Back in my engineering days, I designed control systems for everything from nuclear power plants to optical semiconductor fabs. High-stakes stuff, where things not working properly was frowned upon. One thing that became clear early on: the hardware install was just the beginning. The real work started when you powered things up and tried to make them behave.
Which brings me to today’s Phase Shift.
A fancy burger joint near the SolarQuotes office opened six months ago. It was small and stylish. And just closed down. I wasn’t surprised.
Right now, we’re riding high. A big battery rebate just dropped, and quote requests are flying in.
But I’ve been in solar long enough to know what this feels like. We’re at the top of the solar coaster.
Since the early days of rooftop solar, many Australian academics & commentators have warned of a grid death spiral.
There’s a new myth floating around: if your energy retailer gives you a free 3-hour energy window in the middle of the day, you don’t need solar panels. Just get a big battery, charge it for free during the magic window, and run your house on battery power 21 hours per day.
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.
There’s a certain kind of energy advice that just won’t die. You’ve probably heard it:
Switch off appliances at the wall. Phantom loads are stealing your electricity!
That made sense twenty years ago. Back when power bricks got properly hot. Back when standby meant drawing tens of watts. These days? Not so much.
Last week, I got 30 kWh of batteries, 14 kW of solar, an EV charger and a few new power points installed at my commercial property. The job took five days. The owner of the solar business and his apprentice turned up every day and absolutely worked their guts out: in the cold, on ladders, heads down, doing careful, beautiful, and at times dangerous work.
I was in awe of the effort, precision, and professionalism required to do this work well – especially right now, with installers flat out trying to keep up with the surge in demand driven by the July 1 start date of the federal battery rebate.
Today is the winter solstice. The darkest day of the year. If you’ve got solar on your roof, this is about as bad as it gets.
Which makes it the perfect time to ask: Is your system pulling its weight when you need it most?
With the federal battery rebate kicking in from July 1, demand for home battery quotes has gone ballistic.
It’s not hard to see why. Thousands of dollars in subsidies. Rising grid prices. More households with solar. And batteries finally starting to feel like part of the modern home, not a science experiment bolted to the garage wall.
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