Despite the hype about solar battery storage, any honest solar installer will give you the same advice: Batteries will not pay for themselves in 2020.
You do the maths.
Unfortunately, all the hype in the mainstream media about batteries has made people question the viability of solar without batteries – to the extent that people are waiting for ‘affordable batteries’ before they invest in solar. But even though the cost of solar battery storage is projected to decline year-over-year, it makes no sense to wait to get solar.
Every day you don’t have solar is another day you do have to pay high electricity bills. A well designed solar system without batteries can give you tiny bills.
Waiting 2, 3 or 4 years for batteries to become affordable means another 2, 3 or 4 years of high bills. One day, batteries will make lots of sense – and when that day comes they can easily be added to any existing solar system using a method called AC coupling.
So don’t lose years of savings waiting for cheap batteries to arrive.
Consider going solar now – with the knowledge that you can easily retrofit batteries later when they will pay for themselves – not before.
I swear this isn’t a shameless plug for the free service that my website provides. It’s absolutely critical to get multiple quotes wherever possible (and not just when it comes to solar!).
By having multiple companies give you a breakdown on how much solar will cost you, you can gain a real understanding of whether solar is right for your budget, and whether or not you’re being ripped off (in either price or quality).
People get these mixed up all the time. To keep it simple:
The “solar rebate” acts like a point-of-sale discount off the cost of a solar system, and is claimed on your behalf by your solar installer.
The “feed in tariff” is what your electricity retailer pays you, per kWh, for feeding excess solar into the grid. It pays to shop around, as retailers can pay anywhere from 0-20c per kWh.
If you see prices quoted online, on the telly, or in the paper, there’s a 99.99% chance that the quote price already has the ‘discount’ from the solar rebate applied.
It’s worth about $650 per kW of solar panels installed, but this will vary depending on where you live.
As an example, a 3kW system attracts around $1,950 in rebates.
Anyone can claim the rebate, even if you’ve already bought solar power systems in the past and want to buy a new system.
Almost every week someone will tell me that they’ve had a solar installer tell them that they need to have their systems serviced once every two years (or more) in order for the system to stay in warranty.
This is bollocks. Speaking as a chartered electrical engineer, good-quality solar systems will only need to be serviced once every 5 years, and cleaned once per year.
If you have a slimy salesman telling you that you’ll need to pay some kind of ‘maintenance fee’ to keep your panels in warranty, show them the door.
Another tactic that dishonest salesmen use is to assure you that your solar systems will have a 25 year ‘performance warranty’, to make it seem like any problems that befall your system will be covered under this apparent 25-year warranty.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. It’s very easy for solar manufacturers to wriggle out of this ‘performance warranty’, by claiming that any defects in the panels fall under the ‘panel warranty’, which can only be 5 years in some cases.
In reality, there are actually four separate warranties that you get with your solar system – the ‘performance warranty’ being one of them. The other three are for your inverter, the panels themselves, and the workmanship. In terms of warranty, what you really want to look for is:
10 Year
warranty
for your inverter
10 Year
warranty
for your solar
panels
5 Year
warranty
for the
workmanship
Check that the warranty is backed by an Australian Entity. I’ve seen cheapo deals where the Chinese manufacturer’s warranty states that the owner has to post the panels back to China at the customer’s cost to get them tested!
If you’re looking to get quotes for solar from installers within our trusted network, that are looking out for your needs (and not just their own wallet) then simply
The only thing shonky installers hate more than an ACCC investigation is a customer who knows their stuff! With knowledge comes power, and if a shonky installer realises that you know solar, their ability to rip you off just took a nose dive and they know it.
Always, always, always independently verify information, whenever possible. There are numerous resources available to help you verify what solar salesmen tell you (the Whirlpool forums are one of my favourite sources of such information), but if Google can’t help you, I will. Just shoot me an email here.
My answer to this question has changed considerably compared to just a few years ago.
This is because prices for solar installation have fallen considerably, electricity prices have risen, and feed-in tariffs (what you’re paid for exporting excess electricity generation) have also risen.
The only limitations now are your budget, what your roof can properly fit, and the amount your DNSP (Distributed Network Service Provider) allows you to install.
For most homes, this means the sweet spot is 6.6kW of panels (approx. 22-24 in total) with a 5kW inverter.
The biggest regret I’ve heard from solar power owners is they didn’t factor in how winter limits electricity bill savings from their system. They wish they installed more panels when they had the chance, as it’s expensive and complicated to add panels later to an existing system.
I’ve written about this topic in more detail here.
This couldn’t be further from the truth! Solar panel efficiencies have reached the point where, even if your panels aren’t facing north, you only lose 10-15% of your solar system production – which means that the system is still well worth the investment.
In fact, depending on the time of day you use your electricity, it may make more sense for your solar panels to face east or west (for morning or evening heavy electricity usage habits, respectively). I go into greater detail about this topic here.
“Many thanks…
I was a lost sheep in a field of wolves without your help”– Margret, Castle Hill, NSW
I’m a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Solar and Energy Efficiency nut, dad, and founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. My last “real job” was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009 over 330,000 Australians have used my site to get quotes for high quality solar from pre-vetted solar installers.