After receiving a power bill of $1400 three months ago, $400 more than our normal $1000 bill, it was time to look at alternatives.

Without going primitive, the only viable option was solar.

We have been looking at it for a while but it always seemed too expensive. But with most things, over time the prices do eventually come down and now was the time to take the plunge but I am sure it will be even cheaper in the future.

So after looking at a number of different options – Chinese vs German vs Italian inverters, Chinese vs German vs Canadian panels – it was decided to go for a German Sunny Boy inverter and Canadian Solar panels. Then what size system and this was a matter of matching available funds against available systems and ended up with a 4 kW system.

Today was installation day and of course it was cloudy.

The installation team started at 8:00 am and had it all finished and connected by 11:30 am.

Even with the clouds, It was putting out enough to turn the electricity meter backwards – haven’t seen that before. 🙂

At the time of writing, we have generated 8 kW in 5 hours and that is with cloud cover so cant wait until the sun comes out. 🙂