4 April 2013 – With now over ten percent of households in Adelaide having solar panels systems installed, Adelaide is often referred to as ‘Solar Adelaide’ within the renewable energy Industry. We also note that Australia has an astounding 2 Giga Watts of installed solar capacity- solar power has certainly proven to more than a ‘fad’.
Reasons For Solar Installation Remain Valid
The cost per installed watt for solar power systems in Adelaide is slowly bottoming out as the market becomes more mature, and particularly with the scaling back of government incentives (S.A. solar feed in tariff, Solar bonus Scheme). Even so the cost of solar installation, particularly the larger sized systems 3Kw, 4kw and 5Kw have remained fairly constant over the last 2 years for ‘quality’ systems (meaning German / European inverters and ‘brand’ solar panels).
Consumer concerns over electricity price rises are probably the biggest factor in solar uptake in Adelaide, far more so than ‘green’ or ‘environmental’ factors in fact. States like Queensland are talking 20+ percent price rises for electricity in 2013/2014 and most states will have prices rises penciled in over the next few years. Issues like the carbon tax have less impact on future price increases than issues like network upgrade and maintenance. Either way adding solar power can make sense for home owners in terms of ‘protection’ for rising power pricing.
Solar R.O.I.
The return on investment for solar panels systems has many variables and is one of the areas consumers need to be careful in considering when getting solar quotation. As solar feed tariff’s change and decrease (see the homepage for further information) it becomes unfavourable to send electricity produced from your solar system back to the grid and far better to ensure your system’s generated solar electricity is used in your home ( during the daytime when it produces power). Solar companies offering projections of percentage returns on your dollar investment in solar really need to factor in the foreshadowed changes in the S.A. feed tariff and its eventual phase out.