Yesterday we had solar panels installed at our house and the church. The system on the house had to be put on racks to face them north as there is no north facing roof. The house has 16 panels rated at a total of 4.5 kW and the church has 12 panels for a total of 3 kW.

We have to wait about a week until the final connection into the electrical system is completed.

I expect they will pay for themselves over approximately 4 years at current power prices- possibly 3 if you take into account the projected price increases. The panels are guaranteed for 40 years and the inverters for 10 years so it should be a good return. Hopefully by the time the system has to be replaced we will have worked out that God controls the climate not Tim Flannery and we will be back to generating cheap power using fossil fuels.