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An interesting article in The Conversation about solar electricity in strata.
https://theconversation.com/get-in-on-the-ground-floor-how-apartments-can-join-the-solar-boom-79172
And another on the economics. Solar PV is now so cheap that it makes sense to put in as much as you can fit, even if you can’t use it all. If later you might use more of it by adding batteries then so much the better, but for now you can get an adequate return just from the low feed-in tariffs that are similar to the electricity wholesale prices.
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/bigger-now-better-rooftop-solar-even-low-energy-users/
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Our complex of 141 apartments is about to add solar to the roof which is flat. The return on investment is estimated at around 12% which is way better than what we get for the funds we have invested. We won’t need batteries as we will use all the power generated. Having conducted a full review of all power useage in our building we identified a number of inefficient practices and reduced power costs by about 30-40% with more to come so it’s worth doing if you haven’t already. If the solar installation is successful we will consider looking at more difficult parts of the building for solar installation eg outside walls with the only fly in the ointment being the issue of potential future shadowing from neighbouring developments ( a seperate but important topic in this era of rising power prices)
We too added solar panels to the roof potentially saving about 12% of our energy use for common areas. Beauty of this project is :
No penetration of roof waterproof membrane as installer used Schletter clip / unclip system where the panels are clipped to an aluminium frame which itself sits on a few strategically placed hard rubberised tiles ( so no penetration of roof waterproof membrane and free flow of rain water under the panels to the drains ) and the panels withstand gusty winds by strategic placement of specialised concrete bricks ( they call it “mounted ballasts” ) behind on the aluminium frames after determining their angle and number after using GPS tracking technology from Schletter German HQ. Recent gusty winds in Sydney did not move a single brick or frame.
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