Solar Power Feed in Tariffs

What is a feed-in-tariff?

To assist in the uptake of Solar Systems the NSW Government announced on 23rd June 2009 that it will commence a feed in tariff from January 1st 2010 (for more information...). All other states have already announced or commenced similar systems, the Clean Energy Council has a useful feed-in-tariff fact sheet that summarises the different systems available.

A feed-in tariff provides payments for electricity produced by small scale distributed sources like solar photovoltaic (PV) systems when their output is fed back into the electricity grid. The NSW Solar Bonus Scheme as it stands is the most generous of any of the State schemes currently on offer.

The Scheme will pay the owners of eligible solar PV systems a minimum of 60 cents per kilowatt hour (c/KWh) for the renewable energy they feed into the national electricity grid for the duration of the gross feed in tariff period contract. In other words, PV system owners will get paid for the electricity that their PV system generates that is surplus to the electricity they use themselves.

Details of the scheme are available on the NSW government website, however key details of the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme as proposed and announced by the NSW Government include:

• It will operate for 7 years
• It will pay a minimum of 60c/kWh for electricity that is generated by a Solar PV or Wind Turbine (equivalent to around 4 times the standard NSW electricity price)
• It will be payable to energy customers with solar PV systems up to 10 kW in size and with a maximum of 160 megawatt-hours of electricity consumed per annum
• It will commence 1 January 2010.
  

Further detailed information on the proposed scheme is provided on the NSW Government Website:

For more information....

 

How will it help me?

The exact amount of electricity exported to the grid from a Solar Power System will vary with the specifics of the particular system installation (orientation, size of system, over shadowing, etc). However, the NSW Government estimates that it is likely that a 1.5 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) system will, on average, receive on average $1,500 per year from the feed-in tarrif.

Example:

Consider a family in NSW with a correctly designed, well located 1.5kW Grid Connected Solar PV Power System:

• A well designed solar system installed in Sydney typically will receive 4.3 Sunlight hours per day.  Therefore, the owners our 1.5kW solar system could expect to generate on average:
  

(Available Sunlight Hours per Day) x (System Capacity) = 4.3hours x 1.5kW = 6.45kWh / day

• This means that on average our Families 1.5kW Solar System will generate each year around:

(Average Daily Generating Capacity) x (365 days) = 6.45kWh x 365 = 2,354kWh / year

• This means our Family would then receive an annual feed in tariff payment from their Energy Provider, under the proposed NSW Government Scheme of:

(Annual Generating Capacity) x (Feed in Tariff)

= 2,354kWh / year x 60c/kWh = $1412 per year

CONTACT DINGO SOLAR now to arrange a FREE quote for your new Grid Connected Solar Power system!