{"id":40687,"date":"2020-06-29T14:12:40","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T03:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=40687"},"modified":"2025-12-19T14:27:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:57:05","slug":"nsw-solar-battery-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_40887\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40887\" class=\"wp-image-40887 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg\" alt=\"NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-40887\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A happy family with their 4.8 kWh of Enphase AC batteries. These 4 batteries will cost about $10,000 installed and store about $1.44 of solar electricity.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p><strong>Guess what! You can now read another tax-payer funded document that does more harm than good.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>The NSW Government has published the <a href=\"https:\/\/energysaver.nsw.gov.au\/media\/2051\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020<\/a>.\u00a0 It&#8217;s supposed to help the people of NSW and Australia decide if getting batteries is right for them.<\/p>\r\n<p>I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane.<!--more--><\/p>\r\n<p>By insane, I mean it appears to support two mutually contradictory ideas:<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>Home batteries can pay for themselves if they are bought at the same time as solar power.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<li>Home batteries are the last thing households should consider.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>I can only guess it was written by committee. A committee who decided not to work out which advice was correct for NewSouthWelshpeople. It seems they, instead, decided to simply lump the two mutually contradictory views into the one report.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>If you don&#8217;t like me describing it as insane &#8212; if you think that&#8217;s an insult to insane people &#8212; then I&#8217;ll say it is totally Star Wars.\u00a0 There is a light side to the advice and a dark side to the advice.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40832\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/yodabatt.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"976\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/yodabatt.jpg 976w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/yodabatt-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/yodabatt-768x453.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>On the side of giving bad advice to people:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>The NSW Minister for Energy and the Environment states, &#8220;While batteries may not be suitable for everyone, people with rooftop solar should consider whether storage works for them.&#8221;\u00a0 This is despite the fact that, at the moment, it&#8217;s completely unrealistic to expect a home solar battery to pay for itself in NSW.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<li>The report claims a payback time under 10 years for solar and batteries when bought together. But the report fails to disclose how they use solar&#8217;s excellent payback time to hide the truth of the matter: that home batteries in NSW are unlikely to ever pay for themselves at their current installed costs.<\/li>\r\n<li>It has a number of amusing little blunders such as failing to define power correctly.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>On the good side it&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Contains a lot of information that isn&#8217;t wrong or misleading.<\/li>\r\n<li>Gives advice on a range of alternatives that make a lot more sense than getting a solar battery.<\/li>\r\n<li>Wasn&#8217;t printed on paper, so no trees died for a report that needs to be rewritten.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>I&#8217;ll start off by describing the bad advice in the report before moving onto the good.\u00a0 The section on bad advice will be a lot longer because it&#8217;s a comedy gold mine, but this doesn&#8217;t mean there isn&#8217;t a lot of good advice in the guide.\u00a0 The problem is, when people are relying on the guide to help them make big financial decisions, it doesn&#8217;t take much bad stuff to make the whole thing worse than useless.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#en-40687-1' id='enref-40687-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(40687)'>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\r\n<h2>Yes Minister<\/h2>\r\n<p>The report begins with a foreword from the NSW Minister for Energy and Environment, the Honorable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/matt-kean-awareness-mb1375\/\">Matt Kean<\/a>, who seems awfully keen on home batteries for some reason.\u00a0 He wrote&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>&#8220;While batteries may not be suitable for everyone, people with rooftop solar should consider whether storage works for them.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>That&#8217;s a shitty thing for the Minister to say.\u00a0 This is because it&#8217;s his job to serve the people of NSW, not to help them get served by being sold a solar battery system that only ends up costing them money.\u00a0 As home batteries right now will cause the typical family in NSW to lose money, he should use his taxpayer-funded position to be clear about this fact.\u00a0 Let me fix his statement for him&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>&#8220;Currently batteries will lose normal households money.\u00a0 People interested in buying batteries to save money should not consider storage unless their situation is exceptional.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>There, that&#8217;s a better use of state resources!\u00a0 After all, he&#8217;s a Minister, not a battery salesman.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t expect Ministers to understand stuff like solar battery payback, but I do expect them to make an effort to protect the people they serve from making financial blunders.