Hi PEGers,
If we can raise a small group of people locally, we have the opportunity to buy 1kW solar panels for $1400 (which is about half the price of the next-cheapest I’ve seen solar panels) as part of a scheme being run by Climate Action Newcastle – see http://climateaction.org.au/campaigns/newcastles-going-solar
If anyone is interested, can you let me know asap. Any questions, email me, or phone me (phone in the morning). The cut-off date is December 31st so we’ll need to be quick.
Please pass this on to anyone around the Woy Woy, Gosford, Killcare area who might be interested.
Mark Mann
02-6589 4342
043 255 0255
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A note on the “real” cost of this offer
See webpage below for full details of costings. The basic figures are approx $1400 for 1kW panel plus inverter (to connect to the grid) for a single-storey tin roof, plus $250 if you have a tiled roof and $300 for two-storey houses.
Plus you have to put up $8000 up front which you get back as a rebate about three months later. If you get a short term loan for $8000 for three months, you’ll pay maybe $400 in interest. So the full cost of this offer ranges from $1400+$400=$1800 for a one-storey tin roof, to $1400+$250+$300+$400=$2350 for a two-storey tiled roof.
They say you can expect, ballpark, a kW panel to save you about $200 worth of electricity a year, giving the system has a payback time of 12 years. This will become less as energy prices rise in future, so in reality you might expect this system to pay for itself in about 7 or 8 years.
(Feed-in tariffs would reduce this payback time considerably, but I’ve heard the NSW feed-in is likely to only apply to any overall surplus you generate – ie you’d have to generate more electricity from the panel than you use in your home, which won’t happen with a 1kW system.)
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For full offer details, see…
http://climateaction.org.au/files/Newcastle’s_Going_Solar_Round_2_Project_Information.pdf