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.
Can’t say I’m shocked though. I made a video about their gear when it first came out. Thought the SigEnergy stack of battery, inverter, EV charger all rolled into one tidy package was damn clever – fast, flexible, and the fastest, easiest commissioning I’ve ever seen. Nobody paid me to say that (I don’t take manufacturer money), but I was genuinely impressed. Apparently, that video catapulted their sales.
Good on them. Happy to see them doing well.
But when something gets this hot, the comment sections tend to get a bit spicy too.
Mark Cavanagh from MC Electrical – mate of mine and one of the most respected blokes in the industry – posted a thoughtful video raising some concerns about the product. Technical stuff. Measured. Reasonable. You’d think a company on the rise would welcome that kind of feedback.
Instead? Mark got roasted.
A few days later, Glen Morris (another smart, thoughtful guy) posted a video defending the system. That’s fair enough. But some of the online reaction was anything but fair. Comment after comment attacking Mark’s credibility. Accusing him of making stuff up. Of shilling for Fronius. Of having some hidden agenda.
It Isn’t Easy Calling Out Big Brands
Let’s be clear: this is completely backwards.
Mark doesn’t criticise competing products because he sells Fronius. He sells Fronius because after 15 years and hundreds of installs, that’s the gear he trusts. He’s a free agent. Family business. His name’s on the door. He’s not going to hand his kids a company built on kit he has misgivings about.
He’s also one of the bravest people in the solar industry. Most people have no idea what he went through when he called out SolarEdge years ago. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty (and IMO SolarEdge should be ashamed) – but it helped push the whole industry forward.
And I get this too. Any time I raise concerns, someone pipes up with: “You only say that because you run a solar website!” No. It’s the other way round. I run a solar website because I’ve always said this stuff.1
I am impressed with what SigEnergy has accomplished in Australia in a short space of time, but I’ll continue to view them and any brand through a skeptical lens.
No Company Is Above Criticism
The point is: admiration is fine. But don’t turn it into worship. No brand – no matter how smart or shiny – is above criticism. Especially when they’re flogging $7,000 EV chargers. That’s expensive no matter how fast they are. So’s a Bugatti.
This industry doesn’t need more influencers. It needs qualified sceptics. Practitioners. People willing to say “hang on” and ask the annoying questions before things go sideways.
SigEnergy’s rise is impressive. Their product is changing the industry. They secured a podium finish in both the best battery and best EV charger categories for our Installer’s Choice Awards. Their fans are enthusiastic. I’m enthusiastic.
But if it’s as good as they say, it’ll hold up just fine under scrutiny.
So let’s welcome the praise, and the pushback. That’s how real trust gets built, and how this industry ends up with the best gear possible.
Footnotes
- Disclosure: Ran a solar website! ↩
About Finn Peacock
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Fanatical fanboys seem to be a thing these days. They do not take kindly to finding out their emperor may not quite be wearing as many clothes as they thought…
If you throw mud, prepare to get a little dirty.
To me the video was a little one sided, so I think the video’s in response was fair.
As the harsh comments – dry your eyes
I’m about to have a 16kwt sigenergy gateway fitted in WA & found out synergy keep moving the goalposts to force us into this VPP! Everyone’s got to have another meter fitted compulsory! SHAME on you synergy. Can you look into it please Finn??
I think you will find it is the WA government that moved the goalpost. To be eligible for the WA discount, you know have to sign up for a VPP I have read. “Rebates are available to eligible households that meet certain criteria, including participation in a Virtual Power Plant (VPP)”
Thank you Fin for a thoughtful and level headed article. Too many times people use forums and social media to hand out unqualified criticisms and personal attacks and it is not surprising that many are based on self interest or personal bias.
I have followed Solar Quotes for several years and out of all sites offering recommendations, I find this the most reliable to get information for my solar journey.
Thanks once again
👌Well said
Excellent points Finn. And thank you for your dedication and that of Solar Quotes for helping us sort out the wheat from the chaff over the years.
“So let’s welcome the praise, and the pushback.” Agreed so long as it is not “influenced” by sellers of the product or the competitors. That is what is needed to improve the products and the industry generally and to get better value for purchasers.
Re Sigenergy, they have certainly risen to fame (and fortune) very quickly and with what seems to be a very good product. And I am one of the many who is seriously considering a purchase of additional solar and a well sized Sigenergy battery this FY – assisted by my three quotes from Solar Choice of course.
However, the true test of any complex product is how it performs and is supported in the market over time. And that is why I have a Fronius inverter and had an SMA one in my previous house, both will quality panels. In the long run it’s worth it.