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not as if NSW is suffering from some sort of critical lack of battery optimism he has to make up for.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>A Poor Start<\/h2>\r\n<p>The third and fourth sentences of the guide state:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>&#8220;Home solar battery systems can store solar energy generated during the day and make it available when the sun isn\u2019t shining\u2014potentially saving the household money. They deliver a clean, secure and reliable energy supply.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>We&#8217;re just on the second paragraph of the first page and we&#8217;ve already run into problems.\u00a0 These are:<\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>The suggestion that normal households saving money by getting a battery is a realistic possibility.<\/li>\r\n<li>Saying energy from solar batteries is clean when &#8212; at the moment &#8212; their use generally results in increased pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<h2>Not A Money Saver In NSW<\/h2>\r\n<p>Unlike South Australia, NSW doesn&#8217;t have a big battery subsidy of up to $4,000.\u00a0 What they do have are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-empowering-homes-mb1336\/\">interest-free loans for batteries<\/a> provided you live in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-empowering-homes-mb1336\/\">the right postcode<\/a>.\u00a0 This is not nearly as good as thousands of dollars off the cost of a solar battery like in SA. On top of that, electricity prices are lower in NSW.\u00a0 So while a subsidised battery may pay for itself in the Festival State, it&#8217;s not a realistic possibility for any NSW home that is remotely close to normal.\u00a0 This is true even for the cheapest batteries I&#8217;ve seen advertised and buying the cheapest solar batteries on the market may not be a great idea.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#en-40687-2' id='enref-40687-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(40687)'>2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Joining a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/vpp-comparison\/\">Virtual Power Plant<\/a> (VPP) should improve the return from batteries, but they haven&#8217;t proved themselves yet and joining one isn&#8217;t without problems.\u00a0 It involves giving up some control over your battery and VPPs have a financial incentive to make as much money from a home solar battery as possible while paying you as little as they can. \u00a0Current VPPs are likely to deliver lower profits this year &#8211; due to lower wholesale electricity prices &#8211; thanks to COVID. We will have to wait and see how much benefit VPPs can provide in the future.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Use Our Solar &amp; Battery Calculator<\/h2>\r\n<p>If you don&#8217;t believe me that batteries can&#8217;t pay for themselves yet in NSW, go to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/solar-calculator\/\">SolarQuotes Solar &amp; Battery Calculator<\/a> and see what it gives as the simple payback time for batteries for a typical household and a household with 3 times the typical electricity consumption, on a flat-rate tariff.\u00a0 While it varies depending on the solar battery system chosen, it&#8217;s often over 30 years.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_40884\" style=\"width: 964px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40884\" class=\"wp-image-40884 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/sydbatpay.jpg\" alt=\"home solar battery payback graph\" width=\"954\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/sydbatpay.jpg 954w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/sydbatpay-300x178.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/sydbatpay-768x456.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 954px) 100vw, 954px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-40884\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The simple payback time from our solar and battery calculator using defaults for blue and 3 times typical household electricity consumption in orange.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>As the maximum warranty length for lithium batteries is normally 10 years and they degrade with both use and time, it is not at all realistic to expect one to last 20+ years.\u00a0 If you don&#8217;t like the default prices our calculator uses, you can enter your own, letting you use any advertised installed price you think is fair dinkum.<\/p>\r\n<hr style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\" \/>\r\n<p><strong>Note from Finn: What about Time of Use Tariffs?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><em>The SolarQuotes calculator makes its calculations based on a flat tariff<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#en-40687-3' id='enref-40687-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(40687)'>3<\/a><\/sup>. A common argument for money-saving batteries in NSW goes along the lines of: <\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><em>&#8220;The peak rate on the nastiest time of use tariff is 52c per kWh with a feed-in tariff of 7c. So if I drain my 13.5 kWh battery in the peak period, I&#8217;ll save 52c &#8211; 7c = 45c per kWh = $6 per day = $2,190 per year = 7 year payback on a $16,000 battery!&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p><em>A few issues here:<\/em><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li><em>If you settle for a 7c FiT in NSW you are a sucker as 11c or more is easily available.<\/em><\/li>\r\n<li><em>If you want a ToU tariff and you choose one with a 52c peak tariff you are a sucker as other retailers offer a much better peak rate.<\/em><\/li>\r\n<li><em>On many ToU plans, the peak rate is not available in Spring or Autumn, that&#8217;s half the year.<\/em><\/li>\r\n<li><em>In summer the peak rate is typically from 2pm &#8211; 8pm. Sunset is about 8pm in Sydney in January<\/em><\/li>\r\n<li><em>Why are you choosing the most expensive tariff possible to compare with? &#8211; Battery savings should be compared with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy\/\">cheapest electricity plan for solar owners<\/a>. For most solar owners this is a flat-rate tariff.