SunPeople's managing director and co-owner Dave Love chats all things solar and business with Trever Molenaar from Molenaar + Mcneice real estate agency for Episode #4 of the Illawarra Business Leaders Interview, Series 2. 

As active members of the Illawarra community, SunPeople recently supported the Lighthouse Youth Initiative (LYI) in Yallah through the donation of a 3.3KW solar system. 

On the 21st of January 2021, SunPeople donated a 3.3kW solar system to Lighthouse Youth Initiative (LYI) at Yallah.

Here's three quick tips we think you should know;

1. Know your consumption patterns

It’s a good idea to find out how much energy your household consumes prior to installing a new solar system or an upgrade. It’s more cost-effective to self-use solar power rather than sell it to the grid. Therefore, if you use a lot of electricity during the day, or you can program your appliances to run during the day, a solar system can drastically reduce your power bills and can see shorter payback periods.

In contrast, if you only use electricity around typical work hours, you will see a longer
payback period on your system.

Solar systems do not necessarily require a battery. The battery is only required if you want to store excess energy

Because solar panels produce their electricity when the sun is shining, a battery is a great asset if you want to use solar generated electricity at night.

The short answer is yes.

• Installing a system of solar panels on your home can reduce your power bills and even provide a profit. 

• It costs approximately 5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to produce solar power, and it costs approximately 26 cents per kWh to purchase from the grid.
  

• The general rule is that in NSW, a residential solar system can save around $400 annually, per kW of production capacity. A potential savings of $2000 annually.