If you haven’t considered getting some solar panels, you’re probably in the minority of Australians. We certainly have the sunshine for it after all! 30% of Australian’s have it on their roofs. Countless others have portable panels. So why haven’t you got solar? It’s diverse and affordable. And it can help shore up your power supply in emergencies, natural disasters, and uncertain times. Let us show you how. Here are 6 solar panel uses to secure your power and save you money.

6 solar panels uses to secure your power

Solar panels are incredibly versatile. And it’s that versatility that comes in handy during a power outage, a natural disaster or in an emergency situation. But when it comes to emergency power, most of us don’t think immediately about solar.

But solar solutions are not just for your rooftop and cheaper power bills!

Imagine an extended blackout causing a power outage in your neighbourhood that lasts weeks. This was the fate of thousands of families on the outskirts of Melbourne in late 2021.

Or imagine an emergency evacuation from flooding (Lismore comes to mind), leaving you with no access to power to charge a mobile phone, LED torch or radio. The solution, in many of these situations, is solar.

In this post, we’re going to run through these 6 clever solar panel uses that every Australian should know about:

1. Power your whole home
2. Emergency backup power
3. Portable power
4. Solar water heating
5. Solar lighting
6. Solar heating

Before we run through each of these solar solutions, let’s look at the basics of solar technology.

What are solar panels used for?

Solar panels work to absorb the sun’s energy through solar photovoltaic cells and generate electricity.

Solar panel technology has been around for decades but was expensive in Australia until 2010. Since then, governments worldwide have incentivized solar solutions as a way to reduce our carbon footprint and combat climate change. The cost of solar systems dropped in Australia over the next decade as mass manufacturing of solar cells and solar panels led to economies of scale in the cost of production.

Reducing your carbon footprint

In Australia, governments promoted the use of renewable energy over fossil fuels, in particular rooftop solar solutions. Australia now has one of the highest rates of solar installations worldwide. In fact, Australia leads the world in solar installs on a per capita basis. Solar power systems are now installed in over 30% of homes in many Australian locations.

But energy user surveys like the Queensland Household Energy Survey show that Australian buyers are primarily focussed on rooftop solar to reduce their power bills. Reducing ones carbon footprint is a secondary motivator.

But there’s more benefits to solar than just reducing your power bill and carbon emissions. Think energy security, natural disaster resilience, and energy mobility.

1. Solar power your whole home

The first solar panel use we’re going to look at is installing a solar PV system to power your whole home.

If you’re looking for a way to reduce your energy bills, solar solutions are a great option. Installing solar panels can save you a significant amount of money over time. You’ll pay around 10 cents a kilowatt hour for solar power from your roof, versus over 20 cents for grid power.

This type of solar panel is often called ‘rooftop solar’ as it’s fixed to your roof. And you can use this type of solar without a battery. Because typically the solar panels are connected to the power grid.. In fact, most rooftop solar in Australia is installed and used without a battery.

But did you know that solar can produce enough power to run your whole house? With a battery that is.

Solar battery systems are typically installed together. Solar batteries can run your entire house overnight or in a blackout or emergency, if your system size is large enough.

The size system you need depends on your energy usage. The thing with solar is that it only generates in the daytime. You’ll need grid electricity at night unless you also have a battery storage system.

While solar battery systems are growing in popularity, they’re still an expensive solution. As a rough estimate, an off grid solar battery system to power your whole home might be around $30k.

Because of this high upfront cost, Australians continue to rely on the power grid to provide most of our energy. But as costs decline, what will we do in a future of more intense, frequent and large scale natural disasters with a warming planet?

Will the grid be our preferred power source, or will Australian’s increasingly opt for for energy security that is not subject to massive outages like our centralised power grids?

As the price of solar battery systems comes down, and grid outages increase, whole house solar power solutions will become more popular.

2. Emergency home backup

In Australia, most homes with solar photovoltaic cells are connected to the electricity grid and do not provide backup power in a black out. But the good news is you can have rooftop solar installed to provide power in an emergency, alongside solar batteries.

When the power grid goes down, solar energy is a cleaner and quieter way to provide back up power to your appliances than using a home generator (powered by diesel or gas).

But in Australia, what many people don’t realise that your standard rooftop solar panels will not automatically power your home if the grid goes down. In fact, most household solar solutions in Australia are designed to isolate from the grid during a blackout, for safety reasons.

You can have a solar system designed and installed for backup power, alongside storage batteries. But it’s not the default installation. It’s designed differently based on how large your solar system is, which battery system you will pair it with and what circuits you want to power in an outage.

You don’t even have to spend the earth. A smaller solar battery system can provide backup power supply to only specific circuits or electrical loads that run your most critical appliances. And while lithium ion batteries are all the rage, lead acid batteries can still ‘do the job’ when in comes to uninterrpible power supply.