<\/em><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p><em>So no: cherry-picking expensive time of use tariffs for your calculations does not make your solar battery magically pay for itself.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<hr style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\" \/>\r\n<h2>The Guide Should Be Honest With The NSW Public<\/h2>\r\n<p>By not making it clear that there is no real hope of home batteries paying for themselves at this time, the guide has done the people of NSW a disservice. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>Not Very Green<\/h2>\r\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/does-battery-storage-help-or-hurt-the-environment\/\">this article explains<\/a>, energy is wasted every time a battery is charged or discharged. Storing solar energy in one during the day and using it at night increases emissions compared to sending that solar electricity directly into the grid during the day.\u00a0 I wrote that article four years ago and said the environmental benefit of solar batteries would improve in the future.\u00a0 Since it&#8217;s the future now, or at least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LDiDK_yBCw0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">it will be soon<\/a>, I can say the environmental credibility of batteries is getting better, as a larger portion of our electricity is coming from solar and wind and joining a Virtual Power Plant can greatly increase the ability of home batteries to support the integration of renewables into the grid.\u00a0 This integration includes helping avoid further restrictions on the ability of rooftop solar panels to export energy to the grid, so batteries can be a big help to solar power.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>But, generally speaking, home solar batteries are still likely to be environmentally worse than greener options such as more solar panels, home insulation, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/hot-water\/heat-pump\/\">heat pump hot water system<\/a>, or replacing your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EUnCmdl9Z4A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">V8 interceptor<\/a> with an electric car or &#8212; better yet &#8212; a bicycle.<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40807\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/muppetratcycle.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"272\" \/><\/p>\r\n<h2>It&#8217;s Full Of Blunders<\/h2>\r\n<p>If you want to make an engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbc-comics.com\/comic\/science-advisor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cry<\/a> all you have to do is show them the following passage on measuring energy from the guide:<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40725 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/cry.png\" alt=\"measuring energy\" width=\"1193\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/cry.png 1193w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/cry-300x108.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/cry-1024x368.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/cry-768x276.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1193px) 100vw, 1193px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p><em>Nooooooooooooo!<\/em>\u00a0 Power doesn&#8217;t measure energy!\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/good-solar-guide\/power-energy-difference\/\">Power measures power<\/a>!\u00a0 I may as well go to the Apple shop right now and buy a new laptop, because when Finn reads this his laptop won&#8217;t just short out from his tears, it will probably get washed out to sea.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>It&#8217;s like saying there are two units to measure distance: distance (km) and speed (kph). It is nonsensical.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>But I should probably relax because this could just be a typo.\u00a0 I&#8217;m going to keep telling myself it was probably just a typo until the pain starts to go away.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Unfortunately, my mental equilibrium isn&#8217;t helped by them immediately giving a poor example of appliance energy consumption :<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40726 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/horribleexample.png\" alt=\"power and energy use\" width=\"1182\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/horribleexample.png 1182w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/horribleexample-300x94.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/horribleexample-1024x320.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/horribleexample-768x240.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1182px) 100vw, 1182px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>It&#8217;s not that they&#8217;ve written anything wrong. If something uses 1.5 kW for 13 hours it does indeed use 19.5 kWh of energy. But it&#8217;s a lousy example. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/air-conditioning\/\">air conditioner<\/a> changes its power draw all the time as it regulates the indoor temperature. It is very unlikely to draw a constant amount of power for 13 hours.\u00a0 Not unless it&#8217;s operating flat out through a heatwave.\u00a0 But I&#8217;m probably overreacting here.\u00a0 I should be glad they didn&#8217;t get power and energy confused.<\/p>\r\n<p>But here&#8217;s something that really <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DLeyITbK5AU&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;fbclid=IwAR27_tG5j8oaLVzMPUFyF7WHlkdw0vZEu6eEJu6MCYok46-RJ76-wcC3Ryo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">steams my clams<\/a>.\u00a0 At the bottom of the same page they have this graphic:<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40813 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic.png\" alt=\"calculating usable power from solar\" width=\"2618\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic.png 2618w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic-300x103.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic-1024x352.