I was on a panel at Electrify Adelaide last week, sat next to Saul Griffith, who was promoting his brilliant new book Plug In. During audience questions, someone asked how important Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) would be in the years ahead.
My Powerwall Just Turned Seven. One Thing Still Blows Me Away
Last week, my Powerwall 2 turned seven.
To celebrate, I stumped up $10 for a 1-month subscription to the excellent, third-party, NetZero Powerwall monitoring app and ran some diagnostics.
Phase Shift: Why the Rate My Quote Frenzy Is Toxic for Solar
A couple of years ago, Ronald (SolarQuotes’ Fact Checker) asked me for advice on buying a commuter push bike. I told him:
“Whatever you do, don’t buy a bike from K-Mart!”.
Phase Shift: Homeowners Shouldn’t Be Debugging Their New Battery
Back in my engineering days, I designed control systems for everything from nuclear power plants to optical semiconductor fabs. High-stakes stuff, where things not working properly was frowned upon. One thing that became clear early on: the hardware install was just the beginning. The real work started when you powered things up and tried to make them behave.
Which brings me to today’s Phase Shift.
Phase Shift: The Customer Is Always Right (Except With Solar)
A fancy burger joint near the SolarQuotes office opened six months ago. It was small and stylish. And just closed down. I wasn’t surprised.
Phase Shift: The Humans Strike Back
Right now, we’re riding high. A big battery rebate just dropped, and quote requests are flying in.
But I’ve been in solar long enough to know what this feels like. We’re at the top of the solar coaster.
Phase Shift: The Grid Death Spiral is Bullshit
Since the early days of rooftop solar, many Australian academics & commentators have warned of a grid death spiral.
Phase Shift: Make Solar Panels Great Again
There’s a new myth floating around: if your energy retailer gives you a free 3-hour energy window in the middle of the day, you don’t need solar panels. Just get a big battery, charge it for free during the magic window, and run your house on battery power 21 hours per day.
Phase Shift: Don’t Let SigEnergy Become A Cult
SigEnergy reckons they’ve grabbed 30% of Australia’s home battery market. From basically nothing just over a year ago, that’s pretty bloody impressive.
Phase Shift: On Standby
There’s a certain kind of energy advice that just won’t die. You’ve probably heard it:
Switch off appliances at the wall. Phantom loads are stealing your electricity!
That made sense twenty years ago. Back when power bricks got properly hot. Back when standby meant drawing tens of watts. These days? Not so much.
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