Whilst traveling through Europe recently, I was staggered by the number of commercial wind and solar power systems visible from the road. There must be thousands of large wind turbines and each township also has its solar PV farm providing an energy grid for its residents.

Returning to Australia, which should be the solar capital of the world, I was relatively disappointed. Whilst there is a considerable scattering of residential solar powered systems, the wind farms are sparsely located in small groups in designated areas.

In neither hemisphere have wind power systems been adopted at domestic level. There were both vertical axis and horizontal axis wind turbines available, but these seem to have found their way onto boats rather than homes or factories. Perhaps the municipal councils refused to approve them fearing vibration, noise and damage to bird life.

In the main, Australians seem reluctant to embrace solar power systems. If it weren’t for the generous Federal Government rebates started circa 2004, the continuation of the creation of renewable energy certificates and the feed-in tariffs offered to early adopters of solar, I don’t believe we’d have a solar industry.

Due to the dramatic reduction in costs in solar PV panels and inverters, mainly due to the advent of the Chinese market, the Federal Government was able to abolish its rebates, reduce the renewable energy certificates and phase out feed-in tariffs.

Nowadays the only financial incentive is renewable energy certificates (STCs and LGCs) to lower the price of a solar power system to reduce the payback period to under 5 years.

If a brand new car could pay for itself in 5 years, every Australian would have their garages full. Can you name a property or share market investment that will offer this return?

I recently visited a huge manufacturing business which consumes $20,000 of electrical energy each month. The business operates 9-5, five days a week. It has a 200m long, north-facing roof set at 15o. At the prices they pay for peak energy, this business could pay back the system in less than 4 years. Yet they are reluctant to even investigate the feasibility of such an installation.

If a business or home owner in Australia can answer ‘yes’ to these questions, then they should buy a solar PV system.

  1. Do you own your premises?
  2. Are you planning to stay there for more than 5 years?
  3. Do you consume considerable electrical energy during the day?
  4. Do you have a north, east or west facing roof that is unshaded?

Even if you do not own your premises, there is now provision for tenants to buy a solar PV system with the landlord’s blessing.

If you do not have the cash-flow to be able to fund the capital outlay, Energis can organise painless finance for you in which you can make the repayments out of the money you save on your power bills each month. At the end of the finance term, the system is yours.

Please call Energis today on 1300 782 217 for a free solar appraisal of your premises.