SolaDesigner Australia

Generating your first report

The information required from the user is broken up into four sections.

Complete each section under "Enter Your Energy Details" to generate your first report:

We will go through each section to generate a report

Postcode and Consumption Profile

The first step is to enter your postcode and suburb. This is required to determine the amount of solar radiation you receive each year and to determine which retail pricing tariffs are valid from your electricity suppliers.

1. Expand the "Postcode and Consumption Profile" if it is collapsed.
2. Locate the "Enter Your Postcode" input box.
3. See the help icon. You can search by postcode or suburb.
4. Click inside the search bar.
5. Start typing your postocde or suburb.
6. Select your postcode and suburb from the dropdown list. You must select a postcode and suburb. Postcodes can cover a large area and we use the suburb to determine the solar radiation in the report.

The next step is to enter your average total daily consumption in kWhs. Time to grab a few electricity bills. These will contain the information required: we are interested in the average daily usage. This will typically change from month to month, so use a few bills to get an average, or if available you may be able to obtain a summary for the last 12 months. We can see in the example bill below, the consumer had an average daily usage of 9.03 kWh, but the same time last year was 15.03 kWh; so use your judgment when deciding the average daily usage.

Show an example electricity bill

In SolaDesigner you can have different average consumption for weekdays and the weekend. If your bill, for example, has an average of 12 kWh per day, but you know you use more energy on the weekend, you can adjust the weekday and weekend consumption such that the average is about 12 kWh

You can select one of five different demand profiles, choose a profile that best suits your household consumption. The demand curve will scale to the daily consumption you entered. Weekdays and the Weekend can have different demand curves. Caution: Total daily consumption (both Weekday and Weekend) needs to be greater than Hot Water consumption.

1. Locate the "Average Total Weekday Daily Consumption"" input box.
2. See the help icon. The value entered should be the total daily consumption including hot water, pool pumps, etc.
3. Click inside the input field. It will have a default value, change this to suit your household consumption.
4. Check the tab "Weekday Demand Curve" is selected.
5. Find the demand curve drop down box. It defaults to "Day Focus"
6. Select the appropriate demand curve for your household consumption.
7. Repeat the above steps for weekend daily consumption. Make sure you select "Weekend Demand Curve" to select the appropriate curve to suit your household's weekend consumption.

The next step is to enter details of your hot water system. Hot water can be a significant component of your energy bill. We provide an options that provide a suitable estimate of hot water energy usage, otherwise if you know your usage you can enerter it in the "Energy Required (kWh)" input box.

Caution: Total daily consumption (both Weekday and Weekend) needs to be greater than Hot Water consumption.

1. Click the "Type of Hot Water" dropdown. The default is electric, but you can select Heat Pump (these devices consume considerably less energy than electric hot water), or select "Other" if you have Gas hot water or a Solar Hot Water system that doesn't have an electric boost mode.
2. Click the "Select a demand tariff" dropdown. Each tariff you consume energy at different times of the day. Some houses have HWWWWWW
3. Find the demand curve drop down box. It defaults to "Day Focus"
4. Select the appropriate demand curve for your household consumption.
5. Repeat the above steps for weekend daily consumption. Make sure you select "Weekend Demand Curve" to select the appropriate curve to suit your household's weekend consumption.