In my view, installing solar panels on the hall would be a waste of money. The reason being that the return on investment would be negligible. The hall has very little use during the day. The feed-in tariff for solar is currently 6c/kWh. (There are ’honeymoon’ agreements with certain electricity retailers, which allow up to 20c/kWh feed in, but this is a concession from the retailer to attract customers, and will stop after an agreed period – 12 months or maybe two years. I don’t know if these honeymoon agreements apply to premises other than households).
Solar installers are currently advising householders to scale their solar installation to maximise their own use of self-generated electricity, and minimise export to the grid. The basic message is, if you use most of your electricity when the sun is shining, you are a winner, otherwise, you are just subsidising the electricity generators who buy your electricity for 6c/kWh and retail it for 30c/kWh.
An understanding of the renewable energy market requires a knowledge of arithmetic. Installing panels on the hall sounds like a noble ideal, but I don’t think it stacks up. There is an element of ’other peoples money’ about this. But the fact is, the ’other peoples money’ even if it is a grant from Council or the State Government, is our money. Ask yourself ”If I owned the hall, would I install panels and pay for them with my own money?” Installing panels on Council offices and other assets that are in constant daytime use makes a lot more sense. The greater savings from this strategy could then be returned to the Hall Committee to assist with their electricity bill. What we need is a protocol, which would have to be instigated by Hepburn Shire Council, that would enable this.
I am all for renewable energy, but feed-in tariffs are a political decision over which we have no control at community level.
Apparently, according to the latest Yandoit Chronicle, this silly idea still has some legs. Please read my original post. On-grid solar installations only make sense WHEN THE PREMISES ARE IN CONSTANT DAYTIME USE.
Solar Panels on grid-connected premises also make sense when installed together with batteries, so the electricity can be stored and used within the premises later when needed (i.e. at night for lighting, heating). Some retailers (e.g. AGL, Origin) are now offering solar PV + inverter/controller + battery packages, but the economics are still challenging, as the price of consumer grade batteries is still very high.
I am not aware of any proposal to include batteries with the Hall installation.
The minimum solar energy feed-in tariff is going DOWN again, to 5c/kWh on 1st Jan 2016. See http://www.esc.vic.gov.au/getattachment/93edcf18-1659-4518-9057-eee1215bf194/Minimum-Electricity-Feed-in-Tariff-to-apply-from-1.pdf