Posts By SolarQuotes Founder Finn Peacock

About Finn Peacock

I'm a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Solar and Energy Efficiency nut, dad, and the founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. I started SolarQuotes in 2009 and the SolarQuotes blog in 2013 with the belief that it’s more important to be truthful and objective than popular. My last "real job" was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009, I’ve helped over 800,000 Aussies get quotes for solar from installers I trust. Read my full bio.

When A Battery Company Sues Its Critics, It Tells You Everything

We’ve been running this website for 16 years. In that time, we’ve published tens of thousands of reviews and written plenty of posts about installers and manufacturers. Shock horror, some have been critical. [Read more…]

Bad Policy, Easy Fix: How to Wipe Out The EV Road User Charge

EV road user chargeImagine the government threatening to tax ex-smokers for no longer contributing to health funding via tobacco tax revenue. It would be the dumbest policy ever conceived.

[Read more…]

The Secret Way To Find Installers On SolarQuotes

There is a tool on the SolarQuotes site that almost no one uses.

Not because it is hidden on purpose. Mostly because it is hard to stumble across.

[Read more…]

Australia’s Battery Boom Has a Wiring Problem

Battery wires left exposedIf you’ve got a high-voltage stackable battery system and the DC cables between the battery and inverter don’t have mechanical protection, you’re not compliant with Australian standards and your systems could be classed as unsafe – and shut down.

This column explains why, and what the standard requires.

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Why Petrol Is So Hard to Quit

A radio complaining about EVsMargaux Parker, breakfast host on Triple M Brisbane, announced last week that she would rather pay ten dollars a litre for petrol than drive an electric car. She’d also had enough of smug EV drivers.

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Now, that’s what I call V2G

Batteries in the desertI get why people are excited about Vehicle-to-Grid. EVs are giant, relatively cheap-per-kWh batteries, and it feels like a waste to let them sit on the driveway doing nothing.

[Read more…]

3 Ways Smart People Still Get Home Batteries Wrong

A man with a clipboard next to a battery rebate signThe government’s decision to taper the battery rebate every six months feels like it’s been borrowed straight from a hard-sell playbook. There’s nothing like a rolling “price goes up soon!” to push people toward a decision before they’ve properly thought it through.

[Read more…]

Cheap Battery Deals And The GST Time Bomb

A GST bomb next to batteriesAbout twelve years ago, there was a quiet wave of solar company bankruptcies in Australia. They were not caused by dodgy panels, bad installs, or disappearing warranties. They were caused by tax.

[Read more…]

Commercial Solar: When It’s Brilliant And When It’s Useless

Commercial solarThis week I found myself involved in two commercial solar projects. One will almost certainly print money for decades. The other looked promising at first glance but fell apart the moment we climbed onto the roof.

[Read more…]

The Most Important Sensor You’ve Never Heard Of

current transformerIf you open the switchboard in a modern, all-electric home, you are increasingly likely to find little black clamp-on rings everywhere.

[Read more…]

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