Well we have finally done it! We have photovoltaic panels on the roof and as of 6 August 2010, we are live! We ended up purchasing a 3kW system from LJW Solar Pty Ltd in Dural - they were very competitive on price, and have been in the industry for over 25 years, so they aren't in for a quick buck. Their before- and after-sales service has been fantastic. We would have liked a bigger system, but our suitable roof space limited the size of system we could have. Now, during winter, we don't generate quite enough for all our needs, but in summer, we should be sending excess back to the grid.
Dave took a series of photos, both during installation and afterwards. Thankfully we were blessed with fine weather on the day of installation (it had rained for weeks prior to it), and it was sunny on the day of connection, so we could see immediately that we were generating power.
First, the racks went on and the panels went up in two separate arrays (due to the strange shape of our roof):
Next, the inverters went in and the panels were hooked up. Generating power on both arrays -
That's 830w from the 1Kw array and 1.1Kw from the 2Kw array. Not bad for a winters' day. They should come up to full power as the sun rises higher in the sky when we move into spring and summer.
And finally, our first generated kilowatt (yes, I know the photo is dreadful - it's in a dark spot, and Dave couldn't use the flash because it was bouncing off the glass. But it's our first kilowatt!):
