well done, hopefully everybody will do that eventually.

I'm with ecotricity too. They invest a lot of their profits into renewable generation plus they do pretty well on price too

I recommend having a chat t the people at Enova they have some excellent ideas, there is talk of a microgrid for the industrial estate, they hope to roll out a couple of solar gardens in March or April. Parking and transport are my biggest concerns for Byron. It would be good to see more blending across the shire, Byron itself is all big bucks and touristy, which has raised the prices everywhere but it would be good to see less development in the town itself and more "appropriate" development throughout the shire. That said, Byron has been leading the way for decades.Yell anytime you want someone to play devils advocate on any thoughts, Lucifer and I are close. Also, big congrats on being selected, am certain you will make valuable input. They often use a lady Lois Kelly to help with these ideas, or at least they have done in the past, I have worked with her many times over the years, good value if you can track her down.

actually your comment re community consultation ties in with a post I am putting together in my head for this group, sustainability at community level is a big thing, harder to work on than at the household level, but makes the household level easier to do. more soon.

sounds all awesome, @Rugglesby! i'll keep watching this place & contact the enova mob. thanks.

2-3 weeks ago I finally put a new panel on my shed to run my underground water pump. Also using used car battery. The regulator has 2 usb charging ports in it for phones, I like that. 5 years back I bought a battery box that had some cigarette lighter and dc fridge attachments on it , haven't used it yet, but could plug a battery pack in to connect to my laptop.

@Rugglesby DC fridge. That's something I'm going to investigate. Is it really small?

@farmboy2017 The DC fridges I am looking into are the camping type chest ones. I read a great article a few years back about an awesome large one that was extremely economical. Sorry I can't remember more except that the people had it sent from the USA, we don't have it's like here. What I am after is 2 chambers, fridge and freezer that are interchangeable and that has variable settings to save my battery.

@Rugglesby that sounds like something I could use.

@farmboy2017 I am yet to buy one, but it is on my wish list, here is a review of some here.
[4x4australia.com.au]

@farmboy2017 here are a couple of the lager ones, for some reason I am hesitant, I think it is that as yet, the need doesn't outweigh the cost, being on mains power for now.

@Rugglesby when i was in solar class they always said car batteries wouldnt last long bc of the trickle charge aspect, where as car batteries are use to larger volumes of amperage from the alternator, but i lived off 2 car batteries for 3yrs using cigarette lighter plugs,, worked well for me, now I use marine deep cell batteries.. getting all DC appliances is much more expensive, but way worth it bc the converters arnt cheap either, and the watts you save from the conversion is way woth it ,imo

@Moondrop I already have two deep cycle marine batteries and two regular ones that I use to start a diesel tractor. So I should be OK.

@Moondrop yes, have done the same, a couple of old car batteries didn't last very long at all, a couple of others seem to have pretty well regenerated due to the pulsing from the regulator. One I was certain would have no charge after sitting for a few months, and that I had already decided was no good, surprised my by having a decent charge in it, I fully charged it and it shows as being in good health. Some of by batteries will hold no charge, but when connected to a panel allow me to pump water, as soon as a cloud passes they stop, but go again when the sun shines, works for me.

yes, I have overkill with my roof solar so am always at max capacity for my inverters, but can still see when they heat up they are less efficient. The panels in my yard I wash down occasionally, the ones on the roof are at an angle and I hope the occasional rain may help. Here is an unexpected one, the volume and pressure of air above the panels has a dramatic effect on mine, as much as light cloud. And in the morning and afternoon, I get much more power with light cloud as the light reflects onto panels that otherwise wouldn't be getting much.

@Rugglesby Intersting about the clouds. We had an electrical pole going over the roof. The solar installer said the shadow cast by the line might interfere with the power generation. That was a good motive to underground the cable. Our island power company really promotes this practice as it makes the system more dependable (and cuts down on their workload).

The installer was correct, if a few cells are shaded the power of the whole panel reduces, and if a panel reduces, so do other panels in that array. I have an array that is out of synch with my others, so have some fancy little gadget on each panel to force them to keep contributing to my inverter. My solar guys are great, more expensive than most but better quality parts, longer warranties backed by manufacturers, though I didn't know at the time the owner lives in my area so he better do the right thing. Your guys sound like they are giving good advice, many either don't know or don't bother.

@Rugglesby We actually have 2 programs here. One is using panels made in Wasingtn. It is more expensive but the rebates are higher (that's the one I got). The other uses panels made elsewhere. Cheaper but lower rebates. Often it depends on the size that determines which plan one chooses. mine was small (10 panels @275 W) so going with the higher price was affordable. Some with large arrays go with the lower priced version.

I have 2 grid tie systems on my house, I just wish batteries would come down in price and I would set up anti islanding, so I could keep my power on when there is a black out in teh area.