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic-768x264.png 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic-1536x528.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/naughtygraphic-2048x704.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2618px) 100vw, 2618px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>Five kilowatts of solar panels exposed to the sun for 4 hours is not going to produce 20 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_40881\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40881\" class=\"wp-image-40881 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/5kw-solar-power.png\" alt=\"5kW solar system power curve\" width=\"700\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/5kw-solar-power.png 700w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/5kw-solar-power-300x180.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-40881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/good-solar-guide\/power-energy-difference\/\">The Good Solar Guide<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>Not on this planet.\u00a0 Sure, maybe they could produce 5 kilowatts of power at noon, but you may have noticed noon doesn&#8217;t normally last 4 hours.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#en-40687-4' id='enref-40687-4' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(40687)'>4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_40815\" style=\"width: 834px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40815\" class=\"size-full wp-image-40815\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Joshuah_Ordering_the_Sun_to_Stand_Still._ca_1743-1744._Joseph_Marie_Vien.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"824\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Joshuah_Ordering_the_Sun_to_Stand_Still._ca_1743-1744._Joseph_Marie_Vien.jpg 824w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Joshuah_Ordering_the_Sun_to_Stand_Still._ca_1743-1744._Joseph_Marie_Vien-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Joshuah_Ordering_the_Sun_to_Stand_Still._ca_1743-1744._Joseph_Marie_Vien-768x504.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 824px) 100vw, 824px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-40815\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nobody likes a cheat, Joshuah.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>Maybe what they meant was the equivalent of four hours of sunshine under Standard Test Conditions (STC).\u00a0 But that&#8217;s not the sort of conclusion you should expect a casual reader to leap to.\u00a0 Then they say &#8220;If the solar energy was stored in a battery&#8221; it could power a 1.5 kilowatt appliance for 13.3 hours.\u00a0 This is not correct because energy is always lost when charging and discharging batteries.\u00a0 If the round trip efficiency was 90% &#8212; which is high for a home battery system &#8212; then it could supply 1.5 kilowatts for 12 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>A 10% difference may not seem like much, but when you have a 71-page guide that&#8217;s enough bloody space to include a clear description of battery losses, rather than a single vague bullet point mentioning &#8220;efficiency losses between solar, the battery and your appliances&#8221; two dozen pages further in.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_40817\" style=\"width: 1869px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-40817\" class=\"size-full wp-image-40817\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/page64.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1859\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/page64.png 1859w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/page64-300x42.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/page64-1024x143.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/page64-768x107.png 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/page64-1536x215.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1859px) 100vw, 1859px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-40817\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>This information is not provided on page 64 or anywhere else<\/strong>, but they do include a link to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/comparison-table\/\">SolarQuotes Battery Comparison Table<\/a>, which was nice of them.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<h2>Biggest Blunder = Blended Payback<\/h2>\r\n<p>By far the biggest blunder, and the one that makes this guide royally bin-worthy, is where they mislead the people of NSW into thinking a battery can pay for itself within 10 years by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/blended-payback\/\">blending<\/a> the good payback time of solar panels with the bad payback time of a home battery:<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40819 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nope.png\" alt=\"use of blended payback\" width=\"1157\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nope.png 1157w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nope-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nope-1024x443.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nope-768x333.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1157px) 100vw, 1157px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>This is an idiotic mistake with plenty of potential to cause financial hardship for families. It is also against the long term interests of the solar battery industry.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#en-40687-5' id='enref-40687-5' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(40687)'>5<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Even worse, this mistake was completely unnecessary, as there was at least one person involved in writing the guide who grasped the problem of blended payback &#8211; on page 41 the guide says people should try to understand&#8230;<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;what part of the savings are due to the battery itself and what parts are due to installing solar panels.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>But this advice is completely ignored in the section on battery payback.