17 December

Testing the solar, stories. (I know many already have solar, but others not.) This morning washing machine, dishwasher, reverse cycle heating in the bathroom and jug all on at once. System dealt with it all with ease, no grid backup needed. And it was cloudy. We have so much surplus power we could install an old-style electric storage hot water heater as well, for 9 months of the year, and still not bother the grid for power. Winter is the challenge though in Lithgow, if you want to avoid grid usage at all, where solar production drops and usage goes up, with heating. Calculations show it’ll be neck-and-neck for doing that without grid power, but we’re not trying to be off-grid, it’s more a fun technical challenge. Adding electric hot water of the old style would make that almost impossible in those 3 months. Would have oodles of energy credits from the other months though, to pay for any difference.