest was$2.7 million!)

- Grid connected – this reduces your demand on the grid and therefore reduces your bill.  It is often done to reduce the rising cost of power. With current net feed in tariffs in NSW this means you can offset your daytime consumption.

A blend of the two is what we call a hybrid system* which is when you are grid connected but want to maintain further  independence by using a battery bank. It also means that with a higher level of investment you can eliminate your bill rather than just reducing it. It is also great for those in areas where they suffer from brown outs or frequent black outs.

The issue with this previously has been the cost of batteries and this is still a factor.Payback is longer than traditional solar but gives you a great level of independence from the grid without the need to disconnect.

STAY TUNED – we’ll publish photos of an installation soon.

 

 

* Also referred to as grid-connect with backup, grid fallback, grid failover or grid-interactive with backup.

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The Basics of BASIX – BASIX explained

by LJW Solar on October 3, 2012

Contributed by Dimitri Harakidas from  www.aenec.com.au

2nd October 2012

 

BASIX, (Building Sustainability Index), was introduced by the NSW Government almost a decade ago, in order to regulate that dwellings are designed to use less potable water and emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions by setting energy and thermal comfort targets for houses and units. BASIX is one of the most robust sustainable planning measures inAustralia, delivering equitable and effective water and greenhouse gas reductions exclusively across NSW. BASIX effectively in some ways deviates from the BCA in some areas and it is setting its own benchmarks.

How does BASIX work?

BASIX is an online program that is currently accessible to anyone. The tool has three different sections:

  • Water usage
  • Thermal comfort
  • Energy usage

In the first section (water usage), in order for the project to comply with BASIX, it needs to achieve a minimum score of 40%. Data is usually obtained from information found in the architectural drawings. Typically roof areas, garden areas, star rating of fixtures must be quoted, water tank sizes, pools, run offs must be entered and must be accurate as the results and entries are reflected on the BASIX certificate which will be checked for correlation before the occupancy certificate is issued by the local council certifier. In many occasions occupancy certificate is not issued when information entered was incorrect.

The second section (thermal comfort) is the trickiest as that section refers to the building itself and not the add-on items specified at the other two sections. BASIX offers three different options here for its completion. The RAPID, DIY and the Simulation Method. The first two methods can be used by a non accredited person however the issues that can arise from doing this section incorrectly can be quite dramatic. In addition as the information that can be entered is not analytical enough; in many cases to compensate for heat losses a more expensive glazing option is specified by the software. As this section specifies the very building itself it is absolutely imperative to be done correctly and the safest way to do this is by using the Simulation Method carried out by an accredited building energy efficiency consultant. Everything from wall color, wall construction and insulation, to glazing, and overshadowing from adjacent structures are simulated by the use of second generation softwares such as AccuRate, BersPro and FirstRate. ABSA is the accrediting body and has a vigorous CPD program ensuring that all its assessors are up to date with all the latest trends.

The third section (energy usage) in principle is very similar to the first section and all related information must be entered correctly. This section covers all fixtures that consume energy, such as hot water system, washing machine and dryer, oven and stove and a lot more. Once again all information will be cross referenced by the certifier. It is worth mentioning that the best way to achieve the right energy target, in many occasions the best way is to allow for Photo Voltaic (PV) panels as they always boost the energy score and in turn you will save a lot of money spent on energy for the lifetime of the project. Effectively BASIX apart from being somewhat an inconvenience to achieve, the benefits derived by doing so are great as the measures specified can make the running of a dwelling a lot cheaper coupled with the right occupier behaviour.

In summary section one is clearly there to save water and sections two and three are there to save on green house gasses/energy/money. As energy prices increase constantly it is a really good idea to design and test the design by thermally simulating it and predicting its heating and cooling loads, and then to allow for PV panels to reduce energy costs even further.

The BASIX Certificate

 

As mentioned before the BASIX certificate lists all the commitments the user has agreed to, and the Certifying Authority will check these at various stages of construction. The BASIX Certificate must be attached to the development application before it can be processed.

