NSW and QLD Owner Builder Courses Online
  • Home
  • Course Overview
    • Owner Builder Videos
    • Queensland Owner Builder Information >
      • QLD Owner Builder Responsibilities and Legal Obligations
      • QLD Owner Builder Design
      • QLD Owner Builder Plan Reading and Budget Estimating
      • QLD Owner Builder Engaging Professionals
      • QLD Owner Builder Tendering
      • QLD Owner Builder Contract Administration
      • QLD Owner Builder Project Scheduling
      • QLD Owner Builder Insurances
      • QLD Owner Builder Workplace Health and Safety
    • New South Wales Owner Builder Information >
      • NSW Owner Builder Responsibilities and Legal Obligations
      • NSW Owner Builder Design
      • NSW Owner Builder Plan Reading & Budget Estimating
      • NSW Owner Builder Engaging Professionals
      • NSW Owner Builder Tendering
      • NSW Owner Builder Contract Administration
      • NSW Owner Builder Project Scheduling
      • NSW Owner Builder Insurances
      • NSW Owner Builder Workplace Health & Safety
  • Enrol Now
  • Student Information
    • Conditions of Enrollment >
      • QLD Pre Enrolment Information
      • NSW Pre Enrolment Information
      • White Card Pre Enrolment Information
    • Featured Projects
    • Owner Builder Sample Course Download Page
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
    • Refund Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Testimonials
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • QLD
  • NSW
  • Western Australia
  • Blog
  • WHS Management Plan
  • Stat Decs

Owner Builder Blog

June 13th, 2019

13/6/2019

31 Comments

 
Owner Builders and Solar Power

Over the last few months, several of my owner builder students have been asking what I know about solar.

Fact is, I actually do know a little, having recently installed a 6.5 kilowatt system at my own home.

6.5 kilowatts is 24 panels and the single inverter which sits nicely on my West North West facing roof.

Owner builders need to consider several things if they are looking to install solar.

Firstly, as an owner builder, you are not legally allowed to do any of the works associated with the installation of your solar system, unless of course you are a licensed electrician with solar accreditation. That should be obvious.

The second thing is deciding what size system will best suit your needs. Thee is some confusion out there generally as to how big a system you can install, with many owner builders thinking that 6.5 kilowatts is the maximum for a single residential property. Fact is you can go bigger but they need to be separate systems.

My son has two systems, that means two inverters and around 48 panel to generate the level of power that he wanted to achieve. He is a licensed electrician and does run a solar installation company, so he did have a slight advantage.

Other factors that should be considered are how and when you use your electricity, what your exposure to sunlight is and what type of roof you have.
How an owner builder will use their electricity is important, particularly because the rebates given these days is far lees than in previous years, so your aim should be to use as much of the electricity that you produce. Retail prices of between 25 to 40 cents per kWh are typical and sales back to the grid will yield you around 16 cents.

If your place is electrically ‘noisy’ through the day, then it makes sense to generate and use as much as you can during daylight hours. We advise our owner builders to run pool pumps, washing machines and dishwasher during peak production times to get the best out of their systems.

The ideal orientation is close to North for these latitudes and the angle of installation can be optimised by matching the latitude so for someone in Cairns they would set the panel pitch at around 17 degrees, 27 degrees for Brisbane and 38 degrees for Melbourne. Owner Builders should check that this is correct, because it may be old thinking and the technology has come so far that it may not still be relevant. That’s the way it was taught to me anyway! (Fraser?).
In any case there are other factors like shade from trees and obstructions that will affect exposure and hence production.

Owner Builders need to be aware that not all panels are equal and that a cheap system may be a nasty system and not provide the same output as a good quality set up.

Of course, the question most often asked is how much will I save?

Well it depends on all the factors I have mentioned above but as a guide, and by my owner experience, the 6.5 kWh system that I have installed has reduced my power bills by around 70%. This is inclusive of a 28% discount I got by changing suppliers at the same time.

So, owner builders need to shop around and get the best deal not only from the installation companies but also through revisiting their retail supplier.

