Solar Choice

From the category archives:

VIC

Residential Solar PV Price Index – April 2018

April 12, 2018

Average solar system prices again fell slightly between March and April, down to about $1.35 per watt, the lowest we’ve seen since the beginning of the year, but not as low as the record of $1.30/W set in December of 2017. For April 2018, 5kW systems are coming in at about $5,700 out-of-pocket on average for […]

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5 interesting alternatives to the ‘Big 3’ electricity retailers

March 27, 2018

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If you want to reduce your electricity bills, the first place you should look is your choice of electricity retailer, which is the company that sells you electricity. Although some people are unaware of it, in most parts of Australia you’re not stuck with a monopolistic ‘utility’ – you can pick and choose from a […]

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Battery Storage Price Index – March 2018

March 26, 2018

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With another month of minimal changes to battery pricing in our database, we’ve used the opportunity to again alter the presentation of our ‘Our We There Yet’ Meter to focus on the situations where batteries are looking most attractive, as most of the figures for other situations are still out of the ballpark. In particular, […]

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Gannawarra Solar Farm to get one of two new Victorian ‘big batteries’

March 23, 2018

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Following on the heels of South Australia, Victoria is set to become home to two ‘big batteries’ of its own. The grid-scale battery banks – one manufactured by Tesla and the other by Fluence – will help to ease pressure on the electricity network in the western part of the state, while also helping to […]

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15kW solar systems: A great size for homes & businesses (if you can fit one on your roof)

March 20, 2018

15kW solar systems are a great system size for homes with high levels of energy consumption or businesses with small to middling energy needs – provided that they have sufficient roof space to install one. This article takes you through (almost) everything you might want to know about 15kW solar systems, including how much space […]

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Commercial Solar PV Price Index for March 2018

March 19, 2018

Average prices for commercial-scale solar systems continue to hang around $1.17 per watt, down from about $1.21/W this time last year, and down from about $1.30/W in 2016. 100kW systems are averaging about $1.10/W, while 10kW systems come in at around $1.28/W. Commercial solar system prices (10kW-100kW) All prices in the tables below include incentives […]

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Why doesn’t my electricity retailer give me a 25c solar feed-in tariff?

March 19, 2018

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Why don’t retailers offer higher solar feed-in rates? Does it matter if feed-in tariff rates are low? What are some of the alternative approaches to conventional feed-in tariffs that are beginning to appear in the Australian market? These are important questions to ask when considering going solar in Australia these days. We take a look at […]

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Powershop to pay battery owners under new Grid Impact plan. What’s the go?

March 15, 2018

Electricity retailer Powershop and battery control technology developer Reposit Power have come together to offer a first-of-kind product to battery storage system owners in Australia. Anyone with a (Reposit-equipped) battery storage system living in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland can sign up for the program (called Grid Impact) to become part of a massive, […]

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Residential Solar PV Price Index – March 2018

March 14, 2018

Average solar system prices dipped slightly between February and March 2018 – coming in at about $1.38 per watt as opposed to $1.40/W last month – according to the most recent data from Solar Choice’s installer network database. While average prices decreased for most capital cities, Sydney and Canberra saw slight increases, due in part to changes […]

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Victoria town’s breakthrough deal on network tariffs as it pursues 100% renewables

March 7, 2018

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The regional Victorian town of Newstead has negotiated new network charges with electricity distributor, Powercor, to to help clear the way to building a small solar farm and sharing the output with the community. The ground-breaking deal puts in place a two-year trial on new network fees that allows the community to install solar and […]

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Victoria regulator finalises new time-varying tariffs for solar exports

February 28, 2018

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Victoria’s solar feed-in tariff is set to shift to a time-varying model, after the details of the of the new scheme – an Australian first – were finalised by Victoria’s Essential Services Commission. The new solar FiT, to be introduced in July 1, 2018, will require retailers to pay a minimum 29c/kWh for exports between […]

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Battery Storage Price Index – February 2018

February 26, 2018

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This month we’ve changed up the style of the graphs that we use for our ‘Are We There Yet?’ Meter, and altered them to focus only on the ‘low’ end of the price spectrum. We’ve done this mainly for clarity’s sake but also because average payback periods for batteries are still very long for system […]

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6kW solar systems: Pricing, output, and returns

February 24, 2018

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6kW solar systems are becoming increasingly popular amongst Australian homes thanks to a number of factors, including their affordability and ample size. This article provides an overview of (almost) everything you need to know if you’re considering a 6kW solar system for your household, including pricing, energy yields and their attractiveness as an investment. How […]

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Payback periods for commercial-scale solar PV systems: State by state

February 20, 2018

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There has never been a better time for Australian businesses to invest in commercial solar power. Last year Solar Choice analysed electricity bills & meter data to generate free indicative solar business cases for nearly 300 businesses, ranging from schools to farms to shopping centres to car dealerships to strata units to doctors’ surgeries (to […]

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10kW solar power systems: Price, output & returns

February 20, 2018

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10kW solar systems are a great investment for Australian homes with high levels of electricity consumption or businesses with relatively small electricity needs. This article takes a look at 10kW solar system pricing, energy production and returns in Australia. How many panels & how much roof space for a 10kW solar system? A modern-day 10kW solar […]

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Commercial Solar PV Price Index for February 2018

February 19, 2018

Average commercial solar system prices continue to hover at around $1.17 per watt ($1.17/W) for systems between 10kW and 100kW that we track in our monthly index. Please note that we will soon be publishing general information about pricing for systems above this threshold (i.e. LGC projects greater than 100kW) in the near future. Commercial […]

