The Challenges and Pitfalls of Finding a Solar Solution
Australia’s solar battery rebate scheme has generated a massive amount of hype but also a lot of confusion.
With today’s obscenely high electricity prices in Australia, I’ve been researching into getting solar battery storage, but it’s not all straightforward.
Australia’s energy situation is largely on the brink of crisis because, unfortunately, we’ve elected a party that carries the bizarre notion that fossil fuels should be discontinued and that Australia isn’t ready for nuclear power. All this, despite, the fact that we have a massive quantity of raw materials under our feet to facilitate nuclear power, have oodles of space, and yet, somehow, there are plenty of initiatives underway in Europe and the United States to increase their energy supply with nuclear including the use of the latest generation of small modular nuclear reactors. As for Europe, there are glaring exceptions like Germany, whose political leaders screwed up their energy situation by intentionally rendering their once-working nuclear reactors useless and are regretting having made that decision.
But that’s not what we’re going to talk about.
You see.
Because Australia has blundered rather badly with its energy and is now in a bit of a pickle by cutting down on oil and gas on distant promises that solar and wind renewables will pick up the pieces, Australia has some of the highest retail energy prices in the world and it doesn’t quite know how to fix it.
Therefore, many Australians are now to trying to alleviate the cost of high power bills by installing solar panels and batteries. Prior to 2011, if you had installed solar panels, you could be one of the lucky few who had and will enjoy a generous feed-in tariff equating to an approximate one-to-one ratio until 2028. In other words, the energy you produce is equal in cost to the energy you pull from the grid. The Americans have been enjoying this for a considerably longer time, hence their reluctance to invest in battery storage, at least, until only recently, starting with California, who have started the trend in giving much less back in terms of feed-in- tariffs.
For those in the know, you can’t simply draw in all the energy produced by solar panels to the grid unless the grid is capable of handling it. In essence, many Australian cities and communities are generating too much electricity which means that the energy providers are unwilling to provide a decent feed-in tariff anymore. Hence the need to store the energy as well as generate it. You need to draw off the grid when the Sun don’t shine!
However, we all need energy to keep the economy afloat and the government certainly recognises the importance of keeping the country lit up with reliable energy. Knowing that solar panels and batteries are quite expensive, Australia’s answer is to draw around three billion dollars a year out of taxpayer’s money to incentivise the public into buying solar panel generation and battery storage. Australia’s government didn’t create this scheme to make it easier for households, but rather, as a necessity because Australia will run out of energy if it continues down its present course of nuclear denial and fossil fuel eradication. Compared with Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, otherwise known as NDIS, this is small fry, as this has cost the Australian taxpayer forty billion dollars during the last financial year. But that’s for another story.
Basically, the government needs to ensure that the electricity grid is operational so has devised a plan to encourage as many Australians as possible to invest in battery storage. If you don’t invest in one, your tax dollars will simply go to someone else’s system, so it’s not too difficult to imagine that many are afraid of missing out on the opportunity of getting battery storage before the government rebate ends. It really is one giant bungle and a band-aid of sorts, if you think about it.
Personally, I rather like the idea of being self-sufficient with solar and battery storage. I’ve written on several occasions if everyone had rooftop tiles which are capable of creating electrical energy coupled with battery storage, we might solve the energy crisis. Although, there is the problem of what to do with solar panels and batteries which have outlived their usefulness, and how the materials are resourced to create them.
What’s now happened is that we have a bloated market with hundreds of solar and battery providers advertising that they can make your home energy self-sufficient for a fraction of the cost because of generous government energy rebates.
And the solar industry is doing very well.
Like all things, industry often capitalises on FOMO, otherwise known as ‘The Fear of Missing Out’.
For example.
“If you don’t get this installed by the end of the year, you won’t be eligible for a government rebate.”
Or.
“If you don’t act soon enough, you’ll miss out on savings up to $2600 per year in electricity savings.”
I go on my Facebook feed, and I am hawked by dozens of various solar providers promising that they can give me x KwH of battery storage for y dollars. Some of them seem too good to be true, until you see that one little word preceding all dollar values.
“from”
From $6000, you can get 50 kWh of battery storage, but we need you to sign up now and, while you’re at it, kiss our backside to say how good we are as a company and…
Well, you get the gist.
Let me tell you now.