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>There is a small particle of truth in what the guide says about the payback of getting solar and batteries at the same time, so I&#8217;ll get that out of the way before dealing with a huge dollop of stupidity.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<h2>A Battery Can Be Cheaper When Bought With Solar<\/h2>\r\n<p>The cost of getting solar panels and a battery at the same time as an integrated system can be cheaper than getting a solar system and then adding a separate battery system.\u00a0 But this difference is nowhere near enough to allow a battery system to have a payback time of under 10 years.\u00a0 If you use our Solar &amp; Battery Calculator and look at the payback time for just the battery, you&#8217;ll see there aren&#8217;t any that have a simple payback period of under 20 years for a typical household.\u00a0 This is more than twice the maximum 10-year warranty of lithium battery systems and, because solar batteries wear out with use, there is no chance of them lasting that long, unless perhaps they are hardly being used, but that means it&#8217;s not going to pay for itself anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>To sum up:\u00a0 Yes, batteries can be cheaper when bought with solar power.\u00a0 No, the difference is nowhere near enough to make them pay for themselves.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Blending Payback Doesn&#8217;t Magically Make Batteries Pay<\/h2>\r\n<p>If you buy a chicken that lays 20 eggs a month and at the same time buy another chicken that lays zero eggs, just because you bought them at the same time doesn&#8217;t mean you have two chickens that lay 10 eggs a month each. It means you have one hen that&#8217;s a good layer and one that&#8217;s only good for the pot.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40882\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/chicken.jpg\" alt=\"chicken\" width=\"800\" height=\"759\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/chicken.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/chicken-300x285.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/chicken-768x729.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0It&#8217;s the same with batteries and solar.\u00a0 If you buy a battery system that loses money, it is going to lose you money no matter if you buy it with solar power or without.\u00a0 Getting both at the same time doesn&#8217;t magically make the solar battery pay.\u00a0 It just means you have one thing that saves you money and another thing that doesn&#8217;t.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Obviously, if your main motivation is to save money and you have the opportunity to buy something that doesn&#8217;t save you money, you shouldn&#8217;t.\u00a0 When the guide gets rewritten to correct its mistakes, it should make this 100% clear for the good of society<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#en-40687-6' id='enref-40687-6' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(40687)'>6<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n<h2>What The Guide Gets Right<\/h2>\r\n<p>The guide isn&#8217;t all bad.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a lot of good advice in there.\u00a0 The trouble is, the people it&#8217;s aimed at aren&#8217;t going to know what is good advice and what stinks worse than an Appalachian skunk kicking contest, which makes the whole thing useless.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>This is a pity because they&#8217;ve screwed up a good opportunity to help people.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a whole list of things they recommend doing before people even think about getting a solar battery:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>Make sure you have the best retail electricity plan for your circumstances.<\/li>\r\n<li>Insulate your home.<\/li>\r\n<li>Cut energy use by using LED lights and washing clothes in cold water.<\/li>\r\n<li>Buy energy-efficient appliances.<\/li>\r\n<li>If you have solar power, set appliances and hot water systems to run during the day.<\/li>\r\n<li>Get an energy-efficient heat pump hot water system<\/li>\r\n<li>Finally &#8212; install more solar panels.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-40829 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/first.png\" alt=\"considering batteries\" width=\"1561\" height=\"418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/first.png 1561w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/first-300x80.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/first-1024x274.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/first-768x206.png 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/first-1536x411.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1561px) 100vw, 1561px\" \/><\/p>\r\n<h2>A Battery Calculator<\/h2>\r\n<p>In addition to the guide, there is a companion <a href=\"https:\/\/energysaver.nsw.gov.au\/households\/solar-and-battery-power\/empowering-homes-solar-battery-loan-offer\/calculator?_hsmi=89757915&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Q5nD9bZtObJasfZZVqg2kZvZnyJwrzKZIFlNH7RmWSqJiap6UHd9wkc_9lIHr8q4aVRRFEgqjlypktQ8lEY31cMxRrPa-93QR6DnepQtu9Q5iXSU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Solar Battery Calculator<\/a>.\u00a0 I intend to check it out sometime in the next few days and write about how it stacks up.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see which of the committee members who put this guide together worked on the calculator.\u00a0 It may have been someone who understands battery payback and presents the results without bullshit.<\/p>\r\n<h2>Redo From Start<\/h2>\r\n<p>The NSW Home Solar Battery Guide has the potential for economic harm. It encourages people to incorrectly believe that a battery system can save NSW families money provided they cast the magic spell of buying it at the same time as solar power. This version should be thrown out.\u00a0 They can replace it with version 1.1 with all the errors removed.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>If they don&#8217;t do this, then if I was the NSW Minister for Energy and Environment, I&#8217;d want to take my name off it.