About Finn PeacockI'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.
There’s a business model in the solar industry I’d love to see burn to the ground. Trouble is, fire is how it survives. [Read more…]
Tesla is about to become an Australian electricity retailer – as first reported by Danny at ZeCar.
Its local entity, Tesla Energy Ventures Australia, has a plan called Tesla Electric Dynamic that is currently in testing, and I spent the evening pulling it apart.
Look at what’s been bolted onto the typical Aussie home in the last decade. A solar inverter reporting panel output to your phone. A battery that trades with the grid while you sleep. A heat pump hot water system that heats from surplus solar, an EV charger with its own app.
Then open the switchboard. It’s the same thing your parents had, with better breakers and less asbestos. [Read more…]
The giant Everything Electric show returns to Sydney Showground this weekend, Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September, six months later than planned. [Read more…]
Peter Hannam quoted me in RenewEconomy on Friday, saying I expect there are hundreds of thousands of solar and battery systems out there that aren’t optimally installed or configured, some of them carrying real potential for dangerous outcomes. [Read more…]
Last week I was in Officeworks waiting for some printing. Next to me, a woman was buying a laptop, and the Officeworks bloke helping her knew his stuff. Processors, RAM, screen brightness: all of it correct. Then he asked whether she’d considered a Mac, which opened a second long conversation about MacBooks, and by the end of it, she looked more confused than when she started.
He left her to think it over. I couldn’t help myself. [Read more…]
A fortnight ago, 7.30 aired an investigation into Solar Power Nation, a retailer the ABC reports is under investigation by authorities in Queensland, NSW and South Australia after hundreds of complaints.
One customer, Amin Khorram, paid $13,000 for a battery system. Only one of the two inverters was installed, so he got 5 kW of the promised 10 kW and couldn’t charge or discharge his batteries fast enough to get all the savings he expected. He chased the company for eight months. The missing inverter finally appeared last month, as his QCAT hearing date approached. Funny, that. [Read more…]
Heat pump hot water systems continue to grow in popularity as more Australians look for ways to get off gas.
To find out which heat pump installers trust most in 2026, we asked Australian installers a simple question:
“Which heat pump hot water system would you choose for your own home?”
The result wasn’t even close. [Read more…]
I first wrote about this back in 2012. Fourteen years later, I’m still writing about it. That should tell you something about how sticky this confusion is. [Read more…]
“After installation, we have found out the battery will not power the aircon after dark…”
This is a direct quote from the My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH) Facebook group. Tim Forcey suggested it deserved an article. I agree, because there’s a limitation of three-phase battery systems you need to understand before buying.
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