Solar Bonus Scheme
Feed In Tariff
This is a Queensland Government scheme, where surplus energy which is created by your PV solar system, can be sold to Ergon Energy.
"Customers participating in the scheme will be paid 44 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for surplus electricity fed into the grid—almost double the current general domestic use tariff of 22.76c/kWh (inc GST as at 1 July 2011)." Clean Energy Qld
What does this mean for my business PV system?
A solar PV system can make a big difference to your company’s energy bills. Here's how.
1. You can sell excess PV power to the grid for as much as five times the price of commercial power (depending on the electricity tariff your business is on). This means that when your business is unoccupied (e.g. on the weekend and during holidays) your solar system EARNS you money. The electricity produced can be exported to the grid and sold at 44c/kWh, helping to offset your electricity bill costs.
2. Commercial properties often USE electricity throughout the day (e.g. during office hours when, lighting, computer systems and business machinery are turned on). Similarly, solar systems PROVIDE electricity throughout the day (typically from 6am to 6pm) allowing you to purchase less energy from your electricity provider and instead use the energy from the sun. This can deliver sizeable savings in your energy bills.
3. Commercial electricity tariffs often include a peak demand charge in addition to your kWh consumption cost. Peak demand charges can account for over 40% of your monthly electricity bill and can be significantly reduced by a solar system. For a 20kW system, with a $23 per kW peak demand charge, energy bill savings of as much as $5520 per year are possible!
Call us today to understand more about your tariff structure and how a solar system could help your business save money.
How do I get the most value from my home PV system?
The answer is simple. A little bit of energy management will go a long way! Try to use energy early in the morning and late in the evenings, minimising your usage during the middle of the day. Why? Read on...
As discussed above, you can sell excess PV power to the grid for almost twice the price you purchase it for. This means you should SELL power when you are producing solar power and buy it cheaply at other times.
Consider the following graph. Here we see a house with a PV system installed. The energy use is shown in red. There is a small constant amount of energy being used at night when everyone is asleep.
This is the fridge and perhaps the hot water system or security lights. In the morning, we see a spike in energy use when the occupants wake up, make breakfast and go to work/school. Later we see another power use spike when everyone comes home, makes dinner, turn the lights on and perhaps watch TV as well.
PV energy production is shown in green. When the sun comes up we see a progressive rise in the amount of power being produced, then a slow drop away through the afternoon until sunset. No energy is produced at night.
All the excess power in the green shaded area is being exported to the grid and can be sold to Ergon Energy or Energex for 44c/kWh.
In the above situation the home owner would buy $1.38 of energy each day and SELL $1.67, providing a daily surplus of 30 cents. If this were to occur every day your energy bill would always be in the positive!
Obviously this is an ideal situation where no one is ever at home during the day. What it demonstrates however, is that with a little bit of energy management, a relatively small PV system can have a big impact on your energy bills.