Most of these solar and battery retailers are making quite healthy returns with the government rebate scheme not unlike those working under the NDIS scheme. And as I mentioned earlier, many of us are being presented promises of having an amazing solar and battery system if you make enquiries as soon as possible. And, indeed, some of them look very enticing indeed.
Unfortunately, very few of us really knows how solar and battery solutions work. I’ve been an engineer all my life and I didn’t know much on the topic of solar energy battery storage. However, I’m one of these types who will binge watch YouTube and read up on the technology for many hours to keep me abreast of how these things work. It’s no substitute of being educated as a solar and battery electrical engineer, but it’s better than nothing and certainly better than being an ignoramus on the subject.
I will say, for those among you thinking of getting a solar and battery system, that you should brush up on the dead basics needed to understand what you’re in for when thinking about getting a new or upgraded system.
I won’t go into detail on each, but you need to know the basics.
You really need to understand what a kilowatt hour, kWh, is and how much energy you actually use.
Unless you’re running a heavy machinery shop, have an outdoor heated pool, or just have a massive house, you don’t need to over specify your requirements. I’ve heard salespeople say that they can offer 30 kW of solar power generation coupled with 50 kWh of energy storage for very modest size homes with only a couple living in them. Not only will you pay more money for the outlay, as you’ll also need to beef up the system with chunky inverters and accessories, but will probably never use it efficiently. The only redeeming thing is that you may be cycling the battery less. In other words, the number of times you can charge and discharge the battery, but most good batteries have quite a generous number of battery cycles lasting for well more than ten years if discharged daily.
You should understand the difference between string, hybrid, AC-coupled and DC-coupled inverters, but more importantly, be aware that the inverter is the bottleneck of the system. The inverter is the heart of the system and converts DC power to AC power, regulating energy to and from the grid, the panels, and the batteries. There’s no point putting a cheap and crappy inverter in a solar energy system. I made this mistake more than ten years ago and never felt that I made sufficient savings using my existing solar panels. Moreover, most modern inverters enable them to be monitored in real time using an app or a webpage giving valuable information on energy usage and distribution.
And lastly, you need to really understand what your consumption is in terms of kWh is during the summer and winter months. At day as well as by night.
There’s a load of other stuff which are potential minefields.
For example, the detailed specifications including Depth of Discharge, Maximum Power Output, Maximum Number of Cycles, Does Your Mother Wear a Size 12 Bra? And so on.
Can the system provide backup power when the grid goes down? You’d think that it would by default, but you need to specify this as part of the design.
Most importantly, are you covered with sufficient warranty if any parts of the system fails or breaks?
What everyone should realise is this. Getting a solar and battery solution is a big outlay, not unlike getting a new car. You want to ensure that what you want will be what you get.
Because of high demand for solar panels and batteries, solar and battery salespeople have gotten terribly lazy. Not all, but many.
Rather than them doing the work of sizing up your problem and presenting a solution, they want you to do all the preliminary work asking you to email information and photos so they can sit behind their desk and let their AI tools generate you a nice and colourful proposal with a quotation for you to electronically sign and accept.
Another common tactic solar energy retailers do is to pressure the customer into signing by specifying a ludicrously short quotation expiry time, some of which can be a few days in length. Standard practice tends to be thirty days, so I find this practice a little bullyish in nature. Another thing. Be wary of the small print because most of us tend not to read it. It is intentionally wordy and as boring as bat shit.
As for their sales team not to engage with a real person coming to site, this is absolute shoddy service and as a customer, I very much implore you to push back against this lazy and cost-cutting exercise.
I am in the process of gathering a few quotations on upgrading my system to incorporate battery power.
Some of the responses I’ve had have been no less than predatory.
Most of them seem absolutely reluctant to spend precious time with you in person. I’ve already dismissed their premature quotes on account that they have made gross assumptions as reflected in the small print.
However, there have been a couple of actual visits by their sales engineers who picked out all the anomalies associated with the property I live in. They were armed with tape measures, cameras, and ladders and knew about their products in detail and how they should be installed including knowledge about all the necessary building and electrical codes for the region.
One, I found, to be exceptionally honest and forthcoming, and the other to be enthusiastic and knowledgeable pointing out great alternative solutions.
As for those who aren’t bothered about coming around in person, I’ll point out a vendor by the name of NRG Solar who seem far too busy to do such tawdry things.
Pardon the pun, but they didn’t have the energy to come to me in person to assess the situation. Without giving me an opportunity to even send a photo of the switchboard and the surrounds, they came up with an excruciatingly expensive solution based on what they had from Google Earth or Nearmaps.
