From the category archives:

New technologies

How to install a solar panel mounting system on your roof

April 12, 2011
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For most people who decide to mount solar panels on their roof, a mounting system is necessary. This short entry explains the basics of what needs to be taken into consideration when putting a solar array on your roof. -Read about Solar Panel Tilt and Orientation in Australia- (Get a free comparison of solar quotes of the [...]

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Solar-powered carports

April 7, 2011
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The number of small, simple ways to put solar power to use in daily life seems virtually endless, and opportunities present themselves at every corner. Solar carports are one innovative way to turn an ordinarily passive, mundane, everyday item into an electricity generation system that works for you. It’s the sort of thing that, when [...]

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BIPV: Building-integrated Photovoltaics, the future of PV

April 1, 2011
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Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is exactly what the name indicates: solar power generation modules that are integrated directly into a building in the place of ordinary building materials. BIPV differs in a number of ways from the PV arrays that most of us are familiar with: the roof-mounted or rack-mounted PV arrays that are retrofitted onto [...]

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Renewable Energy: Charging Electric Vehicles

March 29, 2011
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How will the transportation of the future reduce its reliance on fossil fuels? Despite all its advantages, one of the biggest disadvantages of photovoltaics (PV or solar power), and most renewable energies sources, is the difficulty of storage and transport for later use. Storage of PV-generated power is inefficient without good batteries. You can fill [...]

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Stand-alone solar power to be set-up in Japan refugee centres

March 23, 2011
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As part of the relief effort for the 11 March 2011 Northeastern Japan earthquake and tsunami, Sharp and Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery are planning to assemble and provide 250 solar power arrays with batteries for refugee shelters throughout the region. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about [...]

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Ever-improving PV technology dilemma: Should I wait to buy my solar array?

March 5, 2011
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You are thinking about getting a solar PV system for your home, and in your research have come to understand what the major considerations are: your electricity demand and how to save energy, what types of panels are on the market, where to put your array so that it doesn’t suffer from the effects of [...]

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Ground-screws for ground-mounted solar power systems

February 25, 2011
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Ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are ideal for those who have space to spare on their property. The are becoming increasingly common. In fact, there is a movement to recruit solar farmers, who, taking advantage of generous feed-in tariffs and solar rebate incentives, would be able to turn a profit from otherwise unproductive land. This [...]

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19-year-old demonstrates true Solar Power: The Solar Death Ray

February 9, 2011
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In Indiana, USA a pioneering teenager has demonstrated the formidable power of the sun with a simple, hand-made device composed of 5800 tiny mirrors and an old satellite dish. The Solar Death Ray R5800, as creator Eric Jacqmain has dubbed it, is capable of melting holes through steel, burning holes through wood, and generally obliterating [...]

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New record for largest rooftop solar array in Australia

January 19, 2011
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Previously we wrote about Australia’s two largest rooftop solar power arrays–The Adelaide Fairgrounds installation and the Sydney Theatre Company, 1MW and 340kW, respectively. This title has once again changed hands, however, and has gone to the University of Queensland’s St. Lucia Campus in Brisbane. This array, spread across eleven rooftops, has an installed capacity of [...]

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World Land Speed Record for Solar Powered Car

January 14, 2011
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An Australian Solar Powered Car, Sunswift IV, or “IVy”, designed, built and driven solely by University of New South Wales students, has broken the land speed record for the world’s fastest solar powered vehicle at a speed of 88km/h on a cloudy day! Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share [...]

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State Government Approval Granted to NSW’s First Solar Farm

January 13, 2011
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Infigen Energy has been granted the Keneally government’s approval for NSW’s first commercial solar farm. The farm, to be located about 2km south of Nyngan, a small town in the dry about 600km west of Sydney. The farm would feed directly into a pre-existing power substation. The Nyngan farm is part of Infigen’s aims to [...]

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Batteries for Stand Alone Solar Power Systems: Maintenance

December 9, 2010
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This is the third installment in a series about batteries for stand-alone or off-grid power systems.  Our first blog in the series provided a rundown on how to size a battery bank, while the second was about the different types of batteries that you will typically find in a remote power system. This time we’ll [...]

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Inverters for Stand Alone Solar Powered Systems

November 17, 2010
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When you decide that you want to power your entire home from solar power one of the decisions that installers make is the size of the inverter this is the one of the most important pieces in the puzzle and its pretty important to know how to size it. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend [...]

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Batteries for Stand Alone Solar Power Systems: Types of Batteries

November 15, 2010
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Part 2 of 4 Welcome to the second installment in a four-part series about batteries for stand-alone power systems (SAPS) otherwise known as ˜off-grid’ power systems. 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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Sunny Boy visits Solar Choice

July 14, 2010
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Solar Choice is committed to expanding our knowledge base, and sharing that culture of knowledge with you. While we work with a wide range of installers who use a wide variety of inverters, we also strive to learn as much as we can about the products they install. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on [...]

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Solar Panels on your roof and where else? (part two)

July 9, 2010
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Earlier in the week we looked at Solar Panels in the Transportation Industry, this time around we will take a look at other commercial scale concepts/ideas that take into consideration the advantages offered by the different types of solar cells (mono/multi/amorphous silicon). Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with [...]

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Solar Panels on your roof and where else?

July 5, 2010
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This week we’ll take a brief look at the versatility of solar power and what people are doing with their photovoltaic panels. This first segment will take a look at public transportation and personal rapid transportation with respect to what’s being done in Australia! Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin [...]

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Conventional and Transformerless Inverters

June 12, 2010
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Our earlier article, ˜Solar Panel Installations are changing!‘ discussed the modern evolution of solar technology. As noted, one big change that may increase efficiency and lower costs is the shift from conventional inverters to transformerless (TL) models. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Print [...]

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Solar Panel Installations are changing! How? Why?

May 7, 2010
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When connected, your Solar Panel Installation looks like the image above. However, with advances in technology the average solar panel system is changing the way it looks, sounds and costs. Whats been changing recently in the system and how does it effect you? Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share [...]

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Emerging Solar Energy Panel Trends

April 21, 2010
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The University of New South Wales holds the record for producing the highest efficiency solar energy cells and has had the privilege of holding this record for approximately 20 years, from the likes of Stanford University (USA). So when Stuart Wenham, the director of the UNSW program, recently gave his predictions on the future trends [...]

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Australia’s Feed-in-Tariff debate

April 14, 2010
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To Feed-in or not to Feed-in: Encouraging renewable energy electricity production The concept of a feed-in-tariff (FiT) has been around since the 70′s but it was only in the last decade we saw Germany pioneer its usage to dramatically increase electricity generation from solar PV. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on [...]

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