Solar consumer guides

Finding impartial information about installing solar PV can be a bit difficult, especially info applicable to Australian conditions. Nevertheless, there are a couple of consumer guides available that even owners of systems already installed would find useful.

The first is a new publication written by Trevor Berrill and published by Which Energy. Trevor has many years experience involved in solar and taught at Tafes here in Queensland as well as being involved in public education and policy. This is the most comprehensive guide I’ve seen and is well worth reading by system designers as well as current system owners and those thinking of installing solar. It’s available for the low price of $10 at most newsagents (no, I’m not on commission). There’s a sample of the guide available here with a list of subjects covered. 

The other consumer guide that I’m aware of is put out by the Clean Energy Council available here. This guide gets updated every few weeks (not sure if it’s because they add in new information or they keep finding mistakes that need correcting

:) but also has some useful information in it. It’s free but not as comprehensive as the one above.

There may also be a Choice solar guide but as I’m not a subscriber I’m not sure about this. Some of the bigger solar companies also have varying degrees of info on their websites (see Energy Matters for example) but they usually try to steer you towards buying their own particular brand of panels etc.

If you know of any other (impartial) sources of solar info put a link in the comments. Thanks.