Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

5K is pretty gook for a 2kWt system. Anyone know if texas has any rebates or tax credits?

Thanks
Mark

hea,

start here.....

and be sure to look at the Oncor info.....

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/inde ... &RE=1&EE=1

would be nice - but the oncor guys do not cover our area. Anyone else research the houston area?

Texas is strickly set up around the power companies...
California has gotten complicated since last year.
Florida is still $4 per watt up to $20k...and that is not including the fed incentives. Those guys will get paid to set up a home system!!! No wonder my stuff kept getting sold out in miami and had to be shipped from arizona.

The thin film Kaneka panels here are less expensive than $9.00 a watt. My system cost $15,090 which is $7.62 per watt but this includes the inverter and installation. After rebates and sale of RECS my cost was $5483. Mind you I think the cost of the panels alone would be more than $1.20 plus freight per watt, as BRB quotes in the US.

My error, I've since found out I'd used a price about 12 months old and they have come down substantially since then. still the prices here are far higher than freight and a reasonable profit margin to a wholesaler and retailer would suggest they should be.
John

I have been reading my power meter and the readout on my inverter and during the day I produce about 10 kw and the power meter goes backwards, and during the night of cause it turns forward. By the morning the meter has increased by 3 kw. So at this time of the year, if we aren't using the air con, we consume about 13 kw and are only paying for 3 kw. Our house and AP is all electricity (no gas) and we have a solar hot water connected up through our wood lounge fire.

A saving of 10 kw or 10 units of power at 17.61c/unit equates to $1.76 saving per day. Winter will be less but $1.76 x 365 = $642 pa.This means at current electricity prices (and they have already announced two increases coming this year) it will take about 10 years to pay off.

I'm looking forward to those kinds of results!

Looks like Solar is getting a whole lot more affordable

http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matt ... 5840687578

I just love comments like this from the article...



Duurrr.... You put the pool in and you bought the plazma.... And now you can't afford to run them??? You're probably still paying them off on finance as well....

ya - that caught my eye as well.

I did not think energy costs were that different in AU compared to here are you really looking at large increases in the next year and why? There has been good growth in the energy sector here and prices should be stable for some time. Exploration and rig counts are up accross the board and most oil companies are restaffing after the huges cuts from the resession. Of course this could all change if cap&trade passes but that is looking doubtful.

What is the cost of power over there per kw. Here in West Aus it is 17.5 cents.
I don't know what the new charges will be. The announcement was just a buttering up stage. Last year the prices went up by about 25%, and I think from memory it is going to be more than that over two stages. And why the increases? The power companies aren't making enough money. Not sure how true, but unless cost of power or energy sources increase then we will continue to use what ever is cheapest with little regard to the environment.

In texas most companies are under 14 cents...gas has been hovering arounf $2.50 for quite a while.

Being a natural gas producing state and having a few nukes helps!

Rates here vary from 3.87 cents/kwh to 7.87 cents/kwh depending on the month and usage.