Solar net metering explained - YouTube

Hi, this is Stuart from ePho Commercial Solar.

We are commercial solar power specialists with a strength in system design, quality

components, quality installations, and a focus on the lifetime performance of your system.

This video that I'm showing you is from Bosh Solar in Germany and I'm just adding a brief

narration to add some localization for Australia to explain how net metering works here so

that it's useful for those of us here in Australia.

I apologize in advance that the video is of a house, not of a factory or business, but

the principle is, of course, the same.

Solar power in Australia has changed a bit over the past few years and while many states

have had a variety of feed in tariffs what we have now is almost universally a net feed

in tariff, which is being demonstrated here.

The essence of a net feed in tariff is the relationship between your usage and your solar

systems production.

We can see this clearly shown in the two lines drawn on the graph throughout the day in this

video; solar production and power consumption.

There are sparks in consumption as various appliances are used and there are changes

in solar production throughout the day, both in a predictable manner and also with changes

as clouds reduced output temporarily.

With net metering you're still connected to the electric grid and you'll always have this

reliable supply from the grid.

You are not dependent on solar power for your needs; it merely diminishes the amount t of

power you need to import, therefore reducing the amount that you are buying, therefore

saving you money.

The two systems, solar production and grid fed electricity, work hand in hand to supply

you with clean electricity you need.

You don't need to do anything or switch anything or change any of your equipment.

An analogy, it's like two rivers flowing into each other and emerging.

At times solar will be a bigger contributor and at other times it will dry out.

At night, for example, you are not impacted by fluctuations in solar output as your grid

connection is always stable and it will make up the difference of what you need.

There are a few implication of net metering, I'll cover three.

The first is that only the power that is used as it is being produced is useful to you.

So solar will have a regular electricity load during sunlight hours.

Another implication is that you can't eliminate the bill.

You will still pay for power consumed over and above the solar production.

So at night time, for example, when you're using electricity, you will still pay for

that electricity that is consumed.

In some cases you may be paid for excess solar production.

That is, power produced, but not used.

This is less common on a commercial system and it's worth checking your particular power

supply contract to see how this excess will be handled.

Another implication of net metering is that you don't really want to have a system that

exports a lot of power each day.

Otherwise you're investing in a system merely to export power for a small or no reward.

The correct size system is one in which all of the power that is produced is consumed

during business hours.

To learn more or have a discussion about workout out a system size that meets your needs, please

visit our website www.epho.com.au We can carry out a detailed analysis of your usage and

demonstrate the financial benefit of solar in what we call the solar business case.

Look forward to hearing from you.