\u00a0 I&#8217;d sign it the Honorable <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alan_Smithee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alan Smithee<\/a>, Minister for Pigs, Lipstick and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sgwa-Wc03RI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Self Preservation<\/a>.\u00a0<br \/><br \/><em><strong>Pro-tip<\/strong>: if you already own solar and are considering adding a battery, our new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/calculator\/\">Battery Calculator<\/a> will help you calculate potential savings.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guess what! You can now read another tax-payer funded document that does more harm than good.\u00a0 The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0 It&#8217;s supposed to help the people of NSW and Australia decide if getting batteries is right for them. I have read the report and have concluded that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battery-storage","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Solar Battery Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. Find out why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. Find out why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-29T03:42:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ronald Brakels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrakelsRonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\"},\"headline\":\"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-29T03:42:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\"},\"wordCount\":3206,\"commentCount\":33,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Battery Storage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\",\"name\":\"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Solar Battery Guide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-29T03:42:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. Find out why.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"A happy family with their 4.8 kWh of Enphase AC batteries (with the logos removed). These 4 batteries will cost about $10,000 installed and store about $1.44 of solar electricity.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Battery Storage\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes Blog\",\"description\":\"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"width\":592,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"SolarQuotes\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/\",\"https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\",\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Ronald Brakels\"},\"description\":\"Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrakelsRonald\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/ronald\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Solar Battery Guide","description":"The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. Find out why.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide","og_description":"The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. Find out why.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/","og_site_name":"SolarQuotes Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","article_published_time":"2020-06-29T03:42:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ronald Brakels","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BrakelsRonald","twitter_site":"@solar_quotes","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/"},"author":{"name":"Ronald Brakels","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7"},"headline":"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide","datePublished":"2020-06-29T03:42:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/"},"wordCount":3206,"commentCount":33,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg","articleSection":["Battery Storage"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/","name":"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Solar Battery Guide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg","datePublished":"2020-06-29T03:42:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-19T04:57:05+00:00","description":"The NSW Government has published the NSW Home Solar Battery Guide 2020.\u00a0I have read the report and have concluded that it is insane. Find out why.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"A happy family with their 4.8 kWh of Enphase AC batteries (with the logos removed). These 4 batteries will cost about $10,000 installed and store about $1.44 of solar electricity."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-guide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Battery Storage","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"NSW Government Publishes Pernicious 71-Page Battery Guide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","name":"SolarQuotes Blog","description":"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization","name":"SolarQuotes","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","width":592,"height":600,"caption":"SolarQuotes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/","https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7","name":"Ronald Brakels","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a252c73a3af84c860d5f55cb59b33133bd5403bb5c1c065d0e8ef95252f3237?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","caption":"Ronald Brakels"},"description":"Joining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/BrakelsRonald"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/ronald\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/nsw-battery-guide.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FF2s-aAf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40689,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-calculator\/","url_meta":{"origin":40687,"position":0},"title":"You Won&#8217;t Believe How Dumb The NSW Government&#8217;s New Battery Calculator Is","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"July 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The NSW Government's Solar Battery Calculator is up and running.