What is Solar Energy?
Solar energy is fantastic! Solar panels harness energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. Residential solar arrays are effectively a power plant to on your roof! This is known in industry jargon as distributed energy. Sunlight is very powerful and if were able to capture all the energy from the sun that strikes the earth from just one day, we could power the world for a year!
So how does it work?
Solar panels are normally installed on people’s roofs. They capture light rays and convert the light into DC electricity. This is in turn goes through an inverter which converts the DC electricity to AC electricity (the electricity that homes use to power appliances). Batteries can also be added to store electricity generated by the solar panels for later use during night-time. If you use more than your solar system can generate, no problem! The system will simply draw electricity from the grid. You can even charge your solar batteries from the grid. We can optimise systems to charge batteries from the grid during off peak hours for use during peak times.
Solar & Electric Vehicle Charging
A match made in sunlight heaven! Utilizing solar generation to charge an EV is the greenest, cleanest form of commute. It’s like driving on sunlight! Petrol and gas are expensive, so why even pay for it? Yes you heard right, you don’t even need gas. With the energy crisis in Europe and the ongoing Ukraine – Russia conflict, prices of gas have skyrocketed! “But I need gas for my cooking and hot water cylinder” you may say, well to this I say no.. you actually don’t. You can use electric induction cooking, and an electric hot water heat pump!
Beat Inflation; Eliminate Electricity Bills
So now that you’re not paying for gas or for petrol what are you paying for??? Just water and internet. Yes, that’s right, with a large enough solar system you can literally annihilate your utilities bill. The technology in the last 5 years has gotten exponentially better. Just like the silicon computer chip the efficiency of solar panels, inverters, and batteries have gone through the ceiling! All that’s left is getting the system installed.
What’s the cost?
Yes, I will not lie to you there is an initial investment to go solar. But it’s not as expensive as you think… some of our basic installations are even cheaper than a second-hand car. However, with the increased technology and the lowering cost of solar, we are starting to see return on investments in only 6 years in some cases, with panels that have manufacturers warrantees of 25 years! That means you can be covered with free energy from the sun for 19 years. At this point going solar is a no brainer. And it gets even better. Yes, it gets even better. There are three Banks in New Zealand who are currently offering subsidised loans for sustainable assets such as solar arrays. One bank is even offering 5 year interest free loans. With such cheap money available you can get even closer to that ROI without paying any interest!
So why go solar you may ask?
To you I say why on earth wouldn’t you? Oh, and by the way, if you’re still reading this and considering going solar, if you do, you’re also saving the planet and helping cut emissions for global warming. Yes, that’s right, save money and save the planet! Doesn’t sound half bad doesn’t it?
