Questions and discussion about solar, batteries, and electrification
Both items asppear in the AGL app and are located on the same page at agl / account / overview / battery charging / Battery / Savings / "Battery & Solar" and "Solar Only"
The best I'm able to assume without assistance is that "Battery & Solar" refers to savings achieved through the battery and solar working in unison through activities like load shifting and / or TOU battery trop up from AGL, and that "Solar Only" refers to something simpler like getting a feed in tariff for solar power which is provided to the grid but not returned as either / or Load Shifting / TOU battery top up.
By using those assumptions, if confirmed as correct, I further assume that the total savings would be the sum of "Battery & Solar" and "Solar Only".
I'm not confident my assumptions are sound so I'm inviting correction and explanation from someone who is able to do that with certainty.
Thanks in anticipation.
Graham
Graham, a lot of what is best for your situation is where you are located.
Here in SA, with lower solar recoup, high usage charge (peak 50c) and low feed in tariff (6c), you almost NEED a battery for most households electricity usage to make solar a worthwhile long term investment.
In Nth Qld, where better solar benefit is present through the year, and my brother pays 33c peak and 13c feed in, he could get by pretty well with his 10kw solar and as a single person in the home.
He has 10kw of battery too, and gets around $1000 a year credit.
Things change in how power is charged, and I can see more and more poles and wires cost, more renewable charges to cover shifts in power generation, so getting a battery is good value in my mind to cover for these.
Getting a battery along with solar will save $2k - $3k over getting solar and installing a battery later, though if you make sure your solar is upgradable to work with a battery, you can split it up to spread the cost and get a battery later.
Look at VPP plans as AGL has a rebate if you sign up to have your battery 'help' in grid peak usage times, they take all but a negotiated % of your battery, and as long as you get a reasonably decent solar system and battery capacity, you won't run out of power, and the feed in for the demand times your power is taken is paid at a premium feed in rate.
I'd recommend min 10kw, but 12kw is a bit more safe, and a battery at least 10kw usable capacity.
You really need to have someone to do a SITE visit, look at your recent seasonal power bills (4 quarters), look at your appliances, power needs, roof space / shading, install parameters, etc, and work through what's best for you and your situation.
A GOOD solar company can do this, but they need a bit of digging to find them . . .
Try solarquotes online, they can organise 3 quotes from hand picked solar / battery companies to give you quotes for both solar and battery, or solar only, they also have a HUGE amount of info on their blogs, youtube videos, etc about solar, the traps, what to avoid and what to look for in a solar company, it really is necessary to get yourself a little educated re this and ask the right questions.
Don't go with a company offering a 6kw system, that is the first heads up to watch out for what to avoid.
Plans for post solar install are another whole step to take to get the best deal for your usage, it seems confusing by design.
We have a simple tesla charger on the wall here, one phase of 3, max output is 8kw.
It's fine to put in 48kw a night into sons X 90D (an early one he bought new about 6 - 7 years ago), which charges it all via vehicle between 0000 and 0600 on the AGL EV Night Saver rate.
You are probably on that rate I trust, the 8c rate through those 6 hours is remarkably cheap, and all power coming into the home is charged at that too (wink).
Having a battery, this is also an extra safe way to handle winter doldrums, if ever a problem.
During the day in all but peak winter, solar can be used to top off if required, but usually the night charging handles what's needed for Adelaide use.
"The best I'm able to assume without assistance is that "Battery & Solar" refers to savings achieved through the battery and solar working in unison through activities like load shifting and / or TOU battery trop up from AGL, and that "Solar Only" refers to something simpler like getting a feed in tariff for solar power which is provided to the grid but not returned as either / or Load Shifting / TOU battery top up.
By using those assumptions, if confirmed as correct, I further assume that the total savings would be the sum of "Battery & Solar" and "Solar Only"."
You are probably correct in your assumptions above, are you having trouble marrying up any savings you can see from both VPP benefits and normal feed in ?
Have only had our solar now for 7 months, so still not sure where we'll head with some aspects of our setup, but it's certainly had a very positive impact on all but winter bills.
Some little tweaks to do with HWS to get that working more on either solar hours or EV night rate, but it's a pretty minir thing for us still.
Hopefully AGL can confirm your initial query for you.
Attn AGL Moderator.
There is a simple enough question in my original post and it remains unanswered at this point.
Much as I a grateful for the informative and reassuring information from ensuing exchanges with my neighbourhood correspondent I am still short of an authoritative and unequivocal answer which I believe needs to come from somebody (rather than a soneboty) inside AGL’s VPP section.