Once again, the Club made an offsite visit. On 27 July we were off to Fyshwick to learn how to save money and save the environment.

 

We were hosted by Mark McAnulty, Sales Engineer, and three of the engineering team from Reposit Power.

 

Mark touched on the history of Reposit power and the evolution of its current product offering. The main feature of Reposit Power is that they offer clients a “No Electricity Bill” for 5 years, with the option to renew for a further 5 years. They take over responsibility for your power bill during this time.

 

How do they do this? As a potential new client, they will examine your electricity accounts to establish your electricity usage and seasonal trends. They will then design a solar system that will best meet the electricity requirements of your home. For example, a system for a typical home might be 6.6KW or 15 x 440W solar panels, two batteries say 11.6KWH, an Inverter and the magic Reposit Power Control unit. The system designed will generate enough power to cover your household needs and provide a margin for around 20% increase in usage, this is to ensure you remain bill-free.

 

You may be aware that in past years any excess electricity your solar panels fed back into the power grid (excess requirements of the home) was bought at a generous rate. This is clearly unsustainable and new pay in rates have steadily fallen as more houses instal solar and are connected to the grid. The expectations are that the pay in tariffs will reduce to zero in the near future.

 

However, having battery storage allows you to charge your batteries during the day (power generated in excess of usage charges your batteries first before going to the grid). These batteries will provide power to your home during the night, this assists to smooth your electricity demand from the grid.

 

Reposit Power are a registered energy trader and any surplus power “their” homes feed into the grid they receive payment for. As a trader they will continue to receive the pay in tariffs, even if the homeowner tariffs have ceased, and this is how Reposit Power generate some of their income to cover their business running costs, now and into the future.

 

Did you know that in the event of a power black-out, a home with just Solar Panels will also be without power? With the Reposit Power system, it comes with a Black Out option. When the grid goes down, your home will automatically switch over to use the batteries. During the black out (assuming it is daytime) your batteries will usually continue to charge as well. With the ever-increasing threat of extreme weather issues causing blackouts, this a feature every household should have.

One of the brilliant features of the Reposit Power solar offering is that all of the homes with their system have their unique Power Controller. This magic box supplies Reposit Power with all of your usage/generation data. Their system comes with sophisticated weather forecasting software, for example they use this forecasting to ensure batteries are fully charged in readiness for extreme weather events etc.

 

With the Reposit Power Controller, the 5,000 homes (currently) on the Reposit Power system act like a Huge Community battery. Should a power generation plant go offline unexpectantly, Reposit Power can call on its 5,000 homes to feed power from their batteries (24 hours a day) into the grid to stabilise it – I found that pretty amazing.

 

In response to a question, Reposit Power staff explained the issues with Community Battery proposals, which I am sure most people weren’t aware of. Some of the issues to be resolved are: land needs to be owned to house the batteries, the grid needs to be rewired to accommodate the batteries, the ownership of the batteries (and who pays for them). There are noise pollution concerns, as a large community battery needs to be kept cool by fans or event airconditioning. They also pointed out that the Community Battery would act much in the same way as homes currently feeding power to the grid. The Community Battery is outside of your power meter, so, while you would get credit for surplus power you feed into the Community Battery, you would get charged at a higher rate for power you draw from the Community Battery. Having you own home battery as part of the large Reposit Power “Community Battery” makes much more sense and is about one quarter of the cost of Community Batteries.

 

They also spoke briefly about ACT Government incentives to help you to install solar systems and to replace gas appliances with electric ones.

 

If you missed the presentation or are interested in learning more you can contact Mark on his mobile 0427 452 512 or email mark@repositpower.com. If you are talking to Mark about going solar, don’t forget to mention you heard about Reposit Power through the Rotary Club: they are happy to pay our Club a referral fee, that we can put towards our Community Projects, I call that a Win Win!

 

Thanks to Mark and his team for a wonderful presentation.

 

We continue to receive requests for Peace Poles as part of the Rotary 100 Centenary Project.

 

Peace Pole 309 is being donated to South Perth Primary by the Rotary Club of Mill Point. Members may remember that this is Eric’s old club and Eric had already donated peace pole 94 to his old school, Como Primary, in conjunction with Mill Point Rotary. It is terrific to see Clubs donating additional poles.

 

Another three poles are being donated by the Rotary Club of Davenport North Tasmania. Russell Brownlie was previously a member of the Launceston Rotary Club and assisted with a donation of a pole 84 to Norwood Primary. He has relocated to Devonport North Rotary and has encouraged the three latest donations. Peace Pole 309 has been donated to South Perth Primary, 301 to Hillcrest Primary and 311 to East Devonport Primary.

 

Garth Britton from the Canberra Sunrise Rotary Club is coordinating a visit by the current cohort of Rotary Peace Scholars between 9-13 September. He is still short 2 or 3 billets for the students during this time. If you are in a position to host a student, please let Garth know on Garth.britton@outlook.com. If you’d like to learn about the benefits of hosting these impressive scholars, speak to Ross Brown and he can enlighten you.

 

1. buying a caravan and a car to pull it;
2. driving a car and staying at 3-star hotels; and
3. flying to various destinations, staying at 3-star hotels and hiring cars.

 

If you are not able to perform your allocated duty, please arrange a replacement and advise Acting President Bill. Please advise Stephen of any planned absences to avoid being rostered on while away.

 

The NTA is running a trip to its aid project locations on the island of Flores, specifically to introduce donors to the communities it supports and to show how donor funds are being used. This is a fabulous opportunity to visit communities and institutions in this area, to be introduced to their customs, issues, and how the NTA is working together with them to improve their lives. If interested, please contact the NTA Executive Officer, Phil Domaschenz, by email phil2dom@gmail.com or phone 0406 930 835.