NRG sent me a quote which exceeded the others by nearly double, and yet, none of their representatives even bothered to go out to meet me. Furthermore, they had got quite a few things wrong with the quote as well with respect to how things would fit on the fabric of the building.
They simply couldn’t be bothered to show up in person because they said they were swamped with other customers.
I was astounded that the sales representative at NRG Energy called me up to check up if I was happy with the quote. The rep called me three times in the same week for my answer. My question is, if they are so hampered with dealing with other customers, why are they so hellbent on chasing me?
Both times I explained to him that I will never be interested in taking up a quote unless an actual site visit took place. I won’t name the rep in person because I think he has been given a directive by his superiors not to engage in a site visit.
My discussion with the NRG rep became a little surreal and quite tiresome because I had to repeat the same things over and over.
He said to me if I was happy with the quote. I said that the design wouldn’t work because of what he failed to see not having done an actual site survey. His design was flawed because he assumed that there was ample space according to Google Earth.
I explained to him that doing a desktop survey is no substitute for doing an actual survey. Furthermore, I asked why it was so difficult for NRG Solar to go out to site. After all, they had a local office in Adelaide.
He said they were very busy with lots of customers and without some sort of verbal commitment, they won’t go out to site.
I replied to him, in a veil of sarcasm, that I was very happy for the guys at NRG Solar of having so much business. Great news! NRG Solar should pat itself on the back for having a healthy pipeline of work. And, by the way, call me when you’re less inconvenienced.
The weird thing about my conversations with NRG Solar is that they kept on wanting some sort of verbal committal before going on site and then kept asking me what outcome I am expecting. I appreciate that it takes time and money to go to site, but as a potential customer, I certainly don’t want to sign anything before an actual site visit happens.
Look. I can go a lot longer.
But, let me say this.
Getting a solar and battery solution is quite a big outlay for anyone. It’s not like spending a couple of hundred of bucks on a new power tool or a couple of weeks on groceries. This is a big potential spend and you should have real people on the ground to size up your solution and give you professional advice.
I am very disappointed that some of these solar and battery retailers are relying on the work that you do to sell their solutions.
As a customer, you should not be doing the work which they are supposed to be doing.
After COVID, I’ve seen much more of this trend happening. Companies too damn lazy to get off their arse and do actual work.
I worked as a mobile base station site surveyor for quite a long period of time and, yes, we did as much as we could beforehand with desktop studies to see what we might come up against. Moreover, our surveys took us to remote and rural areas in Australia which comes at a cost in terms of travel, but no way could we properly assess where to position our equipment without first going to the site in person. Considering that many of these solar and battery retailers are local in the area, they simply have no excuse. And then they have the temerity to draw up a design on gross assumptions without an engineer to drive up to the house and look things over first.
Basically, we have become almost accustomed to do most of the work for outfits wanting to install anything to your home. We’re asked to take photos, send bills, send datasheets for existing equipment and more. I’ve got no issue with sending material to assist them before going on site, but to sign off on a quote littered with assumptions and exclusions is not a very good idea. Especially with something that you’ll going to spend big money on and live with for several years.
Finally, I’ll say this.
Do your own research. Don’t rely on mainstream review sites as there are quite a few out there who generate good reviews based on underhand negotiations with the solar energy retailers out there. I once worked in the hi-fi industry and I know this sort of stuff happens behind the scenes.
There are a myriad of sites with actual people sharing their experiences with solar energy providers. For example, there is Whirlpool Forums, and of course, Reddit, which, to be fair, has a lot of rubbish commentary on it, but at least it’s not sponsored material.
Check out the datasheets and if you don’t understand what the specifications are, take a little time to read about them. Watch some YouTube videos to get an understanding how they work.
And lastly, don’t be pressured into signing anything without doing further research.
Don’t assume that only the well-known brands have the best products. Tesla’s batteries are expensive but they are also well advertised and much in demand. Rolex watches are expensive but there are far better watches out there. Penfold’s Grange wine is a very expensive drop, but I think there are better wines out there for a fraction of the price.
Don’t necessarily go for the cheapest product, because it is often the installation that comprises a big portion of the cost. It’s like buying the cheapest possible toilet and then to get an expensive plumber to install it.
And ultimately, remember that you do not want to pour money down the proverbial toilet for a solar solution that doesn’t work nor pay you back within a few years.