Commercial solar system prices decreased slightly between January and February of 2015, according to pricing data from installers in Solar Choice’s network. All prices are net, incorporating incentives available through […]
Category: Installation advice
Solar Choice blog articles about what to consider when installing your solar power system.
Residential Solar PV Price Index – February 2015
Average prices for residential solar systems have dropped slightly since last month. Over all, system prices have dropped by about 25% compared to August 2012 levels. Currently, the average cost […]
Quiet innovations keeping screen printed solar cells on top
For all the well-deserved hype surrounding advanced solar cell designs, the screen printed (SP) solar cell remains the industry standard. Accounting for approximately 90% of worldwide production in 2014, its […]
Commercial PV Price Index – January 2015
Echoing residential solar system price trends since the end of last year, commercial solar system prices have remained remarkably steady since November 2014 and January 2015. While there was some price […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – January 2015
Average residential solar system prices have held steady into the new year since flattening out in November of last year. Canberra is home to the most expensive systems, while Perth is […]
Solar panels after 25 years: Is there an afterlife?
Price drops in recent years have made the idea of investing in PV extremely attractive, with or without subsidies. In well-designed and well-utilised systems, the investment pays itself off in […]
Floating solar power: Floatovoltaics, Liquid Solar Arrays and Solar Islands set to change the way we look at solar
Floating solar projects have headlines in in a number of cleantech publications for the past few years, thanks mainly to their novelty, the ingenuity of their approach and their often […]
Solar Choice Commercial brokers 100kW solar array for Natex Engineering
Solar Choice has independently advised Melbourne-based Natex Engineering through the procurement and installation of a 100kW solar array . Natex was established in 1957 and provides a range of mechanical […]
Stick it where the sun shines: Solar cell stickers extend PV reach
Researchers at Stanford University have developed an innovative way of producing ‘solar cell stickers’, thin-film PV devices which can be adhered onto practically any backing material. The thin film solar […]
‘Solar Insert’ by Nu-Lok Roofing replaces slate tiles
Nu-Lok Roofing is an Australian company that specialises in the installation of natural slate and ceramic tiles using the patented Nu-Lok Roofing system. Notable for the solar PV industry, however, […]
Commercial PV Price Index – November 2014
Commercial solar prices continue to drop steadily month-by-month, according to data from the Solar Choice installer network. Prices in the tables below incorporate incentives available for systems up to 100kW in […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – November 2014
Average residential solar system prices have leveled out, changing little between October and November according to figures from the Solar Choice installer network database. This follows about four months of […]
Solar Choice brokers 100kW rooftop solar array for Wangi District Workers Club, NSW
Solar Choice Commercial has brokered a 100kW rooftop solar system for the Wangi District Workers Club on Lake Macquarie, just south of Newcastle, NSW. One of the club’s building committee members […]
Over 1 gigawatt of new solar was installed under small-scale RET in last 14 months: Green Energy Trading
Continued uncertainty over the future of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target has boosted the nation’s uptake of rooftop solar, according to a new report, helping to push the total amount installed […]
Renewable Energy Target state-of-play: What you need to know
Sydney Morning Herald Environment Editor Peter Hannam has provided a lucid overview of where things stand with the Renewable Energy Target (RET). The piece is worth a read for anyone who […]
Super-fast charging for new lithium ion battery
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, have developed a fast‑charging long‑life lithium ion battery which has the potential to significantly boost electric vehicle (EV) and portable electronics performance. The […]
Thermal electricity storage inspired by hang-gliders
UK‑firm ‘Isentropic’ has developed a pumped heat electricity storage (PHES) system for cheap and convenient distributed grid storage, with a projected levelised cost of storage (LCOS) below industry‑leading hydroelectric storage. […]
NSW Club industry choosing solar power, with help from Solar Choice
Solar Choice and Clubs’ Sustainable Futures NSW have teamed up to introduce the Solar in Clubs Program. Working alongside Clubs’ Sustainable Futures, Solar Choice aims to help the growing number of […]
Fluidised bed reactors to enable low cost silicon solar cells
In order to make crystalline silicon solar cells, cell producers need micron-thin wafers of exceptional purity. The majority of base silicon material–referred to as ‘polysilicon’–used for producing high purity silicon […]
Commercial PV Price Index – October 2014
In addition to the Residential Solar PV Price Index that Solar Choice publishes monthly, we also publish pricing data for commercial systems (10kW, 30kW, 50kW and 100kW). This article contains […]
Residential Solar PV Price Index – October 2014
With the exception of Brisbane and (in some cases) Perth, average solar PV prices have continued to drop across all of the cities included in Solar Choice’s monthly analysis, falling down […]
Under the sea: ‘Energy Bags’ add to electricity storage options
Canadian firms Thin Red Line Aerospace and Hydrostor are set to trial underwater compressed air energy storage (UW‑CAES) systems off the coast of Toronto. As part of the process, electricity […]
‘Hydrangea’ solar panel beautifies PV energy production
University of Tokyo professor, Hiroshi Segawa, has developed a solar cell designed as a floral artwork. Besides looking great, the hydrangea‑inspired dye‑sensitised solar cell generates and stores enough energy to […]
Shorten: Abbott must reject Warburton review as prerequisite for deal on RET
In a show of support for Australia’s rooftop solar industry, the leader of the opposition, Bill Shorten, has called on the government to ignore the recommendations of the latest RET […]
Commercial PV Price Index – September 2014
This month’s commercial pricing figures include for the first time charts detailing historic trends since Solar Choice began keeping track in May 2014. The tables below provide an indicative look […]
Coalition hints at openness to compromise on Renewable Energy Target: Financial Review
Officials in the Coalition have hinted that the government is unlikely to seek to eliminate Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) and that a compromise with the Opposition in which the […]
Solar PV Price Index – September 2014
Average residential solar system prices took a dip across the board between August and September, with almost no instances in which they increased. The trend was likely spurred by the recent […]
RET review recommendations would kill commercial solar market if implemented
Australia’s commercial-scale solar market would quickly evaporate if the federal government adopted the policy changes recommended in the RET Review report, industry insiders have warned. Solar PV installers and analysts […]
UNSW’s ‘stacked’ silicon-perovskite technology promises to double solar cell efficiency
An innovative solar project being developed by researchers at the University of New South Wales is aiming to more than double the efficiency of solar cells. The project, headed up […]
Solar panels & energy storage: What to consider
Energy storage is an option whose appeal is growing globally–and Australia is no exception. But energy storage is seldom considered as an option in isolate: the vast majority of those […]
Record efficiency for UCLA ‘plastic’ tandem solar cell
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have set a new record for organic polymer solar cells, with a device efficiency of 11.5%. The record-breaking ‘plastic’ solar cell […]
