Commercial Solar Power systems

 The residential solar boom was orginially driven by strong government incentives providing both up front rebates and premium feed in Tariff’s. However, in more recent times the success of solar power systems has had less and less to do with incentives and more and more to do with the spiralling costs of ordinary electricity.

With electricity prices in South Australia around 39 cents per kilowatt hour for residential consumers,(which by the way is a bloody disgrace and gives us the most expensive power in the world) and retail solar prices falling to around 2.30 per watt, it is now a financial no brainer for a South Australian residence to install solar power. Even if you dont have the cash to buy it there are now a few decent lease options.

However, what about businesses ?

It used to be (back in the good old days of 2010 when power only cost 20 cents per kwh and there was a 50 cent solar feed in tariff) that solar power only gave good returns if you used little power and fed most of it into the grid, However, with Feed in tariffs now reduced and electricity prices almost doubled those that benefit most from installing a solar power system are those that use the most power during the day without needing to feed much back into the grid.

In short businesses !!

Andy’s Prediction- 2013-2015 will see a commercial solar boom in Australia that will be larger than the residential boom we have seen from 2010 to 2012.

Here is Why?

If we take a South Australian small business that is paying 34 cents per kwh for power as an example.

They can buy solar power for about $2,200.00 per kilowatt if they pay cash and they will get 1500 kwh per year per kilowatt of solar they install. At 34 cents per kilowatt hour(wheres a calculator when you need one) that equates to a saving of $510 per year per kilowatt purchased. This gves a return on investment of 23%, a return that will increase each year as power prices increase in the future.

(Little wonder we have been busy lately putting solar power systems on the roof of a few independant supermarkets.)