Solar panels and a small black box are helping a group of low-income families in South Australia save on their energy bills.
Founded in 1993, Community Housing Limited (CHL) is a not-for-profit organization that provides housing to low-income Australians and low- and middle-income Australians who do not have access to affordable housing for the long term. The organization also provides services in South Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
At the end of June last year, CHL had a portfolio of 10,905 properties for rent across the six states of Australia. In addition to providing affordable housing, CHL is also working to help tenants pay their energy bills.
“The energy crisis is affecting every corner of Australia, especially the older generation who are spending more time at home and consuming more energy,” said CHL founder and managing director Steve Bevington. “In some cases, we’ve seen tenants refuse to turn on heat or lights in the winter, and we’re committed to changing that behavior.”
CHL has hired energy solution provider 369 Labs to install solar systems on dozens of properties in South Australia and added a new feature.
Installing solar panels at these facilities is a win-win option. But the real value of owning a solar system lies in maximizing the amount of electricity you generate from your own consumption. CHL is currently trying an easy way to let customers know when is the best time to use a device with 369 Labs’ Pulse.
“We equip CHL tenants with Pulse® devices that communicate how they use energy using red and green colors,” said Nick Demurtzidis, co-founder of 369 Labs. “Red tells them that they are using energy from the grid and they should change their energy behavior in the meantime, while green tells them that they are using solar energy.”
369 Labs’ general commercial solution available through EmberPulse is essentially an advanced solar activity monitoring system that offers many other features, including power plan comparison. EmberPulse isn’t the only solution to offer this level of functionality. There are also very popular SolarAnalytics devices and services.
In addition to advanced monitoring and comparison of power plans, the EmberPulse solution offers home appliance management add-ons so it’s truly a complete home energy management system.
EmberPulse makes some pretty big promises, and we’ll probably take a closer look at which of the two solutions is best for the average solar PV owner. But for the CHL Pulse project, it seems like a very good idea because it’s easy to use.
The CHL pilot program kicked off at the end of June and since then, solar panels have been installed at 45 sites in Oakden and Enfield in Adelaide. The power of these systems is not mentioned.
While the CHL trial is in its early stages, most tenants are expected to save an average of $382 per year on their energy bills. This is a big change for low income people. The remaining solar energy from the system is exported to the grid, and the feed-in tariff received by CHL will be used to fund additional solar installations.
Michael discovered the problem with solar panels in 2008 when he bought modules to build a small off-grid photovoltaic system. Since then, he has covered Australian and international solar news.
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