I had started to notice negative comments about Mark in a few FB groups, often accompanied by anti Fronius stuff.
Great to see someone prepared to call this garbage out and support Mark.
Online is a mess now when it comes to reviews and commentary one might try to sift through either out of interest or due diligence for a purchase.
You have Mark, going as far as using his time to run comparative trials, Product Review happily allowing some businesses to have almost 100% AI generated reviews and “solar installers” who insist that only installers commentary on products is valid.
The response by Aiko to Mark’s testing and reviews was very similar to that of Sigenery.
As I have mentioned before, I have serious doubts about the validity or value of publishing ratings based on the input of installers. Is profit a significant factor in some of the responses you are getting? Profit, not just being highest margins but least time spent and no technical challenges to install.
We’ve seen a long line of “solar flavours of the time” — each hyped as the next breakthrough, but most failing when tested in the real world:
Vertical turbines – look impressive, but low output and poor real-world performance kill their viability.
Micro wind – high maintenance and low payoff. Good for brochures, useless on rooftops.
Thin films – flexible and neat in theory, but inefficient and easily outclassed by silicon panels.
Enphase – great microinverter innovation, but costs remain high, limiting adoption.
SolarEdge – smart string inverters dominate commercial installs, but residential users face rising costs and repeated inverter failures — ironically, the optimizers hold up better than the inverters themselves.
Just be aware that new flavours may be great but quickly sour, and likewise ones that initially flop can have resurgence or innovative rethink that vastly improves them on the next iteration. So I would caution about being too categorical about these topics as time does bring change.
For example, I’ve seen a very recent presentation about a new generation of vertical turbines for small and medium scale use. Still very early days but it appears hat this product might be overcoming many of the previous issues. Whether they can get it commercial is still 2-3yrs in the making but the initial r&d appears solid (from an engineering perspective).
I won’t say it is a definite success yet but I would not write off the vertical turbines just yet.
Very well said. I too have concerns with, not the tech which is excellent, its the build quality and conformance to build standards. It might be covered by a warranty but I rather not have to use it. I want a robust set and forget setup for 10 yrs ie life of system. Some have raised concerns about what they have seen in the factory and while installing and the fine print on the warranty. As a consumer this is what I want to know not hyped up advertising.
Manufacturers welcome feedback and are keen to improve their products. Many offer factory tours and hands-on access so people like Mark can form an informed view. But that feedback should be delivered constructively, and never made public without giving a right of reply. That’s basic fairness. Otherwise it’s not accountability, it’s an ambush.
Mark’s attack videos don’t just hit the brands. They hurt hundreds of honest businesses who install a product they back who now have to manage nervous customers and cancelled orders. By all means, raise the alarm if something’s genuinely unsafe. But share the detailed data, and give the people involved a fair shot at explaining their side. Give them the opportunity to rectify. And if they don’t, then call it out (respectfully)
If no company is above criticism, why should Mark be excluded? And if he has such a long-standing relationship with Fronius, how can we expect his take to be truly unbiased?
They aren’t attack video’s. They are hey we will wait and see and we are worried some of the plastics on the units. Anyone who’s seen what the Queensland sun does to plastics would have similar concerns.
I am not sure what else you expect Mark to do? From years of watching Mark do his blog, and later videos, he has always encouraged (in fact I would say begged) for vendors and others to do similar testing and educate him and what he is missing. Evidence of this was being Mark being prepared to go on the youtube channel of the guy that just days ago was somewhat unfairly and personally “calling out his BS”!! All credit to him.
Marks job is not to propagate only half the story to make other installers jobs easy who only tell half the story.
I would argue if you have customers who are suddenly nervous about Sigenergy on the basis of Marks videos and cancelling orders, I would suggest maybe someone has not given a full picture of Sigeneergy and the risks that naturally come with a VERY young company with no market history. Some customers will have a lower threshold of risk just like Mark. Why not just offer something else that better addresses their requirements and risk threshold??
Mark’s free to raise concerns, but when you publish content that triggers real-world consequences on others, the bar for balance and fairness gets higher. Inviting vendors to “educate you” after the damage is done isn’t enough. If manufacturers need a body of data and evidence to achieve compliance and make claims on their datasheet, so should influencers.
Scepticism of a new product is fair. But drawing conclusions from limited installs, without full context or a right of reply, creates fear, not clarity. The responsibility cuts both ways for vendors and content creators. Mark’s (and Solar Quotes) platform is powerful, which is exactly why it should come with accountability.
If the new Fronius battery turns out to be a lemon, do you think Mark would release a scathing video before raising it with them and giving them a chance to address concerns. I somehow doubt it.
