What’s Happening In Solar Technolgy

I was attended the Solar Energy Conference in Melbourne last week.

It’s interesting to see the rate that things are moving along in the solar field.

Batteries

Even though I didn’t see a Tesla Powerwall there I did see several other battery suppliers exhibiting.

Some batteries are already available on the Australian Market with others announced to be available in the next few months.

The suppliers included Enphase, OSW, LG Chem, SunGrow, BYD, and GCL.

Many suppliers are also providing a range of battery sizes starting at 1.2kwhrs with a couple providing modular upgrades.

Hopefully it won’t be long before suppliers can hit my ‘Sweet Spot‘ of around 3 kw hrs for less than $2,500 installed.

Solar Hot Water

Last year besides the now mainstream solar hot water systems I only saw one stand that was heating hot water using Photo Voltaic(PV) Panels.

This year there was a range of options including:

  • Using DC current from dedicated panels.
  • Diversion systems sending excess power to the hot water after the inverter.
  • Smart systems that combine, usage patterns, solar output data and weather forecasting to plan how and when to heat the hot water.

Micro Grid Products

A coming trend looks to be having smart solar panel and battery combinations which are connected to an aggregator company that manages how your excess power is sold back to the grid to maximise the credits you receive.

Overall it is exciting to see how this industry, that was once seen as Alternative, is now becoming ‘Main Stream’ and continues to rapidly develop.