Why Solar?
Cost Effective
Power rates have been increasing at 8% yearly in New Zealand and show no sign of slowing down. The cost of installing solar has at the same time reduced, making solar more affordable than ever. Solar hot water panels can reduce up to 46% of your power bill annually, helping to mitigate the rising prices. Additionally, solar PV panels can help to reduce the rest of your power bill.
Energy Efficient
Sunshine Solar has the highest performing panels in New Zealand according to ASNZS2712 results. By using the energy of the sun to power your home, you collect free energy that is available to everyone. Modern solar systems will also last longer than the roofs you put them on.
Sustainable
Climate scientists worldwide agree that in order to save the planet for our children and our children’s children we all need to reduce our carbon footprint. Solar panels can help to achieve this by removing the need for conventional generation.
What’s the right option for you?
Solar PV Panels
Albert Einstein received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 for showing that a silicon cell could generate electricity when subjected to UV rays. This technology was developed by Bell Labs in 1954 to make the first viable solar cells. NASA further developed these cells for the first Sputnik and Vanguard space programs.
Today, solar PV cells can be used to help offset the power consumption of your home or business. The Solar Panels produce DC electricity which is the passed through an inverter to generate AC electricity. This can then be directly linked into your switchboard to connect to your existing loads.
Solar panels can be installed with or without batteries. Solar power is generated during the day when the sun is shining. For a business operating normal 9-5 hours this is perfectly suited, as most of the power can be used straight away by the load.
For a home where you mostly are not around during the day there are two options we usually recommend. Either you can opt for a smaller system to offset the background loads of your home such as dishwashers and washing machines during the day. Alternatively, you can opt for a bigger system and couple this with batteries. Batteries increase the cost of the system but allow for the power to be stored when it is needed. This is ideal for families who use most of their power first thing in the morning before leaving, and later at night once they return. By storing the power generated in the middle of the day, this increases the self consumption rate – how much of the power generated you use vs sell back to the grid.
Increasing your self consumption rate is optimal as selling power to the grid pays significantly less per kWh that it costs to buy. It is therefore more cost efficient to use as much of the power that you generate as possible.
The Financials of Solar Power:
Solar Power will help power your daytime running loads and loads that can be offset to run while the sun is shining.
The sizing of solar power is very important to be able to achieve best returns. This sizing depends on factors such as if you’re home during the day, number of people in your home, available roof space, what you use for hot water and whether there somewhere we can dump excess load such as a hot water cylinder or a battery.
In general with solar power a small amount can do a lot of good, so don’t go rushing in installing a very large system. We have online real-time data on solar performance so we can calculate well what you can expect to achieve. Typically an 8 panel solar system will cover one third of your powerbill and have an ROI of 10 years.
Solar Hot Water
Solar Hot Water tubes operate by using the UV radiation from the sun to heat your hot water. Our tubes are evacuated tubes. This means that there is a clear glass outer tube with a vacuum separating a dark blue inner tube. This dark blue inner tube is a special coating that is designed to attract as much of the UV from the sun as possible. The vacuum prevents any heat escaping from the inner tube to the outer tube, where it would be lost to the atmosphere. Because the tubes are heated by UV not ambient temperature, this means that even on a colder and cloudy day, the tubes can still heat water to 100 degrees celsius.
The blue inner tubes conduct heat through aluminium fins to an inner copper tube. This copper tube then in turn conducts the heat up the tube to a common larger copper tube that all the evacuated tubes connect to. Water flows through this copper tube and is rapidly heated to high temperatures. We employ a specialised control system that regulates the transfer of water, ensuring no cold water or water that is too hot is transferred to your hot water cylinder.
Data from the lines companies show that your hot water generation can be up to 46% of your power bill annually. Hot Water Tubes are by far the most efficient way to heat water, and can offset your hot water bill for most of the year. Many of our customers only have to turn on their cylinders in the dead of winter, leaving it off for the rest of the year.
By using the highly efficient hot water tubes you can very easily create large savings on your power bill with a very low cost for the system compared to other alternatives.
Solar Hot Water can be combined with a small PV system that will offset your background loads. This is generally the most cost efficient solution for homes in which no one is home during the day.
The Financials of Solar Water Heating
Hot water uses an average 46% of the total energy in a new home. Solar water will, on average, heat 75% of your hot water. A solar water heating system saves 35% of your powerbill or typically $90 per month. ROI Solar Water 5 years or 20% return.
(data from Weltec & ASNZS4234 by Applied Research Ltd)