The End of the Transitional Feed-in Tariff in Victoria
On December 31st 2016, the Victorian Transitional Feed-in Tariff (TFiT) came to an end.
Anyone who had their solar system installed between October 2011 and September 2012 will see their Feed-In Tariffs reduce from 25c – 33c per kilowatt hour (kWh) to 5c per kilowatt hour.
That is an 80% reduction.
This dramatic drop in price will mean that your power bill will become noticeably higher than what you’re used to.
Here is an example of what the changes could look like on a 3kW system, assuming that 50% of the power generated by the system is sold to the grid:
(Transitional Feed-in Tariff = TFiT)
On a 5 kW system, with 50% of the power generated sold to the grid:
(Transitional Feed-in Tariff = TFiT)
Two simple ways are:
- Install a battery system to use your solar power at night
- Expand your system by installing more and higher efficiency solar panels
Get battery storage with EnviroGroup:
A battery storage system allows you to store the energy you’d normally send out to the grid and use it at night. And in the last few years battery technology has rapidly developed, leading to products such as the Tesla Powerwall and Redback batteries becoming available for domestic, grid connected homes.
Easily upgrade with microinverters:
One good thing about the loss of the Feed-in Tariff is you will finally be allowed to upgrade your existing solar system.
In the past, upgrading a solar PV system meant that the whole system would be removed and replaced with a brand new one. Adding onto a system was only possible by adding a whole new system to the roof.
But not anymore.
Enphase microinverters are small inverters that attach to the back of solar panels. Rather than all of the panels connecting a single inverter to form a full system, microinverters allow each individual panel to work independently of each other. Microinverters also remove the need for all panels to be facing the same way.
With microinverters, you can add as many or as few panels as you need, and put them in areas of your roof that previously weren’t considered suitable for solar.
By using high powered panels such Sunpower or Trina Solar, you can generate even more power. Enphase inverters also have excellent monitoring capabilities, allowing you to see how your system is doing and if any panels are under performing.
Best of all, if you upgrade with microinverters, we can even monitor your existing system!
Battery storage and system upgrades are great ways to mitigate the loss of the Feed-in Tariff.
Our waiting list for installation is growing everyday so don’t wait too long to upgrade.