Hope this demystifies solar installation to some extent.
As always,

Best Regards and Happy Owner Building

Rick
31 Comments
Brenton Pugh
30/1/2020 03:31:18

Great read

Reply
Bill Young
3/2/2021 09:25:43

I have a problem with amount you have to outlay to have solar power installed with battery back up. For a system to run a house you could be up to 30k. Also they the panels corrode break down were to they go to be recycled not all parts of panels can be recycled. You don't take them to land fill that is wrong. Batteries need a lot more development if they are like car batteries they only last 3 years. I see a lot of environmental issues surrounding these solar installations.. Low Emission Coal Fire POWER stations for reliable and cheap power also solar does not cut it for manufacturing

Reply
Tristan Tran
5/11/2021 03:56:50

Solar is a viable option. However, emerging technology is developing solar batteries which stores energy for 24 hour use. Research is required to understand the best options for each household.

Reply
Bradley Tronc
13/2/2020 13:09:19

I love my solar.

We have no mains power at our little property. The closest transformer was 200 - 300 metres away.

It cost us less to install a 6.5 Kw system with batteries than to get the power lines extended and a new transformer.

It was a no brainer.

The only thing I would offer as advice is not to muck around with cheaper batteries.

Get the best you can afford!

Reply
Jake McDonald
15/12/2022 21:20:58

We are also in a situation where it is considerably cheaper to install solar than connect to mains power.
Thanks for the advice on the batteries!

Reply
john m schyvens link
20/6/2023 21:12:27

I also have a rural property and have installed a 9.6KV solar / battery system.
Its currently on my shed and easily powers most power tools and all the power needed in a attached small flat. (except compressors or welders).

I have had a couple of problems mainly during winter, but after testing, the culprit was a old fridge with perished seals. Also one of the batteriers had failed after 3 years which put more strain on the other batteries.

Ive installed a generator back up with an alarm that notifiys me when storage falls below 20%.

Im currently in the process of buildiing the main house which will also be powered by a solar / battery system.

Hopefully better quailty batteries will be avalable...

Reply
James Warne
20/8/2024 19:30:34

Even though we have mains power on our property, we have a friend who is a solar wizz and we are looking to go full solar with batteries and have mains as our backup, only in emergencies.

Reply
Colin Hill
19/5/2020 08:47:12

My advice is to do the maths. When I installed solar I calculated that the payback time for the panels was 4 - 5 years but a battery was 10. From this, I decided to install the panels and hold off on the battery until price allows for a faster payback.

Reply
Steve Cottrell
5/6/2020 14:04:57

Unfortunately most people don't understand the value of proper orientation of their solar panels. when we were getting 60 cents per kWh (gross metering) an orientation of direct north was great, but now with net metering, a combination of east, north and west is more efficient. Most appliances (washing machine, dryer,A/C unit will draw from 1 to 3 kWh. A 6.5kw system will provide 1 to 3 kw constantly from sunrise to sunset. Running these devices over the course of the day means that the P.V. system will adequately supply them resulting in no cosumption of power from your supplier. Think about your roof design when building.

Reply
Melissa
8/2/2023 10:01:51

We have installed solar in our home and the bill is amazing. We are just about to change providers as energy australia plans are terrible, with the new plan we should be in credit. Have considered a battery just seeing how the prices go over the next 6 mths but if the talk of energy companies starting to charge to give back to the grid (because they dont have capacity to store) then a battery is the way to go.

Reply
Mark Ferian
14/9/2020 16:53:58

We have just had a 6Kw solar system installed today. The roof faces north. it is replacing a old 2Kw system. I look forward to the savings this coming summer!!