Battery charging from solar panels

With solar battery systems, the rooftop solar energy can power your home during the day and any excess solar energy can be used for battery charging. You need enough solar energy to power your appliances and to store excess power in your batteries. Your batteries are then used to run your home outside of sunlight hours.

It’s expensive to power your home with a solar battery solution. Most of this expense is in the cost of the battery. Prices are coming down, but many Australian households still use a diesel home generator to provide emergency backup power. At present, the upfront cost of a generator is cheaper than the cost of adding a battery system to your rooftop solar panels.

In the near future, we expect solar battery systems to get cheaper in price further, making them ideal for back up power supply.

Remote power supply

Solar energy with battery storage can provide off the grid solar solutions for remote locations. Getting solar plus a battery system can be cheaper than the cost of running a new power line to your property in a remote location. If you do go off grid, remember that the maintenance and replacement of the solar battery system is up to you. While solar panels have an effective life of 20 to 25 years, batteries such as lithium ion last only around 10 years.

3. Portable solar panels

The great thing about solar power is that it’s modular. This is what makes portable solar panels so versatile. You can use single solar panel or several individual solar cells to produce electricity in a portable way.

Their portability makes solar panels incredibly useful for backup power in emergencies, such as when the grid goes down, or when you need power ‘on the go’. You can purchase solar panel kits for exactly this purpose. Solar panel kits are:

• lightweight and can be waterproof
• can be folded up or come with ground mount framing,
• include cables and controls, and
• are generally plug and play (no installation needed).

Portable solar panel power supply

Here are the 5 most useful portable solar panel uses for emergency situations:

• Solar mobile phone charge kit
• Portable solar power station
• Solar lamp or LED torch
• Camper vans, caravans or RVs solar kits
• Portable solar oven, to prepare food without fire

4. Solar water heating

Solar hot water uses the sun’s energy to heat water for domestic use. They don’t generate electricity but use thermal solar solutions (heating liquids in a tube).

Solar water heaters are either active or passive, depending on how they operate. Active systems use circulating pumps to move the solar-heated water from the solar collectors to a storage tank. Passive systems do not use pumps, and instead rely on natural convection to circulate the solar-heated water.

Solar water heaters can be used as standalone systems instead of electric hot water systems or gas, providing all of the hot water for your home.

Heating water accounts for around 15% of the average household’s energy use, so solar water heaters can make a significant difference. However, solar PV is usually a cheaper and therefore a more popular hot water solution in Australia than solar water heating.

Portable solar water heating

Solar water heating is not just for homes however. Portable solar water heating can come in very handy in an emergency situation. Here’s how:

• Solar thermal personal water heaters – these boil water using just the sun’s rays. They’re lightweight and mobile – perfect for an emergency evacuation if you don’t have access to hot water or fire (such as in a fire ban).
• Solar camp showers – either gravity fed or pressurized, these heat water inside a bladder or cylinder left in the sun.

5. Solar lighting

Solar lighting uses solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity directly inside a light feature. Solar lights are great solar solutions for Australians, but there are a few things to consider when using them:

• First, solar panels need to be placed in an area that receives direct sunlight.
• Second, solar lights themselves often need to be protected from the elements.
• Third, make sure you buy quality solar lighting. There is a lot of rubbish on the market that is not designed for Australian conditions.

6. Solar heating (space heating)

Solar heating is a process of using the sun’s energy to heat air. Air is sucked into a vent from outside your home, and heated using the solar thermal collector. The air is injected into an internal space inside your home.

Solar space heaters are not common in Australia. This is because solar solutions like PV panels can fulfil space heating needs at the same time as running your home. A solar air heater may be useful if you want to heat an out-building, like a dog kennel, where there is no power access.

Take advantage of solar power benefits

Solar solutions produce free electrons using the sun, so there are no running costs. Instead, solar solutions are all paid upfront when you purchase the photovoltaic system and have it installed.

One benefit if you install solar panels is getting paid a feed-in tariff. If you’re not using appliances in the daytime, you may produce more solar energy than you use. You earn a feed-n tariff when this excess electricity is sent to the grid, and used in other homes. Your solar power system needs to be connected to the grid to earn a feed-in tariff.

Reducing electricity bills

Power bill savings from from solar begin to accrue from day one. It generally takes around 4 years for these savings to pay back the cost of a solar system in Australia, depending on the size of the solar power system you install and your energy usage.

The most efficient use of your solar electricity is to consume it. By doing so you’re offsetting the cost of electricity you would otherwise buy from the power grid.

Conclusion

Aside from reducing the fossil fuels we use and contributing to Australia’s renewable energy future, solar power is modular and therefore incredibly versatile. Because of this, solar panel uses extend far beyond rooftop power. In this article, we’ve looked at solar solutions for home backup power, to portable energy supply, water heating and lighting. With the cost of home batteries declining, solar battery systems will soon be an affordable alternative to home generators when it comes to running your whole house in a power outage, natural disaster or emergency.