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Tips for going solar with a fiddly, inner city rooftop

February 15, 2018

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If you take a look at the APVI’s Solar Status Map, a curious thing you’ll notice is that the penetration rates for rooftop solar in Australia’s most densely populated capital cities (primarily Sydney & Melbourne) are not as high as you’d expect. While the national average is over 15%, solar PV penetration in these inner city […]

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Residential Solar PV Price Index – February 2018

February 14, 2018

Average solar system prices (on ‘primary’ offerings) have slipped slightly upwards since the beginning of the year, coming in at around $1.40/W – as opposed to about $1.30/W in December – due primarily to increased prices in Hobart & Melbourne. Average pricing for ‘premium’ and ‘microinverter’ systems, meanwhile, has dropped to $1.49/W and $1.80/W, respectively. Average solar […]

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We’ve updated our ‘capital city’ pages!

February 12, 2018

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We’ve just spent a bit of time going through some of our most popular pages and making sure that the information they contain is up to date for 2018. Which pages are those? The ones dedicated to explaining the case for going solar in Australia’s capital cities. These pages need updating from year to year […]

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Melbourne solar panels: Compare system prices and installers

February 12, 2018

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Are solar panels still worth the investment in Melbourne? It would seem so: Tens of thousands of Victorian households have installed solar PV systems in the last few years alone, with 10-15% of homes in the Melbourne area now meeting at least part of their energy needs with the sun. This article takes a look at […]

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Victorian electricity prices on the rise in 2018

January 31, 2018

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Whilst most Australian’s have been enjoying a break at the end of 2017 and in the first weeks of 2018, Victorian electricity retailers have been busy updating their pricing. It will come as no surprise that electricity prices have gone up. While not quite as dramatic in absolute terms as the 15-20% increase that hit […]

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Battery Storage Price Index – January 2018

January 29, 2018

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After some significant additions to our battery pricing database (including some ‘recommended retail price’ (RRP) data from manufacturers), average ‘full’ battery system prices (i.e. including inverter) fell to about $1,580 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), with lows sticking around at $870/kWh. Average ‘battery only’ prices came in at just under $1,000/kWh, while lows were around $700. This […]

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What are the best cities for home solar battery storage? (January 2018 update)

January 24, 2018

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Having just published an article on the state of Australia’s battery storage market at the beginning of 2018 (recently updated), we decided we would endeavour to shed a bit more light on payback period differences between each capital city. Which cities have the best conditions for home solar battery storage? We’ve ranked them below (with an […]

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Is home solar battery storage worth it? (Jan 2018 update)

January 18, 2018

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Since 2015 Australians have been talking about home battery storage being on the cusp of financial viability. Are home batteries worth the investment in 2018? We’ve crunched the number for all of Australia’s capital cities to find out. This article was originally published in February 2017. We then had an August 2017 update, followed by […]

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Is home solar power still worth it in Australia in 2018?

January 11, 2018

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Rooftop solar on its own is already affordable enough to be a smart choice for virtually any Australian home with an unshaded roof and some daytime electricity usage. This is true even in the absence of generous, state-backed solar feed-in tariffs and the (slight) reduction of the up-front incentive for solar available through the federal Renewable […]

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Which electricity retailer is giving the best solar feed-in tariff?

January 10, 2018

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Feed-in tariffs in Australia: How they’ve changed Solar feed-in tariffs are arrangements where a solar system owner is paid for the solar energy that they send into the grid. At one point in time, feed-in tariffs were mandatory in every state in Australia, and the rates they offered were quite generous. Much has changed, however, since we […]

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Commercial Solar PV Price Index for January 2018

January 10, 2018

Slight decreases in most capital cities and across most system sizes resulted in an overall average commercial solar system price of about $1.17/W – the lowest on record since Solar Choice began keeping track of commercial solar system prices in May 2014. Commercial solar system prices (10kW-100kW) All prices in the tables below include incentives […]

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Residential Solar PV Price Index – January 2018

January 9, 2018

In this month’s Solar PV Price Index, the average price for a ‘primary’/standard solar PV system offering remains almost unchanged from December, at about $1.31 per watt ($1.31/W). The average for a premium system was $1.56/W, while the average for a microinverter system was $1.93/W – both up slightly from last month. Average solar PV […]

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Victoria to introduce variable rate solar feed-in tariff – as high as 29c/kWh during peak times

December 20, 2017

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The Victorian Essential Services Commission (ESC) has proposed a variable-rate feed-in tariff for solar & battery system owners in the state. A draft decision from the ESC on the matter puts the state’s minimum solar feed-in rate (for off-peak periods) at 7.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (7.2c/kWh), while households exporting solar to the grid at peak […]

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Battery Storage Price Index – December 2017

December 13, 2017

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Welcome to the second edition of Solar Choice’s Battery Storage Price Index – the companion to our Solar PV Price Index, which covers solar system installation prices around Australia. The aim of the Battery Storage Price Index is to assist you in determining whether batteries are right for your home. Average battery system prices for […]

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Commercial Solar PV Price Index for December 2017

December 12, 2017

This month’s Commercial Solar PV Price Index sees the introduction of 70kW solar systems for the first time (a long overdue addition). The average cost of installing a commercial solar system in Australia currently sits at around $1.19 per watt ($1.19/W) – nominally less than last month‘s figure of $1.20/W and a modest improvement over […]

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