It is common across the country that the utilities limit exports to 5kw per phase, or 5kw for a typical single phase home supply, it is not just limiting the credit for same. It is in AS4777.1.
From a solarquotes page about the SA grid:
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I’m fairly sure that you can have a much larger system, but as The BBG points out, that is the export limit per phase in most areas. You could export 5kW all day and use the excess in the home.
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Without going into all the facts and figures you have compiled, our solution to a failing Solahart was to take it to the tip, repair the roof, install a 6.5 KW solar PV system and a modest 250l mains pressure hot water “kettle”.
The “kettle” is only powered from 12 noon to 2.30pm. We have never run out of hot water in the 3 years since it was installed, and our power bills dropped by around 70%.
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Could you please tell me what a hot water “kettle” is???
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Same. I’ve turned the electricity on to the solar unit once in the last year, for a day. The rest of the time, our home star does the trick …
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It’s a standard mains electric hot water heater and storage unit. Ours has 250 litre capacity. I call it a kettle because that’s how my plumber described it when he installed it, and we were discussing how much time it would need to be powered. He said: “it’s just like a kettle, it heats the water and it stays hot for at least 24 hours”.
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Basing my info on this, the one and only electrical provider for WA households.
The network operator, Western Power, may allow up to 5kw capacity per phase on a case by case basis. We have a 3 phase connection so may be able to get approval for inverter >5kw at the expense of any credit for feed in is my understanding.
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The rules vary all over the place, so your local network provider has the final say. In some areas they don’t allow export at all, due to the local wires and transformers not being able to handle anything much different from the old one way flow of energy, with significant voltage drop managed by using a higher tap on the transformer.
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It may be worth considering a heat pump with a solar PV system. See https://renew.org.au/what-we-do/publications/. The Alternative Technology Association (AKA Renew) sells a booklet called “Efficient Hot Water Systems”.
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