Reply
John Nash
10/11/2020 08:56:49

We had off grid solar on the house we lost to the 2019 fires and plan to be off grid again. Technology has moved on from "state of the art" 2000 systems (980w of panel and 1500w inverter output with lead acid 24v batteries) which lasted 19y to 20kw Li batteries and min 5kw inverter output. There have been some hard lessons learnt on the robustness of some components in our environment. We had a series of errors on the inbuilt battery management system which we could not access to resolve because we needed an active internet connection. It has taken the solar installer several months to configure the charge controller and batteries to prevent the battery from shutting down to protect itself. We also changed the battery to a slightly older technology that can handle the extremes of our temperature range (-7 C to +36 C) without need to provide a temp controlled environment.
In the design stage for our house we had to factor in panel number and location, battery storage and inverter charge controller location and protection plus where to place backup generator. We also had the system designed to make it easy to expand if our demand increased significantly.
The end result is one where we hopefully will not need to run the generator except for its regular test runs.

Reply
jiehan zhu
22/2/2021 18:23:34

so is it actually worth it to get a solar system?

Reply
SUNGHYE KIM
6/5/2021 17:37:31

good to know about solar. actually I was interested install one with battery pack

Reply
Peter Curtis
29/6/2021 20:53:43

Different plans are worth looking into. With a smart meter our off peak rate is available to the whole house and not just hot water. This means we can buy for 18 cents guarantied at night and sell for 21 cents during the day and not need to think about cloudy days.

Reply
Barry Robinson
8/7/2021 10:48:11

I have to put on Solar panels to pass the BASIX here in Dubbo. I plan to set it up so all my power items like pool filter, hot water, air conditioner etc are set to run during the charging hours. Also I will wait till the price of battery panels is reduced more in price. If you look, the price of solar panel has plummetted in the last 5 years

Reply
Patrick Chevers link
2/1/2022 17:26:28

I recently installed solar and love it and such a reduced bill.
Im doing a holiday house and would like to install a system there also,
Any ideas on car charging integrated into system as well?
Does it have be 3 phase
Everyone wants a Telsa these days

Reply
alan Fitzgerald
8/3/2022 10:17:19

I like the idea but for me I don't think it has hit its peak and is outdating to fast so for now I'm just selecting higher energy efficient devices

Reply
David Buggie
21/3/2022 13:30:41

If anyone is looking at installing solar, have a look at a website 'Solar Quotes'. It's managed by Finn Peacock & it's very informative. I've put solar on in NSW and with the help of this website, the decision making became a lot easier.

Reply
KALEB BUSH
29/4/2022 14:22:44

Again a very interesting read, Rick. Regarding solar panels for rooftops it all depends on how much electricity you are using to whether or not the investment is worth it or not. Again I personally encourage anyone to install rooftop solar panels if they can. It is a great way to lower carbon emissions and go off the grid if you can.

The thing about rooftop solar though is what will be the longer term impacts of all the solar panels when they reach the end of their lives (20-25 years) and need to be thrown out or disposed of. There are going to be enormous amounts of solar panels that are going to be dumped at the tip. And what happens when roofers need to install new roof sheeting or tiles on the roof when there are solar panels already up there are they going to have to remove all the solar panels and reinstall them once the roof sheeting or tiles are replaced. Roofing people aren't going too happy there.

Reply
Christopher Walsh link
7/7/2022 12:11:25

I'm wondering about battery packs. As far as I know we are not yet able to store solar energy ourselves. Will this change in the near future? We have solar on our Airbnb as the building is old and has restrictions on how much insulation can be installed. Begin an air bib we had to make sure it was well climate controlled so we opted for split systems and solar panels. So far so good. Bills are extremely cheap for what we are using. Its fantastic. We are yet to put solar on ours. Have to keep save our $$ to do it. Feels so good to be something helpful environmentally too.

Reply
Nick Wall
29/8/2022 15:30:06

Great read,
Another option to setup on your solar if anyone is interested,
because my house had an old hot water heater running on town gas which was quiet expensive! and needed replacing as it was leaking.
My electricity meter had no output for off-peak heating, but I do have a 5.5kw solar system installed, so what I have done was install a new electric HWS in place of the old gas unit and setup a 24hr timer and contactor to run the heater between 10am and 3pm, so it will only heat during daylight hours.
if its overcast it will still heat as normal, it will just cost me extra.
I am a licensed electrician, so keep in mind this idea would need to be done by a licensed sparky!

