The energy of sunlight falling on the more habitable parts of Australia averages 1000 watts per square metre. Only 10% of that can presently be turned into electricity but this is still enough to be useful.

If you're planning to get off the beaten track but still want a few creature comforts (like lighting, TV, computers, etc) solar power is the way to go. It's not difficult to install and set up but there are a few pitfalls for the unwary....

My off-road OKA motor-home runs a 70-litre fridge, multiple halogen lights and an Iridium satphone, all from two 80-watt modules. It has not run out of power in the past seven years. My all-solar-electric home north of Broome runs from an 1800W solar array and has enough energy left over each day to irrigate 150 trees.

Solar energy really can be made to work but there are a few traps that can result in less energy being captured than expected, and even less ability to store and retrieve it.

The most common result is that your storage batteries will run down much sooner than expected.

Worse still, because they are not being fully charged, many expensive storage batteries will expire within a year. The biggest trap relates to solar module output - the industry uses the term 'panels' for assemblies of modules.

Solar modules are curious devices that only produce their claimed output in quite specific applications and 'Standard Operating Conditions' that bear little or no relationship to reality.