Thousands of ACT households are to have solar panel and battery systems installed under the federal government’s national Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI). [Read more…]
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Sydney EV Super Show: Get Set For Everything Electric 2025
What’s promoted as the world’s leading home energy and electric vehicle show returns to Sydney this week at Olympic Park. And if you’re thinking about attending, we’ve got a discount ticket code for you. [Read more…]
Living With Low (Or Even Zero) Solar Feed-In Tariffs
Minimum solar feed-in tariff rates (such as they are) have been set for what could be the last time in Victoria. But smart solar ownership will still bring significant financial and other benefits; and this applies across Australia where rates have been reducing. [Read more…]
Gas Companies Want To Charge You To Quit Gas: How To Avoid $1000 Fees
Switching from gas to an all-electric home can save hundreds of dollars a year, but if you’re not careful you risk copping some hefty fees. There’s one big decision to make that determines how much you will be out of pocket: should you abolish your gas connection or just disconnect it?
Inverters Don’t Stick To The Script: Neither Should Customer Support
Modern solar power systems are becoming complex beasts, so it’s more important than ever that you have the best possible support behind the product you buy. Read on as we share a masterclass in customer service from Fronius.
Community Energy Upgrades Fund Recipients Announced
58 local governments across Australia have shared in $50 million in federal grants for projects improving the energy efficiency of community buildings and infrastructure through solar, batteries and electrification. [Read more…]
GloBird Zerohero: Finally, A VPP That Lets You Control Your Battery
Image: GloBird
Update 24th Feb 2025: I mistakenly wrote that the Globird Zerohero VPP allows a household to use up to 0.3kWh of grid electricity during the two hour Zerohero peak and still receive a $1 credit. But the actual figure GloBird gives is 0.03kWh per hour. This makes for a total of 0.06kWh over the two hour period. This figure is low and has the potential to make it difficult for battery households to claim the $1 credit because it’s normal for battery households to still draw a small amount of power from the grid even if they never exceed their battery’s continuous power output. I called GloBird but wasn’t able to talk to anyone who knew details about the VPP. I have sent them an email and, hopefully, they will respond to it. Until I get clarification from Glowbird, I can’t recommend using their Zerohero VPP as it may be difficult for households to take advantage of one of its major benefits.
Update 3rd March 2025: GloBird have responded and said, for the batteries they have tested, households are able to get through the two hour Zerohero evening peak without exceeding the 0.03kWh per hour grid electricity consumption limit, so are able to receive the $1 credit. They also sent some bill information on four households showing this. However, this information was all from summer when small amounts of solar generation during the peak period could have helped the households avoid the 0.03kWh per hour limit. Until we receive information showing homes can receive the $1 Zerohero credit outside of summer, I recommend assuming you won’t get it any time your solar system isn’t producing a small amount of energy during the second half of the Zerohero evening peak. I have placed the bill information at the end of the post.
I’ve looked into the pros and cons of a range of Virtual Power Plants, and so far, I haven’t been impressed. But GloBird Energy’s Zerohero VPP stands out as the best of a bad bunch. Rather than providing inadequately meagre payments — so long as you have a suitable battery and electricity consumption patterns — its payments have the potential to be adequately meagre.
Victoria Planning To Abolish Minimum Solar Feed-In Tariffs
It’s been reported the Victorian Government will no longer set minimum solar feed in tariff (FiT) rates, bringing it into line with several other states. [Read more…]
Kerbside EV Charging Gets A Multi-Million Dollar Boost
$2.4 million in funding has been announced for the installation of 250 public kerbside electric vehicle charging stations across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. [Read more…]
Aiko Launches Its Most Ruthlessly Efficient Solar Panel Yet
If you’ve only just had the most efficient residential solar panels in Australia installed on your roof, unfortunately you won’t be able to enjoy that bragging point for much longer: Aiko Solar claims to have (again) broken their own record with what they claim is the first residential panel in Australia to exceed 24% module efficiency.
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