The Crawford’s Property in Wanaka
Kristin Gillies, August 29, 2019
Solar panels: 16 x 265W panels. Inverter: 16 x micro-inverters. Total cost: $13,713.54. Electricity price: $0.23. Solar export price: $0.75. Installation date: March 2017.
The Crawford family are revelling in creating their own power, and why shouldn't they?! In the last 12 months their solar power produced 6694kWh, which far exceeds the amount the solar installers had originally predicted.
The owners state that solar power doesn’t provide just financial benefits “it feels very good to be a solar power system owner, especially when I am giving back solar power to the grid, or winning out by not paying for power”.
After observing the solar power system's performance for two years, the household has determined that they would like more solar power to be produced in the morning; their solar panels are installed on a north-west roof, which provides optimal solar power production during mid day and the afternoon. The owner mentioned that they may invest in more panels for their east facing roof. This is so more of their solar power could be consumed in the morning hours, they're currently debating whether to have batteries installed in the future as well, but it would be dependant on price.