Hi John,
What makes you think that Mark isn’t giving manufacturers the opportunity to answer his queries prior to making these videos?
I can assure you, Mark has been very persistent over the years to get manufacturers to answer reasonable questions and concerns before finally going public.
PS: I’ve represented multiple of those manufacturers.
I genuinely want to respect the role Mark has played in lifting standards across the industry. But I also work for a manufacturer and our experience with him has made that much harder.
We willingly agreed to film a video with Mark, knowing he had concerns. We expected tough questions, but also a fair shot to address them. What got published was a tightly edited video that removed most of our key rebuttals and presented a heavily one-sided narrative. I’ve since spoken with other manufacturers who have had the same treatment.
What he claimed about our product does not align with with our lab testing, our real-life testing, feedback from thousands of customers and even the data retrieved from the device he tested. In fact, he still has our product on his wall and uses it regularly.
Our views are different to his, and that’s fine. But as a manufacturer where do we go from here while his videos continue to damage our brand and spread misinformation?
It all comes out in the wash eventually – if a manufacturer’s products are good enough, they’ll muster enough positive reviews to overcome any outliers, and and if Mark’s reviews aren’t accurate, then he won’t keep his audience. Mark has built his reputation on the back of calling it as he sees it.
I think we need to acknowledge that the world is a complicated field to play on. If it was perfect, and the good guys always win in the end, and giving frank and fearless information & advice was always rewarded by the fair & unbiased judgement of the public, etc then sure, let’s put obfuscators and misleaders into the pillory and vid-shame them.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully support people like Mark and his valuable contribution. But he has also built significant influence that can positively or negatively impact manufacturers and vendors. And this should also come with reasonable scrutiny and accountability. If he makes a superficial judgement on an aspect of a product, then it is reasonable for that to be subject to criticism. Kudos for his get-together with Glenn with respect to that – very rare to see a real debate like that and also quite respectful.
Marks video showed the factory tour observations, the product shortcoming details and the unnecessary warranty layers of complexity. Can’t be any more transparent.
My view as an Electrical Engineer is that its not quite upto scratch in meeting both International & Australian standards but not insurmountable for the manufacturer to lift their game! In fact it could be done in months !
I respect your view, but I want to share mine, as someone who’s represented both Hanwha Qcells and Fronius in Australia, two brands that have (or had) strong ties with Mark Cavanagh.
When Mark publishes a video highlighting product strengths and weaknesses, I know firsthand that he’s already given the manufacturer multiple chances to provide data, respond publicly, or revise warranty terms.
I’ve had many tough conversations with Mark where he’s pushed both Qcells and Fronius to lift their game. He consistently challenges manufacturers to be more transparent, more ethical, and to raise the bar for the whole industry.
While the public only sees the videos, I know the intention behind it- to hold the industry accountable and shine a light where it’s needed – especially when it’s hard! That’s something we should support.
I back Mark not because of my current role, but because his work genuinely lifts the market. We need more brave public figures like Mark in our industry.
Excellent words Finn yes we do need all reviews bad or great it as you say we need both sides of a story to make our own minds up on a product.
I was on the fence about Sigenergy before, for a few reasons. After watching the Glen Morris interview with Mark Cavanagh, it really stood out to me that Glen seemed a bit disingenuous—not so much in what he said, but in his tone and overall non-verbal cues.
There’s just too much hype around this product—it feels a bit too good to be true. And from my perspective, the fact that the entire team came from Huawei isn’t exactly a strong selling point.
Well said Finn!! I am a fan of Sigenergy. So much so I am buying one. But while Mark had a couple of small misunderstandings in his video which he acknowledged, pretty much all his concerns were totally understandable. Especially when under Australia Consumer Law his company is fully responsible for the warranty if a brand new company goes away.
If anything, it is Glenn’s videos I thought were totally unfair (especially his 1st 2 on the subject). Smug and condescending videos pretty much attaching Mark and diminishing his credentials. At the same time descending into fanboy territory. It was the sort of unbalanced stuff I would expect from a salesman. Especially as he did not acknowledge where he gets his money from being paid by companies like Sigenergy, either directly in cold hard cash, or with products to review. And in those videos even made strongly misleading statements incorrectly implying that he paid for them himself.
Keep up the good work Mark.
I remember 17 years ago, everyone started switching to an iPhone or 7 years ago people started switching to a Model 3. People did buy lots of Tesla PW 1 and 2 but the market has gone mainstream and Sigenergy ecosystem makes sense. The old saying good, cheap, fast is applied here to a Sigenergy system. People buy it because of the above values and there are no better alternatives on the market.
