We Use So Much Electricity and Solar Won’t Make Much Difference, Will it?
A number of managers and directors said to us that because they use so much electricity or they have massive loads onsite such as big refrigeration or very large machineries, solar will not help them reduce energy costs much. Some of also said that they need reliable source of energy to power these large critical loads, and therefore cannot rely on solar PV.
Are the above myths or facts?
The below are things to consider:
• The technology has matured and efficiency has improved – In 1950s efficiency of around 6% was just reached. In 2018, efficiency between 16-22% is not unheard of in the market.
• The yield of panels has improved significantly – Prior to 2015 commercially viable solar panels in the market were usually rated not more than 250 Watts (Wp). By the end of 2018 competitively-priced premium panels rated up to around 400 Watts are available.
• A lot of organisations/ businesses have not had the privilege to be guided by specialist engineers to really conduct feasibility study and hence oblivious to the real figures.
Yet some of our very large clients like this food company in Victoria (pictured below) are expected to save almost half of their energy bill (6-figure annual saving!). They are only utilising about half of their roof at the moment.
The above project was at near completion.
Taking the above and so many site assessments what our group has done into account, 99% of large electricity user can benefit greatly from solar. Even as a worst case scenario, if you can save only 10% of $20,000 average monthly bill, you would save around $24,000 p.a.! Is this better in the energy company’s pocket or on your bottom line?
Remember that the best way to save with commercial solar at the moment is to use 2-step approach: First on-grid solar system to reduce site consumption as much as possible (not 100% yet). Secondly, considerations such as energy storage will be viable in the next few years.
Solar power can definitely reduce the energy costs of sites with large critical loads. This is due to the fact that almost all the time current commercial or industrial applications are on-grid solar PV rather than off-grid. This means that the PV system operates in parallel with the grid and the PV system would not fully replace the grid. In other words, provided that the grid is okay, any large surge of electricity draw required by the critical load will still be backed by the strong grid.
Does this make sense?
Please contact our engineers NOW to book a FREE assessment.