Solar and batteries, from the start.
Everything we wish people knew before they got their first quote. Plain language, no sales pitch, about ten minutes to read.
How rooftop solar works.
Panels on your roof turn daylight into DC electricity. An inverter converts it to the AC power your home runs on. Whatever your home is using at that moment is taken from the roof first, and anything left over flows out to the grid, earning a small feed-in tariff.
The catch is timing. Solar is generous in the middle of the day and gone by dinner, which is exactly when most homes use the most power. Without storage, a home returns to buying grid electricity every evening, and the daytime surplus is sold for a fraction of what evening power costs.
Do you need a battery?
A battery stores the solar you do not use during the day so you can use it at night. It is the difference between a solar system that halves your bill and one that can almost remove it. Three things tell us whether one makes sense for you.
- When you use power. If most of your use is after 5pm, a battery does the heavy lifting. If someone is home all day, panels alone go further.
- Whether blackouts matter to you. A battery with backup keeps the fridge, lights and internet running when the street goes dark.
- The incentives on offer. Right now the federal discount and the NSW VPP incentive can both come off the price, and they stack. The federal discount steps down over time, and the NSW incentive depends on your battery’s usable capacity.
Already have solar? A battery can usually be added to it. We check the existing inverter, switchboard and wiring first, then recommend a compatible setup.
Getting the size right.
Solar is sized in kilowatts (how much it can produce at once) and batteries in kilowatt-hours (how much they can store). Your electricity bill shows how many kilowatt-hours you use a day, and that number drives everything.
Bigger is not always better. A battery sized past what you can fill and empty each day is money sitting idle. We size to your evening usage and your roof, and we show you the arithmetic.
Start from your bill.
A rough guide using an average tariff of 35c per kWh and typical Hunter sunshine. Roof, shading and how you use power all move the answer, which is what the site visit is for.
Rebates, VPPs and what they are worth.
Three programs matter in NSW today. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program takes around 30% off a battery. The long-running solar certificate scheme discounts the panels. And the NSW Government pays a one-off incentive when you connect your battery to an approved virtual power plant.
A virtual power plant is a network of home batteries that can be coordinated to support the grid at busy times. Good programs leave you in control of your battery, and the terms matter as much as the headline rate. To qualify for the NSW VPP incentive, for example, your VPP agreement needs to stay in place for at least 12 months.
What a good installation looks like.
Two systems with identical equipment can perform very differently. The difference is in the details you cannot see from the street.
- Someone visited the roof before quoting.Roof, switchboard and shading checked in person, not from a satellite photo.
- The installer employs the electricians.Not subcontracted to whoever is cheapest that week. Ask who is actually turning up.
- The switchboard is part of the job.Older boards often need upgrading to carry solar, a battery and an EV charger safely.
- Someone answers the phone afterwards.Monitoring explained and kept an eye on after installation, and warranty claims handled for you.
The words people use.
- Inverter
- Converts the DC power from panels or a battery into the AC power your home uses. A hybrid inverter handles both.
- Feed-in tariff
- What your retailer pays for solar you export. Usually a few cents per kWh, far below what you pay to buy power.
- Usable capacity
- The part of a battery you can actually draw on. The number that matters when comparing batteries and rebates.
- LFP
- Lithium iron phosphate, the battery chemistry used in modern home storage for its long life and safety.
- STC
- Small-scale technology certificate. The mechanism behind the federal solar and battery discounts, claimed by your installer.
- VPP
- Virtual power plant. A network of home batteries that can be coordinated to support the grid at busy times. Depending on the plan, owners may earn credits for taking part.
- Backup
- A battery's ability to keep your home running during a blackout. Not every battery is set up for it; ask.
- Retrofit
- Adding a battery to solar you already own, rather than installing both together.
Still have a question? Ask it.
There are no silly ones. Send us a bill and a few lines about your home and we'll come back with an honest answer.
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