Reply
Christina Chiu
5/2/2024 12:21:26

I have the exact same settings on my HWS (its also a very large tank) and if the next few days are forecast to be very cloudy or stormy, i can turn off the hot water timer, and it stays hot enough for showers for about 3 days.
If you pay attention to the weather and turn it on and off like that, you can make it almost 100% solar.

Reply
Neil East
13/11/2022 11:42:34

Great read. I am putting a solar system and battery into our new property.Any recommendation of brand

Reply
Michael Ashelford
21/11/2022 09:24:25

Interesting read. I've been looking into it and the biggest issue is the export limitation by the grid. On single phase, that's near the 6.5kw system you had installed. But if you upgrade to 3 phase, then you can generally export a minimum of 15 kw, with some providers letting you export more.
Will be interesting to watch this space - i'm thinking of going to 3 phase for the electric car future we are entering into.

Reply
Steve link
30/1/2023 15:47:14

Great read

Reply
Patrick
22/5/2023 09:45:21

Good to know

Reply
Garrie Wooden link
6/7/2023 18:13:25

good read , it is a option I am thinking about

Reply
Troy Fuller
17/7/2023 18:19:14

It is a great consideration I'm building a large shed and have ensured that the roof is structually built for the additional load and designing my power connection ready for a solar build in the future when funds are available. Thanks.

Reply
Ryan Thomas
6/8/2023 23:15:10

defiantly worth considering solar

Reply
Douglas Porter
23/8/2023 08:42:04

Yes solar is a no brainer but you have to be aware of certain conditions. I will share my past experiences of owning a solar system.
1- Shading. If shade falls on apart of a panel it affects the entire
array of panels. Whatch out for shade from chimneys as well.
2- Orientation of panels is very important. If possible east and
north are best. Catching the early morning sun is good as the
missus is usually doing the washing at this time.
3- Clean panels if needed especially from bird droppings as this
will act as shading.
Note that even thou you may install a 12klw system as I have recently done you are probably only allowed to to feed back in to the grid 6klws.

Hope I havent put any one off.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rick Heaton is a Building and Construction Industry professional with formal tertiary qualifications in management and training.

    With over 30 years assisting Owner Builders, he brings an easy style to providing information and advice to our students.

    Archives

    April 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All
    Contracts
    Course Resources
    Design
    Estimating And Costing
    General
    Inspections And Certifications
    Insurances
    Plan Reading
    Professionals And Consultants
    Project Management
    Scheduling
    Work Health And Safety

    RSS Feed

©  copyright 2025 Australian Owner Builder Courses by Abacus Training
  • Home
  • Course Overview
    • Owner Builder Videos
    • Queensland Owner Builder Information >
      • QLD Owner Builder Responsibilities and Legal Obligations
      • QLD Owner Builder Design
      • QLD Owner Builder Plan Reading and Budget Estimating
      • QLD Owner Builder Engaging Professionals
      • QLD Owner Builder Tendering
      • QLD Owner Builder Contract Administration
      • QLD Owner Builder Project Scheduling
      • QLD Owner Builder Insurances
      • QLD Owner Builder Workplace Health and Safety
    • New South Wales Owner Builder Information >
      • NSW Owner Builder Responsibilities and Legal Obligations
      • NSW Owner Builder Design
      • NSW Owner Builder Plan Reading & Budget Estimating
      • NSW Owner Builder Engaging Professionals
      • NSW Owner Builder Tendering
      • NSW Owner Builder Contract Administration
      • NSW Owner Builder Project Scheduling
      • NSW Owner Builder Insurances
      • NSW Owner Builder Workplace Health & Safety
  • Enrol Now
  • Student Information
    • Conditions of Enrollment >
      • QLD Pre Enrolment Information
      • NSW Pre Enrolment Information
      • White Card Pre Enrolment Information
    • Featured Projects
    • Owner Builder Sample Course Download Page
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
    • Refund Policy
    • Privacy Policy
  • Testimonials
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • QLD
  • NSW
  • Western Australia
  • Blog
  • WHS Management Plan
  • Stat Decs