Journalist Max Opray joined SolarQuotes in 2025 as editor, bringing with him over a decade of experience covering green energy. Across his career Max has won multiple awards for his feature stories for The Guardian and The Saturday Paper, fact-checked energy claims for Australian Associated Press, launched the climate solutions newsletter Climactic, and covered the circular economy for sustainability thinktank Metabolic. Max also reported on table tennis at the 2016 Rio Olympics — and is patiently waiting for any tenuous excuse to include his ping pong expertise in a SolarQuotes story.
Energy minister Chris Bowen spruiks Labor’s battery election promise.
The federal government has scrambled to the finish line just in time for its $2.3bn Cheaper Home Batteries Program, amending regulations to make official a plan to reshape Australia’s energy grid with the install of one million batteries by 2030.
Hundreds of homeowners and installers expecting to stack the federal battery rebate with cancelled state schemes have been left in the lurch, launching petitions and scrambling to get their deposits back as they ask the question: is it still worth getting a battery with the federal incentive alone?
Plenty of people get solar to do their bit for the environment. Although renewables are far better for nature than fossil fuels, a new book details the little-known impact that solar panels have on insects, birds and bats. Here’s how to make sure your panels aren’t part of the problem.
The federal battery rebate has triggered a huge surge of interest in solar panels, which are required to qualify for the government incentive. Some people are getting solar for the first time, while others are upgrading their existing systems. Here’s the best solar to pair with a home battery.
Electricity bills are set to surge by up to 9.7% for some Australians from July, according to the latest reference price details released by the Australian Energy Regulator, although most households will see smaller increases.
Saving up for a home battery to take advantage of the new federal government rebate? Whether you’re adding a battery to an existing solar panel setup, or getting solar now with plans to add a battery later, you’ll need to consider the inverter, which converts solar output into usable electricity. Here’s the best battery-ready options available.
Labor’s election win means its $2.3bn Cheaper Home Batteries Program campaign promise is set to become reality. But which are the best brands to get under this new battery rebate, and how big are the savings?
While Labor banked on battery incentives, on the eve of the election the Coalition announced plans for cuts to a range of home electrification programs. Here’s what was facing the axe.
The Coalition has made election promises to temporarily cut taxes and regulations on petrol-guzzling cars. But you could save a lot more through existing Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) exemptions for EVs, which even encompass charging gear and electricity consumed. Here’s how to zoom past both the tax collector and the petrol pump.
Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus spruiks Labor’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program.
Labor’s election promise of a federal battery incentive is eye-catching enough on its own, but especially lucrative is how it can potentially be combined with state-level schemes. We’ve run the numbers to calculate the savings from double-dipping, and they’re big — but so are the potential issues.
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