 

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Time of Use billing (TOU) and solar power – a great match

by LJW Solar on October 3, 2012

Throughout Sydney people within the Ausgrid network area (formerly Energy Australi1a) are having Time of Use meters installed. This is seen as a mixed blessing by some and an outright curse by others.

Time of Use – what it is: you pay three rates for power based on the time of day that you use the power. For those that have just received their July – September 2012 power bills, they will have noticed that the rates are:
- Offpeak 11.9c + gst All other times
- Shoulder 19.4c + gst 7am to 2pm weekdays and 8pm to 10pm weekdays
- Peak 47.7c + gst 2pm to 8pm on working weekdays

(See time zones here)

This peak rate seems like a penalty – and it is! It is designed to get people to move their activities to other times, and therefore save themselves money, and the grid its ‘peak power’. According to Energy Australia, 80% of people can save money by opting in for time of use (we must only ever speak to the other 20% who don’t like it and pay more). Householders can also opt OUT of time of use and back to a traditional rate by phoning their retailer.

Here’s where it gets interesting… A recap: under a net feed in tariff for solar, the power that is produced by your solar system (and used as it is produced) is worth to to you whatever you would have paid for it. So, if you pay 30c per kwh for power and you produce power and use it… you save 30c per kwh.

With time of use billing, if you set up a system that produces sun in the afternoon (facing North-West or West) then you will be producing power that is worth 47.7c per kwh to you. Imagine being paid 47.7c per kwh for solar power? And that is the price this year. By mid 2013 that rate is likely to be closer to 60c for that peak period.

There’s two catches:
- by facing a system NW you suffer a loss from a sub optimal installation – around 5% reduction in output
- by facing a system W you suffer up to a 14% loss from sub optimal installation
- only power that is consumed as you produce it is valuable.

So, what does this mean for you?

It means that if your circumstances are right, you can install a solar system that will potentially pay for itself in around 3 years.

What are those circumstances?
- having Time of Use billing
- using the power as it is produced at that time of day (ie power is not being exported)
- Having an available roof space facing NW or W.
(if you have a roof facing North, about 40% of your production will be after 2pm)

Call if you would like to discuss this and arrange a site inspection for your home (02) 9652 5000

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What is happening to my 20c and 60c feed in tariff ?

by LJW Solar on September 28, 2012

Up until recently (July 1 2012) several energy companies (Origin, Energy Australia and AGL) paid a premium on top of the 20c and 60c feed in tariffs offered as part of the solar bonus scheme. So, they offered a 6c or 8c premium, meaning that you received, for example 66c or 68c instead of the standard 60c as the gross feed in tariff.

This was not across the board, and not every retailer offered a premium.

(And keep in mind that these were only for those that signed up to the 60c and 20c gross feed tariff schemes when they existed, and they closed in 2010 and 2011 respectively).

The premium has now been removed – see here for an explanation, and the apportionment of the remaining 20c or 60c has been split between the NSW state government and 7.7c to be paid by the retailer.

So for those that are signed up to a gross feed tariff, they will continue to receive the prescribed 20c or 60c until Dec 31 2016. After that, we assume they will come under a net feed in tariff unless there is a new scheme in place by then.

There has been a sentiment in the market that the passing of the gross feed in tariffs has meant the end of solar incentives. This is not correct. The game has certainly changed, but in fact the payback from an investment in solar is the same as it was under the 60c tariff. This may seem hard to believe, but it is because the price of installing solar has dropped to almost half – so someone that bought a 3kw system in 2010 and opted in for a 60c tariff… they would have paid perhaps $12,000 and earnt around $2600 per year (around a 5 year payback). Currently that size system will cost less than $7,000 and offer a financial benefit of a rising amount per year…let’s say $1300 in year one, $1500 in year two, $1650 in year 3, $1800 in year 4, $1900 in year 5. And it has paid for itself in 5 years.

