Don’t you hate it when you’re out and realise you’ve left the gas on at home? It’s a nightmare when we do it with a gas stove, yet millions of Australians are essentially doing this every day to keep their water piping hot. There’s a more efficient alternative: use a hot water heat pump as a thermal battery.
About Max Opray
Journalist Max Opray joined SolarQuotes in 2025 as editor, bringing with him over a decade of experience covering green energy. Across his career Max has won multiple awards for his feature stories for The Guardian and The Saturday Paper, fact-checked energy claims for Australian Associated Press, launched the climate solutions newsletter Climactic, and covered the circular economy for sustainability thinktank Metabolic. Max also reported on table tennis at the 2016 Rio Olympics — and is patiently waiting for any tenuous excuse to include his ping pong expertise in a SolarQuotes story.
Sunshine On Tap: Turn Your Hot Water System Into A Battery
Got An Eye For Detail? SolarQuotes Needs A Lead Investigator
Every day, people come to SolarQuotes to ask for quotes for their home electrification needs: whether that’s solar panels, batteries, EV chargers or hot water heat pumps.
And just about every day, something goes a little bit wrong with those requests for quotes. That’s where our Lead Investigator & Customer Service Hero comes in.
Community Battery Grants Worth $46.3m Up For Grabs
The first battery installed under the Community Battery Funding program, located in Bexley North.
Expressions of interest are now open for the $46.3m second round of a national funding program for community batteries. Here’s what it all means and how to apply.
Apartment Solar Set To SoAR With New $25m NSW Grant
A new $25m Solar for Apartment Residents (SoAR) scheme backing shared rooftop systems has launched, offering to cover half the cost of solar for multi-unit dwellings in NSW.
Five Star Performance? How To Spot Fake Solar Reviews
A bunch of reviews of an installer all being published at the same time can be a red flag.
Every fortnight, the SolarQuotes Vetting Council convenes to undertake a forensic analysis of the companies asking to join our list of approved installers of solar, batteries and EV chargers. The investigation pours over every clue available, including the most obvious: online reviews. But in this age of bot farms and customer incentives, how can you tell if a review is legitimate or not?
Australia Finally Charts Course To Bidirectional EV Charging Bounty
Bidirectional charging has long been the white whale of electric vehicle owners in Australia, and at long last ARENA has released a chart revealing where this elusive leviathan of energy storage can be found.
Solar Batteries On Special: Should You Trust Aldi To Power Your Home?
An Aldi supermarket in Adelaide.
Good old Aldi — the home of supermarket savings, shelves lined with classic grocery staples like milk, bread, cheese, and… wait… is that an entire solar-and-battery system on sale next to the dog food?
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.
Amber’s Charge HQ Deal: Peace At Last For Stressed EV Owners
Amber has acquired Charge HQ, in a move that could reduce the stress levels of customers trying to charge their EVs under the energy retailer’s volatile wholesale market billing system.
Introducing SolarQuotes Editor Max Opray
Hello folks,
My name is Max Opray, and I’ve just started in the new role of SolarQuotes editor. For over a decade I’ve been covering green energy as a journalist, and I’m thrilled to be enlisting with an organisation that has played such a key role in Australia’s solar revolution.
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