However, I have to point out the price you mentioned for the Sigenergy charging system is DC. I don’t believe anyone else have this option yet. I’ve got their AC EV charger which is around $1200.
Delta have their DC WallBox 25kW.
Not integrated AFAIK and no idea about quality, pricing etc.
But it exists.
Yes and a bidirectional charger at that which are thin on the ground and it’s cheaper than the bidirectional chargers that are around.
Agree but if you are reputable and professional no product should be criticised online before its documentation is thoroughly reviewed and the company is queried privately first to confirm. If that due diligence occurs and there are issues then go professionally hard in a review.
BTW an IPO is the most common route to achieving public listing.It involves a significant amount of preparation, due diligence, and regulatory filings, often with the help of investment banks. In a purist sense a company is more stable once publicly listed but does that mean you never buy anything from new players in the market? Should we all just be Tesla / Fronius / Sungrow / SolarEdge fanboys forever and let them get complacent, greedy and uninventive?
Also let’s not kid ourselves. No one should trust anyone 100% if they are commercially invested in an industry and sell some products but not others. Yep the dodgy minority tarnish the good majority.
The MC Electrical video was factually incorrect on many points, their installation was very poor and non compliant (less than 300mm air gap on either side unless the garage door is left open all the time). It was heavily criticised in the comments for good reason.
Mark Cavanagh is a genuine guy and a champion of the solar industry. My business has been going for as long as his, and ultimately, the best service you can provide your clients is for your company to remain in business. As a business owner, that means your number one priority is risk mitigation. The solar industry is volatile, and most solar companies have not been through the solar rollercoaster of a company that is 15+ years old. These younger players would be naive to the fact that you could have a downturn in this buoyant growth industry. They probably think the 2-month downturn in trade from the announcement of the Federal Cheaper Home Batteries rebate, late April to the 1st July, is a bad as it gets. SigEnergy is a new company, and they are tiny in comparison to the established players. They have built an excellent product, and I’m sure this will kick the likes of Fronius and Sungrow into gear. But the reality is that they are a fragile company financially, and that is a risk.
Anyone watching MC Electrical’s videos without preconceptions would realise the answer wasn’t no, it was I’ll wait and see.
Just like his experience with Fronius inverters, which is a lot less returns than the competition.
As a mechanical engineer, I found most of the MC video was not based in science or fact. Specifically their calling out using plastic sidepieces showed the lack of materials knowledge. While there were a few salient points made, it really did come across poorly to me and I can see why people seem to feel they had a vendetta. I just had my sigenergy system installed after doing a huge amount of research and am happy that I did. I did investigate Tesla and BYD, but there are a lot of compelling elements to sigenergy that neither offered
Thankyou. As usual, your information is extremely relevant and helpful. I’m not sure how any product or service ever makes significant improvement if they don’t welcome constructive feedback etc? Sigenergy should welcome qualified feedback.
Too true. I went with Enphase and son-in-law went with Solar Edge. The Enphase took a while to get the bugs ironed out.
Bugs??
It is a mature and proven product!
Bugs (software faults mostly) appear as all the OEMs struggle to satisfy Australia’s mess of DNSPs and the different rules for interfacing to each one. They can also appear when new components are released. They are all loaded with complex software.
Enphase saved the day by offering us solid customer support, after my installer had gone bust. They spent an inordinate amount of time getting our system to smoothly handle two phase power and to sail through frequent blackouts as advertised.
It took several software updates and partial system restarts over weeks.
All has been just fine for nearly two years now.
I thought it was great to listen to both Mark and Glenn’s perspectives. One of the points that I took from their discussion was that companies can come and go for various reasons regardless of how long they’ve been in the business. In the end for me it’s a blend of due diligence mixed with blind faith and whilst it’s not always the case I tend to agree with Glenn about technology advancement generally winning long-term.
I passed on the Sigenergy purely because of the 90 day Internet check in requirement. The idea that if the battery isn’t able to speak to a server every 90 days it bricks itself scared me.
It’s a shame because I genuinely think its a better product than what I got instead.
I found this when looking into the issue, hope it helps
Previously, SigenStor systems would disable energy storage functionality entirely after 90 days of being offline, leaving only pure PV power generation available.
Recent Change:
Sigenergy has updated its approach to allow continued charging and discharging even when offline for extended periods.
Limitations:
While the charging and discharging functions are retained, the system may experience slightly reduced performance, especially in harsh operating environments.
Safety Measures:
The Cut-off SOC (State of Charge) is adjusted to prevent battery damage from prolonged offline periods.
No True Bypass:
The system will not allow for the short-term overload function to be supported in long-term offline scenarios.