\u00a0 This would only be a good thing if it was up and running out the door, never to be seen again. It had one job to do -- inform NSW families if a home battery makes financial sense for them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Battery Storage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Battery Storage","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"nsw government battery calculator","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/nsw-calculator.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/nsw-calculator.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/nsw-calculator.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/nsw-calculator.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/nsw-calculator.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27825,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-loans-mb0933\/","url_meta":{"origin":40687,"position":1},"title":"NSW Government Strikes Back With Battery\/ Solar + Storage Support","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"New South Wales' Berejiklian Government is hoping to win votes with its promise of interest-free loans for solar batteries and solar power + battery systems. After NSW Labor's solar rebate pledge was announced on the weekend, the pressure was on the Berejiklian Government to pull something out of its hat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NSW solar and storage loans","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/nsw-liberal-batteries.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/nsw-liberal-batteries.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/nsw-liberal-batteries.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/nsw-liberal-batteries.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/nsw-liberal-batteries.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76041,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-government-battery-rollout\/","url_meta":{"origin":40687,"position":2},"title":"NSW Govt VPP Gets Closer: More Sites Get Smart Batteries","author":"Richard Chirgwin","date":"June 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In March, we covered the launch of a big battery at Port Macquarie Base Hospital, which was installed as part of the NSW state government\u2019s Smart Batteries for Key Government Buildings initiative. That initiative has, fairly quietly, been rolling batteries out at various state government sites, including schools, hospitals, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a smart batteries installed in a key government building","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nsw-smart-batteries.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nsw-smart-batteries.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nsw-smart-batteries.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nsw-smart-batteries.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/nsw-smart-batteries.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31321,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-solar-battery-loans-mb1105\/","url_meta":{"origin":40687,"position":3},"title":"NSW Solar-Battery Interest Free Loans Update","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"June 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The NSW Government has flagged its interest-free solar-battery loans program - Empowering Homes - could commence towards the end of this year. The initiative will support the installation of up to 300,000 battery and solar + battery storage systems over the next decade through the provision of interest-free loans to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NSW Empowering Homes - Solar Battery Loans","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/nsw-empowering-homes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/nsw-empowering-homes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/nsw-empowering-homes.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/nsw-empowering-homes.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/nsw-empowering-homes.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84505,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/seven-batteries-qualify-nsw-battery-rebate\/","url_meta":{"origin":40687,"position":4},"title":"Will Only 7 Batteries Qualify For The NSW Battery Rebate?","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"June 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The NSW government battery rebate has been causing some angst for NSW solar and battery installers. --- UPDATE 30 October 2024: - read the latest about this incentive on our NSW solar battery rebate information page. ---- Installers have rightfully complained the November start has put all their battery business\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Battery Storage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Battery Storage","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"batteries eligible for nsw rebate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate-batteries.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate-batteries.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate-batteries.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate-batteries.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate-batteries.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":92514,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nsw-battery-rebate-ending-mb3201\/","url_meta":{"origin":40687,"position":5},"title":"NSW&#8217;s Problematic Home Battery Rebate Biting The Dust","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"June 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A cheery headline from a New South Wales state government news release published yesterday glossed over a bombshell contained within. But there is good news too (for some). \"NSW & Commonwealth double incentives for batteries,\" declared the headline. I'll get to what that's actually about in a bit; but basically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NSW solar battery rebate ending","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/nsw-battery-rebate.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40687"}],"version-history":[{"count":103,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96782,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40687\/revisions\/96782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}