Any business investment MUST make you money or make your life easier. Installing solar does BOTH. Payback and return on Investment certainly stacks up in today’s environment. More and more businesses are discovering just how effectively solar drives down their outgoings. Large businesses with access to the best and brightest accountants, analysts and managers are leading the charge.

Companies such as the supermarket chains, department stores, logistics complexes, hardware chains, giant tech companies, manufacturing plants, together with institutions like private schools, universities and colleges – plus more and more government agencies. The people running these undertakings are quietly enjoying the satisfaction of positive impacts on their profitability and often kicking themselves for not joining the renewables revolution sooner.

Solar Works for Small Business Too

You do not have to be a big business to benefit from rooftop solar – modest local enterprises are also enjoying the benefits of rooftop solar. If you have not already done so then you too should be checking as to what solar can bring to you, your business and your bottom line.

We understand that it can be difficult for small and regional businesses in rural regions come to grips with sometimes complex technologies and the regulatory environment surrounding solar.

The Solar PV Design Process Begins

At Innolec and Solar Energy & Battery Storage Solutions (SEBSS), we guide business owners or managers through every step of the process, helping you to understand solar basics, analyse your power needs, and explaining the opportunities available to you.

Paul & Kame begin with a feasibility study for your business based on an on-site analysis and scrutiny of your power needs and past and current usage. We can interpret your past 12 months of electricity usage data from your meter right down to 30min intervals. This, with a survey of your available roof space, allows us to recommend the right sized solar system for your situation.

An over-sized solar system is over-capitalising and a waste. On the other hand, under-sizing can mean a lost opportunity for very high marginal returns on the electricity your system generates.

Detailed Modelling & Projections

Then we prepare comprehensive financial projection and modelling and a tailored proposal on how the recommended system would impact your business. This covers considerations such as:

• Capital outlay;
• Projected electricity cost savings;
• Rate of return on investment over the system’s lifetime;
• Your projected payback period; and…
• The net present value (NPV) of the recommended system.

We take the time to sit down with you explaining the Government incentives available to you to help offset some of the capital cost of your proposed system.

If you are happy with our proposal we will prepare a detailed custom design and make all necessary application on your behalf to the energy wholesaler for your proposed solar system.

We have experienced teams of Clean Energy Council (CEC) accredited installers and one of these teams will be appointed to install and commission your solar system using quality components to maximise the longevity of your system and your return on investment.

Traditionally we relied primarily on fossil fuel (coal & gas) to generate electricity. These finite energy sources cause environmental problems which lead to pollution and associated health issues. Therefore, our energy problems that accumulated over the past decades require new thinking. We must not cease to attempt to develop clean sources of energy. We must keep in mind that squandering of existing non-renewable sources is going to cause more problems to future generations.

Renewable energy sources such as solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind are becoming more important than ever due to increasing electrical energy demand, dwindling fossil and biomass supplies, increasing pollution levels in suburban areas and the environment & consequences associated to global warming effects. It’s a natural law that for every action there’s a reaction.

Photovoltaic Benefits

(solar power) is more than another energy source. It’s an energy source that can reduce our reliance on depleting fossil fuel sources (such as coal & gas), reduce our electricity bills, create jobs and help revitalise sluggish local economies, and reduce pollution levels in the atmosphere.

Furthermore, there are other technical benefits of using photovoltaic in the electricity network such as voltage support and improved distribution efficiency. Studies showed that distributed generations such as Photovoltaic (PV) offer greater grid reliability at far less cost than central power stations.

In order to fully utilise the benefits of PV it’s important to realise the drawbacks. These are the intermittency of solar radiation which also varies by seasons and the need for energy storage (such as batteries) for use at night or in case of remote off-grid and rural applications such as water pumping. Proper PV system design and integration will definitely ensure adequacy and reliability of supply.

Strong Return on Investment

With Feed-in-Tariffs for photovoltaic (PV) systems offered by energy retailers, businesses may find that installing a PV system will save them thousands of dollars every year. Several studies showed that the return on investment (ROI) is better than 35% in most cases without batteries. As an example, a 30 kW PV inverter system will generate in its lifetime over 1 Million kWh, and taking into account output degradation over 25 years. This energy if purchased would cost over $275,000 at today’s prices. The cost of the system is currently under $35,000 giving a pay back period of around 3 years. Allowing tax depreciation on the PV equipment will further reduce the payback period. The solar system not only replaces electricity purchased from the grid, but also can generate some cash when selling excess electricity to the grid; paying for the service fees.

Consumers Large & Small

For large consumers (over 100,000 kWh per annum) customers can save greatly by lowering their maximum demand and consequently bringing their consumption to below 100 MWh. In such cases they convert to energy (kWh) charges only instead of the costly demand charges which run to more than $1000 every month without turning on a switch.

A 30 kW PV system with 32 kW PV panels make a good investment for businesses using more than 100 kWh/day during peak demand. A 10 kW system is most suitable for a daily load of 40 kWh. The most popular 5 kW PV inverter system with 6 kW PV panels will suit most residential customers.

Silent Power is available wherever there is sun.
Dr. Kame Khouzam