Purpose:
These adjustments are designed to ensure safe operation while allowing users to leverage the battery’s charging and discharging capabilities, even without an internet connection.
There has apparently been a revision of the exact behaviour of the 90 day timeout according to a post by Wattmaters on the Whirlpoolk Sigenergy thread:
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/374p81k1-4 (search 90 days)
Haven’t been able to find a primary source confirmation of that (ie release notes)
I agree with Mark on this one,
We often see new products enter the Australian Market only to see they just can’t handle our harsh conditions.
Only long standing brands that have proven themselves can really stand tall and say we have proven ourselves and you can trust us.
Time will tell but for now we won’t be installing them.
A battery is a battery, nothing more. The rest of the stack and the software is another story.
Can we discuss… Theft.
If you install these outdoors, visible from the street…
My concern would be that someone could flip an isolator, pull out some power tools, and steal a couple thousand $ of battery modules in half an hour.
These things are easy to install but it’s a double edged sword…
Maybe SigEnergy had serial numbers on each module and it “phones home” when you connect it to the internet and they can trace thieves? Wouldn’t count on that though…
One point that has t been pushed hard is the shutdown mode of these devices if they don’t call home to China after some number of days. This is a huge aggregate risk that no-one seems to focused on. I am considering a Sigenstor as well but this point has given me significant pause. I REALLY don’t like the idea that if this company goes belly up they could brick all of this awesome hardware just by turning off their website.
The sole reason I went with a different brand.
I had a further look into that and found this.
Previously, SigenStor systems would disable energy storage functionality entirely after 90 days of being offline, leaving only pure PV power generation available.
Recent Change:
Sigenergy has updated its approach to allow continued charging and discharging even when offline for extended periods.
Limitations:
While the charging and discharging functions are retained, the system may experience slightly reduced performance, especially in harsh operating environments.
Safety Measures:
The Cut-off SOC (State of Charge) is adjusted to prevent battery damage from prolonged offline periods.
No True Bypass:
The system will not allow for the short-term overload function to be supported in long-term offline scenarios.
Purpose:
These adjustments are designed to ensure safe operation while allowing users to leverage the battery’s charging and discharging capabilities, even without an internet connection.
Thanks. This is good to know. I have an Enphase Envoy and I hate the fact that there is a reverse tunnel into my network that anyone with the right permissions at Enphase can use to access what is essentially a computer on my home network. Imagine the damage someone who has bulk access to thousands of solar installs could do! It’s a liability by design at best and a privacy invasion and national security risk at worst. SigenStor is taking that one step further – you can’t even disconnect! At least you can still keep using it in some sense in disconnected state, but I wish these companies would prioritize user privacy more.
We have a security camera and fire and smoke sensor watching over ours. Ditto the EV in carport.
I am enjoying the debate from everyone. I am not in a position just yet to upgrade but was looking at Sig was unaware of the phone home issue.
Likewise I don’t have an EV but I do like the DC Charger (but not at 7k) for me it is not a big issue as I do very little mileage, so little that a 10 year old EV with 50% battery is fine.
So unless I relocate the EV charger isn’t a concern.
What I would like to see in remote areas is more solar panels on shed not houses with the whole system in the shed – fire is my concern
As a nobody, just a consumer I do wish that manufactures would embrace customer concerns more quickly .
Well done, Finn, for using your platform to stand up for another — that takes integrity.
I’ve personally dealt with Mark on many occasions, and he genuinely lives by the same mantra as you “If I wouldn’t put it on my grandmother’s house, I won’t sell it to you.” That’s the level of care I wish every installer brought to the table.
In a market often swayed by whatever’s shiny and new, we need more professionals who take a long-term, customer-first view. With the amount of bad press in our industry, shonky installs, and the fact that a third of systems are orphaned — trust matters.
Sigenergy has only been on the Australian market for 12 months. If they go the same way as LG, a lot of solar companies could go down with them. We need to be cautious, not just excited.
A few months ago I was seriously considering a Sigenergy battery to add to my Enphase system, more for backup purposes than anything else. However, my installer, who was new to Sigenergy, was unable to answer some questions I had about the backup features & capabilities that were not clearly documented anywhere, so he suggested I contacted Sigenergy directly.
I emailed both the Sydney office and their engineers, and left voice messages – in total about four times. The emails were tracked, so I know they were opened – each one several times, but no acknowledgement and no reply.
To this day, I have been unable to get my questions answered, so no battery!
I know they are really busy, but if this is how their sales / customer support works, then it’s not a product I would be comfortable buying yet. Clearly Sigenergy needs more time to mature and implement solid support systems.