Meet the 100th Inner West family to install rooftop solar through Inner West Community Energy! Solar household number 100 is Rachel Kalman, her husband Jon Boey, who are both GPs, and their son Francis, 16 months, of Addison Rd, Marrickville.
Rachel told us she’d always wanted to install solar PV. Her parents had had solar for over 10 years and it was always on her agenda after she and Jon bought their house two-and-a-half years ago.Then last year they watched Craig Reucassel’s Planet B show on the ABC and realised solar was one of those things that would make a big difference to their household carbon emissions.
“We just wanted to put solar on to reduce our carbon footprint and we were surprised how affordable it was, and how quickly the investment paid off,” Rachel says. Jon says they realised their electricity consumption was one of their main uses of fossil fuels, and that going solar was “something that we could contribute to more significantly perhaps than some of the little things that make you feel better, but don’t contribute that much”.
So Rachel contacted IWCE through our website. She sent us all the household information we needed to get the ball rolling, then we put her in touch with one of our preferred solar installers, Paul Hutt of Brightside Solar and Electrical.
Last week, Paul finished their 5.5 kilowatt system, comprising fifteen 370watt Canadian Solar Hiku panels running through a 5 kilowatt Fronius inverter. On a sunny summer’s day, they’ll be generating around 30 kilowatt-hours, more than twice their consumption.
Rachel says climate change matters to them “because we want a nice planet for Francis and the next generation to inherit and the world boiling up and us all drowning is extremely frightening and stopping that the best way we can is the most important thing, much more important than money to us.”
Rachel says Inner West Community Energy’s support was extremely helpful. “It’s quite intimidating looking at all the different options,” she said.
“It was a very quick response from you guys and a pretty quick quote from Paul.”
“It was all very quick and clear, and super helpful.”
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Having delivered 100 solar households across the Inner West we’d like to thank all our clients, community members and corporate supporters for their support over the past three years. And a special thanks to the growing team from our other preferred solar installer, Roland Lawrence Electrical. We’ll feature their latest work next time!
And how does Rachel feel about being our 100th solar household?
“It’s very exciting! I hope many more people follow in our footsteps and get solar.”
Contact Gavin Gilchrist, Project Manager