A key reason that someone would get rooftop solar is because they would dearly love to never pay another power bill again. The problem is it is not immediately obvious which PV system will eliminate your bill as it depends on a number of factors.   If you are unfamiliar with solar it is difficult to know what questions to ask a solar retailer and how to distinguish valid claims from invalid claims. So how do know what your annual power bill is likely to be for a given solar system?  Here is a broad overview of how to work that out:

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A Chinese Government controlled company has slashed by half the solar power capacity Canberrans can have on their roofs, blindsiding MPs who fell asleep on their watch.

While the ACT Environment Minister Mick Gentleman, Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury and their parliamentary colleagues were looking the other way, power distributor Evoenergy unilaterally declared that the territory’s residents would be forced to rely on fossil-fuelled power indefinitely.

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Good news if you are a fan of Tesla, their Q2 2019 sales numbers absolutely crushed sales forecasts by the many Wall St 'gurus' with an irrational dislike of Tesla (perhaps it is because they have lost so much money shorting Tesla stock) with a record 95,200 cars sold (the Wall St 'gurus' predicted around 86,000 sales). 

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Most people think of a solar system as a way to save energy (at least energy drawn from the grid) and save money (which it certainly does). But few people think of their solar system as a revenue generating asset that will give you a higher rate of return than a high interest bank account.

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Solar panels that are installed at an angle (in line with a pitched roof or on tilt frames) are generally self cleaning. However in dry, dusty areas or where panels are installed flat; dirt dust, grime and other substances such as bird droppings can build-up reducing the power output of the PV panels. Due to the nature of solar panels grime and bird droppings doesn’t need to cover an entire panel to reduce output significantly.

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Sunpower’s leading residential format panel is now 400W with its new Maxeon G3 range.  The main technological advance is in the production which it says is as much as 50% cheaper than its old method of getting cells out the door with world leading efficiency. 

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Why do we need 3 inspectors for solar systems? Solar installations are a relatively straightforward specialisation of the electrical trade. They're no different in skill and aptitude to installing split system air-conditioners or wiring a house.

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3 reasons Grattan got it wrong on solar

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BIPV was a buzzword that kept on buzzing while the solar industry was in its early days and solar was something that most of us had only ever seen on TV or at a technology park. 

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