Your Details


Your postcode determines you location and thus the solar radiation your system will receive. It also determines which electricity retailers you can choice from.





Your retailer is important as this determines what you pay for your power from the grid, plus what you’ll be paid for your feed in tariff and the rules surrounding it. You can find out how your current retailer compares to others

c/kWh

This is determined by which retailer you’re with and which state you live in.







This helps determine how much you can save and what your new bill will be with different system sizes.


% / annum


We’ve assumed 5% inflation of electricity prices per annum. Going on the last few years though where some state government’s have increased prices by in excess of 20%, 5% may be a bit conservative.
Solar System Details

1.5kW


3.0kW

7.0kW

This determines the amount of electricity you’ll produce and depending on how much power you use in the house while the sun is shining, how much you’ll export to the grid.

  • 1.5 kW = approx 8 panels
  • 2 kW = approx 10 panels
  • 3 kW= approx 15 panels
  • 4 kW = approx 20 panels
  • 5 kW = approx 25 panels

The average system size installed in Australia at the moment is around 4kW.




The price automatically populated is the median price in the market at the moment for the selected system size. There may be cheaper systems around which will be of lesser quality or higher quality systems which are more expensive. We recommend paying slightly more for quality, as the system needs to be operating for many years to come in quite extreme weather conditions.







This determines the amount of electricity you’ll feed into the grid and be paid the feed in tariff for.

If you want to be more accurate, play around with the feed in percentage in the advanced features. This can never be 100% accurate however so play with the slider and see the affect it has on the financial numbers to determine best and worst case scenarios.


5%


26%

80%

This is the percentage of electricity produced by your system which is exported to the grid and which you’ll be paid the feed in tariff for.

If you’re home and using power during the day, you’ll use the power your system produces first and therefore export less.

If most of the household is at work or school during the day, then you’re export percentage will be higher.

Larger systems will export more than smaller systems.

If you’re feed in tariff is less than what you pay for your power, which is the case in most states, then you should try to shift your power usage to the middle of the day rather than evening. This can be done by using washing machines, dishwashers, dryers etc during the middle of the day.


% / annum

This is the percentage of electricity produced by your system which is exported to the grid and which you’ll be paid the feed in tariff for.

If you’re home and using power during the day, you’ll use the power your system produces first and therefore export less.

If most of the household is at work or school during the day, then you’re export percentage will be higher.

Larger systems will export more than smaller systems.

If you’re feed in tariff is less than what you pay for your power, which is the case in most states, then you should try to shift your power usage to the middle of the day rather than evening. This can be done by using washing machines, dishwashers, dryers etc during the middle of the day.


System Installation

Orientation has quite a large effect on production. North is optimal and each movement away form north will mean less production.

Roof Orientation Production Loss
North no losses
North East/North West 7% loss
East/West 15% loss
South 38% loss



NW
NNW
N
NNE
NE
ENE
E
ESE
SE
SSE
S
SSW
SW
WSW
W
WNW

N

The angle of your roof doesn’t massively effect your system’s production. To get the best production, your roof should be pitched at the same degrees as the latitude of your location. For example, Brisbane’s coordinates are as follows – Latitude 27°25’S – Longitude 153° 9′ E

This means that the best roof pitch is 27 degrees which is about what most roofs are.

If your pitch is different to this, don’t worry, for every 5 degrees difference from this, you lose 1% production. So if the panels were laid flat, you’d only lose about 5% production.


25%

Need help determining your roof’s orientation?
Click here to lookup your address to see a picture of your roof.

Estimated Annual Electricity Bills (with and without solar)
Without Solar
With Solar

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

49003675245012250

Estimated Electricity Production

4961 kWh/yr

This figure can be verified by using tools such as PVsyst


14 kWh/day
 

1290 kWh/yr
 
Investment

$4000
 

$1063/yr

Savings on your power bill = (Yearly Production (kWh) – Exported Production (kWh)) X Price of Electricity) +
(Exported Production (kWh) x Feed in Tariff Rate)
  = (4961 kWh – 1290 kWh x ) + (1290 kWh x 8c / kWh)
  = $1063/yr


3.8 yrs

Payback Period = System Price / Yearly Benefit
  = $4000 / $1063
  = 3.8 yrs


26.6%

Return on Investment = System Price / Yearly Benefit
  = $1063 / $4000
  = 26.6%

Reduced Energy Costs

26c / kWh
 

8c / kWh

Effective price/ kWh after installing solar = (Yearly Power Bill – Yearly Savings on Bills / Average units used per day prior to installing solar
  = $1,500 – $437 / 9.6kWh
  = 8c / kWh


18c / kWh

Savings per kWh = rice currently paid for power – effective price after installing solar
  = 26c / kWh – 8c / kWh
  = 18c / kWh

Savings on Electricity Bills







$18,870

$6,110

$12,774



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