The lesson is – don’t “write off” solar. Look into it and see if it will suit you.

The ONE major difference is that solar power under the net feed in tariff makes sense when you are consuming all the power – so you need to look your pattern of consumption. (Under the grossfeed in tariff, your pattern of consumption didn’t matter).

We can assist in choosing the right size system to match your daytime power consumption and help you get set up with the right size system.

For a copy of our guide please email stuartgordon@ljwsolar.com.au or fill out the form on this site.

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The first question you need to answer…

by LJW Solar on September 24, 2012

The first question you need to ask yourself about solar in NSW is NOT how much you spend on power, but how much power you consume while the solar is working.

The benefit of solar power under the net feed in tariff is that power you produce saves you from buying as much from the grid. It’s a bit like the old expression, “a penny saved is a penny earned”. We can add up the production of the system and then say how much it has produced in $ value. Because the cost of power is rising, the system then ‘earns’ you an increasing amount per year.

When you produce more power than you use, the power is exported to the grid and you might be paid for this – up to 8c per kwh, but sometimes zero. So, the idea is to size a system in which you consume all the power produced AS it is being produced.

We often hear from people that they are not interested in solar because there is no feed in tariff. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how it works, and feeding the grid means the system is incorrectly sized… therefore you are paying for a system that exceeds your needs.

An example is a farmer in Coonabarabran that we spoke to recently after the Agquip field days. He spent $1200 per quarter on power, and ran a variety of water pumps for the house as well as heating and cooling in the house. When we did a closer examination, his daytime use was 2 kwh or less – which is tiny. Almost all his power happened early morning or after work hours when the solar is not assisting. So, solar didn’t suit him. He’d have produced power during the day that he didn’t use and then still pay for power at night when he consumed it.

There’s a few ways we can simply evaluate if solar will help you. It is a matter of looking at your overall consumption (which is shown on your bill) and then working out of that how much you use in the daytime.

We can do this based on some intelligent guesswork. Or, you can take some meter readings in the morning and late afternoon for a few days. Or, you can install a clip on meter that records usage. There’s a few brands including the Watts Clever. Once you have established a daytime consumption, we can work out the system size that will cover you.

For a correctly sized system the payback will be around 5 years. This is often BETTER than the payback of those that bought solar under the 60c gross feed in tariff* because solar costs half of what it cost then.

If you would like to see what size system works for you please call on 02 9651 7622.

* the 60c tariff pays system owners for every kwh of power generated. All the power is exported. None is used in the home. The scheme closed on 27th October 2012 and those in this scheme will receive this benefit until Dec 31 2016. Those that had permission to connect under this scheme had to have a system installed by Jun 30 2012.

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Solar update – new guidelines for installers

by LJW Solar on September 24, 2012

The Clean Energy Council is the governing body for the solar industry and is responsible for specific regulation about solar installations which benefit the industry by increasing safety for system owners.

There is a reasonably major update announced in August 2012 which will affect all installations from October 12 2012. We have noticed a lot of solar companies trying to persuade buyers to act quickly, which we hope is not an attempt to avoid the burden of costs associated with compliance.

All LJW Solar jobs from this point onwards will be compliant and many of the practices were already standard for us.

Here’s a brief summary of the changes:
- all DC wiring inside a building is to be in conduit
- all outdoor components must be at least IP54 and UV resistant
- string voltages no greater than 600v
- all modules in the same string are to be in the same orientation
- a isolator / disconnector device is to be installed at the device if the inverter is more than 3m away.
- PV cabling is to double insulate

For those who have concerns about your system and compliance, we offer a safety and performance health check starting from $199. Call (02) 9651 7622 for more information.

LJW has been installing solar since 1982 and has a well earned reputation as a quality installer. Around 80% of all solar companies that existed in 2010 have closed their doors, leaving problems in the industry with noone to fix their work. This is a major issue when the number of faults with solar is considered.

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