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Installation advice

Dyesol Solar: Dye-and-nanotech Solar Photovoltaics

December 7, 2011
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Dyesol is positioning itself to revolutionise the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry by making available an innovative but still largely uncommercialised PV technology: the Dye Solar Cell (DSC). DSC is a 3rd generation solar PV technology that uses a ‘sandwich’ of materials to mimic the photosynthetic process of plants in order to create electricity from sunlight. [...]

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Solarwatt Easy-In BIPV roof systems

November 30, 2011
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Solarwatt is a solar photovoltaic (solar PV) module maker based in Dresden, Germany. In addition to standard solar modules, the company also provides off-grid solar and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) solutions. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Print for later Tell a friend

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Solar Choice gets Australia’s first i-MiEV 100% Electric Vehicle

October 18, 2011
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    Solar Choice now has its own electric vehicle–the first of its kind ordered and purchased in Australia. The Mitsubishi i MiEV (“Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle”), will be parked and charging its batteries in the evening in Manly, NSW when it is not being used on official Solar Choice business. Those living in Sydney [...]

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SMA Sunny Boy 2100TL inverters now available in Australia

October 17, 2011
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    SMA Sunny Boy 2100TL inverters, part of SMA’s transformerless inverter range, are now available in Australia. The vast majority of the solar installers in the Solar Choice installer network offer SMA products as a primary or standard option in their installations, and the addition of the 200TL will allow increased flexibility and options [...]

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SunPower Solar Panels: The world-leader in efficiency

October 6, 2011
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The world record for solar panel efficiency goes to SunPower‘s solar panels: 24% cell efficiency (sunlight  –> usable electricity in laboratory conditions) and 19.6% conversion efficiency (sunlight –> usable electricity in real-life conditions) with the SunPower E19 / 320W solar modules. SunPower prides itself in its hard-earned reputation for world-leading technology and excellent customer service. [...]

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Off-grid solar power system in Sydney’s Western Suburbs

September 27, 2011
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Nev and Linda Sweeney have been living on their 500-square-meter suburban plot in Sydney’s St Clair Suburb since the early 1980s, and have been trying to live sustainably using the resources on their land for almost just as long. Their approach includes innovative energy generation and efficiency strategies (including off-grid as well as grid-connected solar [...]

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Electricity price comparisons: Choosing a retailer

September 19, 2011
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You’re interesting in bringing your home into the 21st century by going solar. Great. This is not likely a decision that you’ll make lightly. Calculating what size solar system your household needs and deciding which type of panels are right for you will at some point involve looking at what electricity pricing and billing options [...]

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Q-Cells Q.Pro and Q.Smart Solar Panels: Yes, the “Q” stands for “Quality”

September 16, 2011
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Q-Cells solar modules are some of the most innovative and reliable solar systems in the world; the Germany company believes that “Claiming Leadership Means Proving It”, and the “Q” in the company’s name boldly stands for ‘quality’. A number of features of Q-Cells’ solar panels (including their Q.Pro G-2 and Q.Smart panels) support their claim [...]

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Conergy Solar Panels: Reliable German-Engineered Technology

August 24, 2011
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Conergy is one of the world’s most reliable names in all things solar, including high-end, high-efficiency monocrystalline solar panels. The Hamburg, Germany-based company has been in the solar power industry since 1998, and in addition to manufacturing solar modules, also produces grid-connected and off-grid solar inverters, performance monitoring systems, batteries, and battery charge controllers. Conergy Australia [...]

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Solar power reaching grid parity in parts of NSW

August 18, 2011
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Even taking into account the overhead cost of purchasing a solar power system, the price of solar has for the first time dipped below below that of coal-fired generation in certain parts of New South Wales, according to new data. (Get a free solar quote comparison for installers in your area.) Blog this! Digg this post Recommend [...]

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Ford and SunPower: Solar Power and Electric Vehicles made affordable

August 18, 2011
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Automobile manufacturer Ford and the US solar panel producer SunPower have teamed up in a strategic partnership to encourage both renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs). The program, given the somewhat to-the-point moniker “Drive Green for Life”, aims to set up homes with solar panels on their roofs (or solar car ports) and Ford Focus [...]

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SolarEdge: module-level solar inverters for high-efficiency solar systems

July 22, 2011
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One of the trickiest parts of maximising efficiency in a solar installation is dealing with variations in power output among panels and strings of panels in the same system. SolarEdge is a leading company that has developed a unique solution to the problem of irregularity in solar panel array output. It uses a solar system architecture that utilises [...]

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SilexSolar SLX Panels: Australian solar power

July 19, 2011
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Silex is Australia’s leading home-grown solar panel manufacturing brand, offering 3 sizes of solar panel–all assembled at Silex’s Sydney Olympic Park facility, the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the southern hemisphere. In a market where the vast majority of panels are imported, Silex is an easy choice for those who want to support Australian industry. The most [...]

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Desert Knowledge Solar Centre: Solar Panel Performance Comparisons

July 19, 2011
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If you are looking for a direct comparison between different or competing brands of solar panels in Australia, you would be wise to visit the Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre. With funding from the Australian Government and oversight and management by the Northern Territory Government, the DKA Solar Centre is an initiative that has been [...]

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Suntech Solar Panels: efficiency, dependability, and affordability

July 18, 2011

Suntech is the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and produces some of the most efficient and affordable commercially available solar panels in the world. Suntech’s 350-person strong research and development (R&D) team spans three continents and allows the company to stay at the technological forefront of the solar power industry. Although Suntech’s head office [...]

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Solar PV Windows: BIPV Technology by Pythagoras Solar

July 15, 2011
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As it currently stands with most buildings, the sun’s light is often a burden, especially in summer, when it heats up exteriors and necessitates energy to be spent on cooling.  Pythagoras Solar is a company that has created an innovative building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) technology that could revolutionise the way that buildings generate and use energy. This [...]

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South Pacific Solar Power

June 23, 2011
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We are all familiar with the large scale solar projects sweeping developed countries, producing Megawatts, if not Gigawatts of solar electricity.  But what about the 1.4 billion people without access to electricity? According to an interview in the New York Times with Michael Eckhart, the President of the American Council on Renewable Energy, œJust 1 percent [...]

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Residential Solar System Warranties: What to look for, what to watch out for

May 9, 2011
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When thinking about installing a residential solar power system, it is important to carefully consider the types and durations of the warranties offered by solar system installers. This article explains the differences between the types of warranties that may be available to you when shopping around for a solar photovoltaic system for your home. (Get [...]

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The other type of solar power: Concentrating solar power (CSP)

May 7, 2011
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When most people think of solar power, they imagine solar photovoltaics, the technology whereby sunlight is turned directly into (dc) electricity via the p-n junction of a semiconductor material, such as silicon. In fact, in Australia, most solar installations are this type–the solar panels used in most residential solar installs are either poly-crystalline silicon, mono-crystalline [...]

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First international solar-powered flight

May 5, 2011
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The Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse is set to make its first international flight on 2 May 2011 (yesterday in Australia as of the time of this writing, but today in Switzerland!) This is the first international flight of its kind: one powered solely by solar power. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on [...]

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Solar power: oversizing your inverter for future array expansion

May 4, 2011
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You are thinking about installing a solar power generation system for your home. Initially, you’d like your system to have enough solar photovoltaic panels to partially or totally meet your energy demand requirements, but you’d also like to have the option in the future to add more. You might do this for a number of [...]

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